Unbeaten Run Continues, but Injuries Hurt City – Imps 1-1 Carlisle

City picked up a single point yesterday against Carlisle United, with injuries hampering Mark Kennedy’s side.

Lukas Jensen started in goal, with Sean Roughan and Alex Mitchell alongside the returning Paudie O’Connor. Jack Burroughs and Lasse Sorensen started as the wing-backs with Ethan Hamilton and Ethan Erhahon as the midfield duo. Things looked bleak in attack with plenty of injuries affecting Kennedy’s team selection, Reeco Hackett returned from international duty to start as our number nine and was supported by Ted Bishop, who made his first start of the season, and Ali Smith.

I’ll talk about the injury news first, Ben House is out of action for 3-5 months and Tyler Walker won’t be action for at least 8 weeks, while Jack Vale won’t be available until at least after West Ham I’d imagine. Adam Jackson is a shorter term absentee, with the central defender coming down with an illness Friday night. The injuries to Ben and Tyler are gutting for firstly themselves as both players want to be playing week in, week out, helping the team and scoring goals. It’s a massive stroke of bad luck to have both of our strikers out on the sidelines for such an extended period of time, and we’ll have to dig deep over the next few weeks. The only positive is that other players, who looked like unlikely members of our squad, have a big chance to step up.

Danny Mandroiu also missed out with a late fitness test. I think he’ll miss the trip to Derby on Tuesday as a pre-caution but he’ll probably be back for our trip to Fratton Park. A point against Carlisle yesterday could be seen as a bit of a disappointment but with four of our crucial attacking players out of action, this could be a point we look back on as a positive, especially considering the way the first-half played out.

Carlisle were easily the better side in the first-half, with City struggling to pick up second balls and retain possession for much of the half. With no disrespect to Carlisle, a better side would’ve punished us much more for our struggles in the first 45 minutes of football. We struggled in the air – which is a surprise considering the height in our side – I also thought Luke Plange was getting the better of Alex Mitchell when it came to aerial duels.

Plange didn’t do well at Sincil Bank for a number of different reasons – many not his fault – and when he was named on the opposition’s teamsheet, it was obvious who the goalscorer would be for the visitors. The Cumbrians took the lead after they were awarded an attacking free-kick just outside the area. I’m still unsure whether it was a foul or not, but with later decisions going our way I’m not going to complain too much. Last season, we looked strong when defending set pieces, but so far in his campaign it has been our achilles heal so many times, and once again we found ourselves conceding a goal following a set-piece situation.

The ball into the box wasn’t a spectacular one, and Plange’s flick found the net to put Carlisle into a deserved lead. They looked a good side and I’d have to put that down to Paul Simpson’s management. He’s a perfect manager for this level, and although many will consider them favourites to be in the bottom four this season, they could surprise a few.

We had a few half chances in the first period, Burroughs found himself in the box and potentially could have done better with his strike while Smith also had a shot saved from range. It wasn’t a great 45 minutes for the latter, he struggled out wide on the wing, it’s clear to me that’s not his natural position and he’s certainly not natural in that area of the pitch. Smith hasn’t had the chances to prove himself in the midfield, and you have to feel for him in that regard as he’s clearly out of position but yesterday nothing went right for former Sutton United man.

He was pulled at half-time as we switched to a 3-5-2 with Ted alongside Hamilton in midfield ahead of Erhahon, who was in a deeper role. Smith was replaced by Hakeeb Adelakun, who didn’t even have a squad number this time last week. Haks was set to leave the club, until a loan move fell through, and that together with not a single minute of pre-season action under his belt, made it a big surprise that he even made the bench yesterday, let alone played a part.

I like Haks, he’s a nice guy and a good professional. I wanted him to succeed here when he first came in, but I expected him to leave this summer and never wear a Lincoln City shirt again. However, with his move falling through on deadline day, the fact he’s still under contract here and the level of injuries we’ve got, I’m all for him having another chance. He’s got nothing to lose so if he comes in and gives it his all then I’ll be happy with that.

He did give his all yesterday. I’d imagine he’ll be a bit out of touch with the some of things we do on and off the ball, due to his lack of involvement so far this season, but he looked to be in an attacking threat and made some brave blocks at times too. He made a positive impact, and I honestly hope he gets the chance to start at Derby and then potentially even against Portsmouth next weekend.

The change of system, the introduction of Haks definitely worked, as we soon found ourselves on level terms. Mitchell ventured forward from the back three, finding Hackett in space. The Saint Lucia international played a lovely flick to Hamilton, who drove the ball low first time finding the bottom right corner to bring the scores level. It was a goal out of nothing, but that’s what Hamilton offers us. He can get us a goal from nowhere and we seem to building a team that can score goals all over the pitch, let’s just remember that neither Tyler or Ben have scored as of yet this season.

We looked dangerous for 25 minutes after half-time but then our lack of squad depth showed when we made changes from the bench. Lasse was forced to move into midfield, with Jaden Brown coming on at left wing-back, meaning Burroughs had to move across into right wing-back. Dylan Duffy came on for Reeco, who had worked exceptionally hard, and went up front with Haks. Although almost every footballer is versatile, they were playing out of their desired positions and still we managed to hold on to secure a point.

This is going to be a big talking point up until Christmas. We will be short in numbers, we aren’t the sort of the club to panic and bring in a free agent, but these next few months will be a big opportunity for Dylan, Haks and Jack Vale when he’s fit in a few weeks too. We need to back the lads, and get behind them because it won’t be an easy ride as we head into a busy September and October period.

The AllLincoln MOTM is Ethan Hamilton.

I’ve been holding out until the end of the article to talk about the upsetting news we received post-match. Colin Murphy was a Lincoln City legend and to hear the news after the game was really upsetting for everyone involved with the club. He made a massive impact on Lincoln City in his life, and he’ll be fondly remembered by everyone.