City made it 16 goals in 3 games, with yet another empathic victory at the LNER Stadium, on Saturday afternoon.
Michael Skubala made just the one change from City’s 6-0 win against Cambridge United on Tuesday. Lukas Jensen started in goal, behind a back three of Alex Mitchell, Paudie O’Connor and Sean Roughan. Lasse Sorensen and Reeco Hackett continued as the wing-backs, while the midfield of Jack Moylan, Ethan Erhahon and Danny Mandroiu was unchanged. The change came in attack, with Jovon Makama starting his first league game in 2024, alongside Joe Taylor.
We started the game really strong. Starting well seems to be a big feature of what Skubala wants us to do because if you look at the 13 games we’ve gone unbeaten, we’ve scored early in quite a few and especially over the past few games. With the current form we are in, if we score early there doesn’t seem to be a way back for the opposition and Saturday was yet another example of that.
The first of City’s goals came from a set-piece. Mandroiu’s whipped ball in was an excellent delivery, and with the skipper unmarked in the area, it was always going to result in a goal. City’s captain rose highest to angle his header into the left corner, past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net. That was O’Connor’s first goal since August and it felt like a great reward for all the defensive work he’s done this year, and his obvious leadership over the group of players. He’s been a key part of this run – we couldn’t have asked for a better Regan Poole replacement as captain.
I’d also like to highlight Jovon’s role in the goal, as he certainly deserves some plaudits. He chased down Connor Taylor, putting the central defender under lots of pressure. His back pass then missed keeper’ Jed Ward and went out for a corner. It was great work by Jovon, and in prior games to this (mainly pre Christmas), we’ve seen him press but not in the correct way. I thought what he’s done in the past three games has been a lot more controlled and effective. Having Ben House to watch and learn from must be a great thing to have because what he did for that goal was something we’ve seen House do time and time again.
There was then a Bristol Rovers chance to bring them level. A rare lapse of concentration at the back saw us very open, allowing Jevani Brown a one-on-one opportunity, Luckily for us though, we have one of the best shot stoppers in the division. Jensen came rushing out his goal and closed down the striker and got his body in the way of the effort. A great save, and it’s not the first time he’s done that this season.
Any fears of us losing our way were soon gone when Taylor scored our second of the afternoon. A move that started with Hackett and Roughan on the left ended up with Lasse on the right. The Dane delivered a delicious ball into the area, which was met by the diving head of City’s number nine. A lovely move, and yet another different type of finish from Taylor. The lad has got everything in his game at the moment.
Goals in quick succession have been a regular occurrence for City at the moment, and we did that once again, getting our third in the 24th minute. A move that involved Sorensen, Erhahon, Taylor and Moylan fell to Jovon inside the area. The striker turned the defender, before firing a powerful effort towards the goal. Ward did well to push the shot onto the post, but the rebound fell to Taylor, who climbed the highest to score his second of the afternoon from just a few yards out.
Jovon deserves a lot of credit for his last few performances. He’s developed well, thanks to Skubala. He’s been kept out of the spotlight since his spell leading the line in November and December. He struggled in his run of starts earlier in the year, but that’s not a surprise considering his age and the lack of support he had around him. The 5 or 10 minute cameos every now and again have built up his confidence and that’s shown in his past three performances. We’ve all heard that he’s very highly rated at the club, and we’re starting to see why.
The rest of the first-half belonged to The Gas, and despite it being an odd sentence to say when you’re 3-0 up. It could’ve been 3-3 or even 3-4, but luckily for us we had Jensen, who made multiple great saves before the half-time whistle went. 17 clean sheets for the Dane now this season, just one behind Will Norris at Pompey. I think he’ll fancy the golden glove.
The game was properly wrapped up in the 55th minute, and it was another Taylor goal. A marauding run from Lasse through the middle created the chance. The Dane released the ball to Taylor one-on-one with the keeper and it was only ever going to end one way. City’s number 9 dinked the ball over Ward for his first professional career hat trick and his eight goal in twelve games (also eight in the last seven).
The action didn’t stop there though. Unfortunately, Scott Simpson, the match official, put a few bad marks over our perfect afternoon. The first was a really poor penalty decision I thought. Roughan seemed to put in a perfect tackle, but the referee pointed to the spot. It didn’t matter though, as Anthony Evans fluffed his lines and fired well wide of the mark.
The next decision was sending off Erhahon. His first booking was for kicking the ball away in the first-half. I’ve seen people saying it’s silly and while I agree to a degree, it’s also part of Ethan’s game and his fiery edge that adds so much to his game. The second yellow is justified – he’s made an attempt for the ball but it’s late. It’s a worry to be missing Ethan for Leyton Orient but we just have to try and cope.
Being down to ten-men didn’t stop up us getting another goal though. This time it was Hackett. The winger picked up the ball on the left, and made his way into the box, with some trickery, before finding the net with some help from a small deflection.
That was the final action of the game really. Five goals scored, cleansheet and two points off the playoffs. That’s not bad at all. When we drew against Stevenage just two weeks ago, we thought playoffs didn’t have a chance of happening. Not because we couldn’t do it but because 8 points was a big gap to overcome to a side like Stevenage (we are now above them). Fast forward just 14 days and we almost have it in our hands with a side loving their football.
This is one of the best weeks in the club’s history and it just feels like something special is coming. Everyone is singing off the same hymn sheet and the atmosphere around the club is incredible – you can see it within the players both on and off the pitch. Skubala is a great head coach, and I can’t help but feel like this is just a fraction of what he’s capable of.