A good 3 points from a scruffy game.
We didn’t play tremendously well but definitely deserved to win.
Lincoln were another team who came to our ground to stifle us. They had little ambition until midway through the 2nd half.
It always takes us a little while to get going so it was 6 or 7 minutes before we reached their penalty area where Lee got into space on the left and ridiculously tried to score from a tight angle instead of laying the ball back. A good opportunity wasted.
And then we repeated the trick when Kachunga got free in the same left position and tried to score instead of squaring the ball.
Much of the 1st half play was midfield with us pressing but our final ball into the box was pretty poor, hitting the first man etc.
We finally got a break and what a break it was. Kachunga was freed, again down the left hand channel, and went to ground in the box. To me, a blatant dive and also it appeared to the referee who held his arms wide to indicate no penalty. He then somehow changed his mind, I presume after intervention by the linesman, gave a penalty and Charles scored.
So 1-0 at half time. A deserved lead with hopefully more to come.
Second half, we continued to dominate but only created a few bits.
Charles made a wonderful turn in the box and squared for Kachunga to miss what appeared an easy tap in.
Dempsey came on a sub and created a great chance for Charles. Charles appeared scared to use his left foot, moved it onto his right foot but went down in, again, what I thought was a blatant dive. This time the referee waved play on.
Our diving today was bad – Kachunga (as usual) and Charles were guilty of this.
Lincoln had a little flurry, helped by Santos and Johnston making a mess of basic defending but, really, it was very little from them and then they gave us a goal.
They had a throw in halfway in their half and, amazingly, threw the ball back towards their goal straight to Bodvarsson. Bodvarsson passed it on to Afolayan who sensibly chose not to dribble but played the ball back into Bodvarsson’s path for him to calmly score.
That looked like it until confusion in the right side of our defence led to a centre and a wonderful save from Trafford to keep the clean sheet.
As I said, not the greatest performance but a good solid one which goes a way to my hope of 9 points this week.
Marks:-
Trafford - 7 Not a great deal to do until the last minute when he made an excellent save.
Bradley - 6 Fine. Not the usual brilliance but still good enough
Jones - 6 Again, steady.
Santos - 7 Good although close to conceding a penalty in the 2nd half
Johnston - 7 Set off with a couple of tremendous early tackles. Had a slight iffy spell mid 2nd half but a good performance
Iredale - 6 Like Jones, steady. He put in one tremendous cross in the 1st half but corners were disappointing
Williams - 6 Gave Lincoln little chance. Unlucky to be booked
Lee - 5 My favourite player but, surprising, had an off day today
Thomason - 6 Along with Williams, he gave Lincoln little.
Kachunga - 6 Usual busy play. In my mind he blatantly dived for the penalty and again a bit later. Missed a good chance 2nd half
Charles - 6 His usual nuisance to the opposition. He messed up a lovely chance in the 2nd half. Caught the diving bug off Kachunga
Afolayan - 6 Unselfishly set up Bodvarsson for the 2nd goal
Bodvarsson - 6 Took his goal well. He needs to start next match
Dempsey - 6 Created a great chance for Charles with his first touch.