Match Review: Lincoln City 1-2 Barnsley

Lincoln City lost their first league game at the LNER Stadium on Saturday with a narrow defeat to Barnsley.

Michael Skubala stuck with the same team that beat Burton Albion last weekend on the opening day. The 3-2 victory against Burton saw two goals from Paudie O’Connor and a debut goal for Tendayi Darikwa. A defeat in the Carabao Cup against Harrogate Town on Tuesday night was a rotated eleven, with eight changes to the side that played both Burton last weekend and Barnsley on Saturday.

City were aiming to bounce back from a difficult evening on Tuesday but failed to return to winning ways against Barnsley despite an improved performance. Goals in either half by Barnsley from Sam Cosgrove and Marc Roberts. A second half strike from Ben House wasn’t enough to get a result for the Imps despite plenty of pressure in the closing stages.

City started the better side, dominating the opening ten minutes but in similar fashion to the opening day victory against Burton, the first goal went the way of the opposition. A cross field ball wasn’t dealt with by the City defence – Cosgrove brought the ball down and curled the ball into the bottom left corner. The second Barnsley goal came just a few minutes into the second half. A free-kick was taken short to the left, Barry Cotter got past Dylan Duffy before putting a ball into the box that was headed home by Roberts past George Wickens.

They were the only two chances Barnsley had up until that point while City had plenty of efforts. Jovon Makama should’ve been in on goal in the first few minutes, but Darikwa couldn’t find the pass for the striker. Makama did find himself one-on-one later during the half but an excellent stop by Gabriel Slonina kept the scores level. JJ McKiernan flashed one wide of the post, while House had a few efforts go wide of the post.

Moving into the second half City tried to react, House did get one back for Skubala’s side with an acrobatic effort following a corner from Duffy that was headed back into the area by O’Connor. City’s skipper probably had the best chance of the half with a free header in the box just a few yards away from goal which he directed straight at the keeper.

City also should’ve had a penalty in the second half, when Darikwa was clearly taken out in the box by a Barnsley defender and despite the referee being in a good position and the assistant having a clear view of the incident, nothing was given.  There was plenty of pressure but City couldn’t find an equaliser and were forced to accept defeat in their second league game of the season.

Michael Skubala’s post-match thoughts

Skubala spoke to BBC Radio Lincolnshire after the defeat to Barnsley and claimed that City were the better side in the game with plenty of chances that his players didn’t take.

He said: “It feels like a tough scoreline. I think all in all, when we look back at that game we’ll say we played well. We started the game brightly, we made a mistake for the first goal. We weren’t tight enough and it has came from an error, switching off a little bit, which is disappointing.

“I thought second half of the first half we were on top creating chances. Jovon Makama’s had one, Ben House has had one. We gone in down and we come out and the second goal is a soft goal but we get back in the game.

“I thought there was a penalty – I think we had eight chances today and that shows that we’re moving in the right direction and right place. I think it was for the taking for three points.”

City have conceded six goals in three games and despite with no new signings in the back three that started, it seems as if the defensive solidity isn’t as strong as it once was. Skubala is keen to fix that issues as it allows a foundation to go and win games.

He continued: “It is a concern [conceding goals], we just need to shore up things at the back. We need to do better because then we’re in games because as much as we did well today with the ball and we were in their half for much of the second half, creating chances and getting in their box, that’s great but we need to shore things up at the back.“

AllLincoln MOTM

Jovon Makama is the AllLincoln Man of the Match.

You can vote for the AllLincoln MOTM on our Instagram channel after the game has finished.

Next up

City complete a Sincil Bank double header next Saturday welcoming local rivals Mansfield Town. The away side are set to sell out the away end with another capacity crowd expected. The last time City played Mansfield was a 3-1 win in the EFL Trophy – Jamie Soule and Theo Archibald scored their first and only City goals that day alongside an Anthony Scully strike.