Match Report: Lincoln City 1-3 Blues
Blues remain top of the League One table after a comeback victory at Sincil Bank. Keshi Anderson and Willum Willumson did the damage while Ryan Allsop saved a penalty.
Birmingham City made it eight wins from ten in League One thanks to another comeback victory, this time at Lincoln City.
The hosts took the lead after just 30 seconds when Bailey Cadamarteri made the most of a long throw but Keshi Anderson ensured the sides went in level at the break.
Goals from Willum Willumson and Anderson secured the three points for Chris Davies’ side, the third coming after Ryan Allsop saved a Reeco Hackett-Fairchild penalty.
Davies made two changes from the side that came up short at Charlton Athletic with Ben Davies and Emil Hansson replacing the injured Krystian Bielik and Jay Stansfield. Scott Wright also dropped out of the squad due to injury with Ethan Laird, Dion Sanderson and Ayuma Yokoyama returning to the matchday squad.
It took 30 seconds for Blues to go behind, Tom Hamer’s long throw flat and not dealt with at the front post. The flick fell kindly to Cadamarteri who slotted home first time.
Michael Skubala’s side didn’t let up across the first ten or so minutes, playing with real energy and power. Their direct approach led to a few more set-piece situations but the best they had to show for it was a Hamer header that wouldn’t trouble Allsop.
Blues’ first real sustained period of pressure resulted in the equaliser. A nice move down the right allowed Christoph Klarer to hoist the ball into the area. Tomoki Iwata was first to the loose ball and found a clever pass to Alfie May, who in turn found Anderson. The winger took a touch before slicing the ball beyond the dive of George Wickens.
The visitors were dominant for the rest of the half. They just struggled to find the killer moment. Hansson’s cutback fell kindly for Anderson who denied by a defender and May endured the same fate having been found by a deep cross from the left.
May almost scored one of the goals of the season before half-time. A switch of play found the Blues number nine who stepped inside and played a one-two with Anderson. The return pass bobbled over the turf as he struck it first-time from 25 yards, connecting sweetly only for the ball to bounce off the outside of the post.
May’s involvement wasn’t over. He was just about denied by an excellent last-ditch Paudie O’Connor challenge. A couple of minutes later, he teed up Willumson first time from a Klarer cross and the giant Icelandic international took one touch before striking the ball into the bottom corner.
The game hit a strange note after the second. Hansson was withdraw with an injury before Lincoln made a triple change. Blues dropped their intensity and became sloppier in possession as Lincoln found a burst of energy. Still, the closest they came were Tendayi Darikwa heading a cleared corner over from 20 yards and Erik Ring shooting straight at Allsop from outside of the area.
The warning signs weren’t heeded, however. Paik Seung-Ho attempted to get goal side of Conor McGrandles but managed to clip the midfielder’s heels in the area. Penalty awarded. Fortunately, Ryan Allsop, formerly of Lincoln City, made it two penalty saves from three this season, denying Reeco Hackett-Fairchild, whose attempt from 12 yards was his first touch of the League One season.
It proved to be a turning point in the game. The resulting corner saw Allsop punch the ball and Klarer leading to a stoppage. Chris Davies made a tactical change and it paid off within a couple of minutes.
Blues played their way out of trouble expertly and once out, moved the ball quickly with Laird finding the run of Yokoyama. He cut the ball back for Willumson who in turn laid the ball into the path of Anderson. The first time strike beat Wickens and killed the game off.
Lincoln huffed and puffed but couldn’t produce anything of note. The closest either side came was in the final seconds of injury time when another spell of possession almost ended with Marc Leonard scoring his first Blues goal, only for O’Connor to head his goalbound effort over the bar.
Another victory as Blues remain top.
Lineups
Lincoln: Wickens; Darikwa (Montsma 80) Hamer O'Connor Roughan; McGrandles Erhahon; Moylan (Hamilton 60) House (Hackett-Fairchild 71) Jefferies (Ring 60); Cadamarteri (Draper 60). Unused: Pardington; McKiernan.
Blues: Allsop; TGH (Laird 66) Klarer Davies Cochrane; Paik Iwata; Anderson (Leonard 82) Willumson Hansson (Yokoyama 55); May (Dykes 66). Unused: Peacock-Farrell; Sampsted Sanderson.
Tactics
Lincoln’s attempt to stop Blues followed a similar approach to Leyton Orient and Peterborough in respects of lining up 4-2-3-1 and trying to block the centre of the pitch, forcing Blues wide and attempting to win the duel with the Blues winger, or force the long pass, win the second and go from there.
Early doors, they did it well. Jefferies and Moylan were tasked with sitting narrow, stepping out once the ball reached the wide centre-back and helping leave the only available option the long ball to May or the pass to the wing-back with full-backs Roughan and Darikwa quick to close Gardner-Hickman and Hansson.
Blues needed to find the overloads and they found them. Allsop was integral, playing a brave game that involved drawing on the forward closing him in order to take somebody out of position then play into the area they had vacated. Iwata and Paik did brilliant work receiving under pressure facing their own goal and avoiding trouble and it helped draw the Lincoln midfield on, opening space for the front five to get involved. And Paik was very intelligent, once again pulling out towards the left-hand side and taking a man with him, allowing Hansson, May and Willumson to get involved in available pockets.
Once in the final third, Blues had two key areas to exploit.
The first was the channel behind Roughan, who was tasked with stepping onto Gardner-Hickman. The runs of May and Willumson towards the right-hand side of the box dragged McGrandles and O’Connor into areas they didn’t want to be in with Anderson, Gardner-Hickman and one or two more high up on that side.
The other was deliveries into the box. With one full-back dragged out and Blues having three or four other bodies attacking the box, there was usually a spare man on the opposite side of the box if the man crossing the ball could find them. In turn, this also forced Lincoln to think about where their marker and opened up situations such as the position May was able to take up 1v1 in space to receive a cross into the area to feet. Blues were close to finding that pass more than once.
(the first goal, O’Connor is dragged out and Blues are 3v3 in the box)
(the second goal, Blues are 3v3 in the box)
In possession, Lincoln started bright. Their aim was to utilise the height and power they had in certain areas and get in down the left. Long forward passes were made early doors with House and Darikwa in particular challenging aerially. The game plan was to win throws and set-pieces and it worked. As for the left-hand side, they either played forward passes for Jefferies to chase and put Klarer and Gardner-Hickman under pressure, or looked to switch House and Jefferies with the former making an in to outside run round the back of Klarer.
That largely stopped after the first ten minutes with Lincoln struggling to get out. Cadamarteri struggled alone against the Blues centre-backs and Lincoln seemingly had little intention of trying to play out.
Most of the changes were like for like. The most notable change of personnel came after the penalty kick. Davies tasked Anderson with playing on the left, hoping he would link with Cochrane and give Blues more of a foothold in possession while Yokoyama moved to the right-hand side, where there would be space for his pace to exploit. It worked a treat as proven by the third goal. The change only lasted 10 or so minutes before Leonard replaced Anderson.
Players
I think we’re at the stage where we know what players are bringing now, so I probably don’t need to go through the whole XI.
I will praise Paik, who I thought was outstanding again. Just such an intelligent footballer.
Allsop and Davies were better. The tempo was higher and it shows they are getting used to the intensity of the game we are trying to play. The former saving a penalty and claiming a couple of set-pieces will endear him to fans.
May got a rare run as the lone striker with no Stansfield and performed the role well. His intelligence and work ethic is a real asset to the team. It was nice to see Ethan Laird return to the side and he looks sharp too.
Yokoyama is a curious one. He played a key role in both our third goal and the chance for Leonard at the death. His speed and sharpness is an asset and one that will prove important. But he also has a lot to learn as far as his positioning is concerned in and out of possession.
For Lincoln, it was nice to see Ben House being a nuisance having watched him during his early days at Eastleigh. A slightly different role but still commits to every challenge he makes.
It wasn’t a game where our opponents had several players stand out. They were organised, diligent, hard working and not afraid to do the dirty work. I’d suggest a team that are more than the sum of their parts.
Conclusions
A weird game.
The first half was a familiar pattern. Bad start. Dominant thereon.
The Lincoln touch map between minutes 12 and 60 is quite something. They had five touches centrally within about 40-45 yards of Allsop’s goal. We had 84.5% of the ball. Total domination.
And then... I don’t know. It reminded me a little bit of the Wycombe Wanderers game. We were comfortable, but probably too comfortable. Hansson got injured. Lincoln made the triple sub. We were almost playing as if the game was won and needed waking up again. The penalty save did just that.
Davies deserves credit for the tactical change, moving Yokoyama to the right and Anderson to the left. It worked to perfection and enabled us to make that final sub to give us a bit more control of proceedings.
The poor starts and set-piece issues. Fortunately, we have the quality of play and player to avoid the problems - that’s now 13 points from the six matches we’ve fallen behind in. But it’s not good. We have to iron those issues out and make life easier for ourselves over the season.
It was good to see the squad step up again today. No Bielik or Stansfield? No worries, we’ve got Davies and Hansson. No Laird? Gardner-Hickman steps in.
However, with Wright, Stansfield and Harris all missing today, plus Hansson going down with a knock and Anderson being withdrawn after limping, even our considerable resources are being stretched. We could be in a situation for the Bolton game where we only have one obvious attacking substitute available. Hopefully one or two return for a game against the second favourites for promotion in pre-season and a team that have collected 13 points from their last five matches, scoring at least twice in all five.
Bolton Wanderers Tuesday. Mansfield Town Saturday. Fulham U21 Tuesday. Sutton United Sunday. Five games in two weeks.
This is where management, coaches and players well and truly earn their money – stepping up during the awkward winter months when the weather is crap, the pitches get heavier and the squad becomes stretched. It’s plausible that Davies may need to get creative.