Lincoln City v BOLTON…match thread

Just not good enough!
30 minutes playing against 10 men and not only couldn't we score but we didn't test their keeper at all in that time.

A really disappointing performance.

74% performance possession but just 6 shots and only 1 on target. Those are dreadful statistics.

We had an early shot wide from Dempsey and then conceded from a needless free kick which we just slept on.

Lincoln should have scored another from a long throw when we were beaten on 2 headers and the ball just went wide.

And that was it for the 1st half – just nothing. No shots, no attacks, nothing!


Second half was better. We set off at pace and pressed Lincoln back but still could not create. There was a flare up between Charles and their defender which the ref ignored and we got a corner. The ref then came back and booked their man – quite rightly. Then miracles of miracles, we scored from the resulting corner. An excellent header from Toal.

Minutes later Charles skinned their defender who pulled him back for a 2nd yellow card.

So 30 minutes to go against 10 men – surely the game was there for a win. But No. We dominated, had practically all the possession but created nothing.

The subs came on and were worse than the men they replaced and so we huffed and puffed and got nowhere.


A really poor performance and 2 points badly dropped. We are currently nowhere near a top 6 side.



Marks:-

Trafford - 6 Nothing to do
Bradley - 6 Not as dynamic going forward as usual.
Toal - 7 Good header for the goal and some reasonable defending
Aimson - 6 OK but pressured a lot in the 1st half.
Johnston - 6 Won some meaty challenges
Sadlier - 4 He got his chance to start but he is not a left wing back. Very disappointing
Williams - 4 Couldn’t get any control of the game at all
Morley - 6 Had a lot of the ball particularly in the 2nd half but his passing was not good enough
Dempsey - 4 Very poor. Badly asleep for their goal
Afolayan - 5 Lot of the ball but could not create anything
Charles - 6 Busy but not receiving the ball in the box so it is a struggle
Bakayoko - 5 Poor control let him down on his only chance. Hardly noticed he had come on
Kachunga - 4 Apart from a last minute woeful header, you wouldn’t have known he was on
Bodvarsson - 5 Got no service
Lee - 5

Quite true , davidm..... you noticed the lack of input from the subs. In fact I felt we needed the men whom he had taken off for those last 10-man Lincoln 30 minutes. Particularly I felt the ref was as sleepy as our first half performance. It took a more blatant couple of fouls on Charles for him to notice that our striker had been held back throughout the previous hour. A liberated Charles would have been much more useful than the imported Baka and Bad, who hardly had a kick. Pundits have praised the Lincoln goal, but was a foul really committed by Williams? And why was the taker of the free kick allowed to place the ball for it almost 12 yards nearer the goal ? True the left of our defence went to sleep on it, but that is what happens when you play without John or Iredale. Sadlier should sure have played behind the strikers or in place of the out of touch Bradley
Afolayon was my biggest disappointment, rarely making a successful dribble and frequently giving the ball away.
Ian Evatt has a lot of thinking to do if progress is to be maintained. Hopefully we shall soon find out the result of his ruminations.

A frustrating game to watch. The real plus was Toal who looked versatile and capable. We are quite good out of possession. But in possession especially at the back we are ponderous and slow. I lost count of the overhit and misdirected long balls attempted from defenders. Charles is no target man and looked very ill at ease.

Sadlier at left wing back is an accident waiting to happen defensively. He was poor. He wasn't much better when he did get crossing chances.

Dempsey fell asleep for the goal and I'm not convinced that he knows his role.

I thought Morley hit some good free kicks and was generally the pick of midfield. The substitution of Williams was odd but in general we are better with Lee and Sheehan in that sort of game and Thomasson when fit.

I hope Santos and Jones don't displace Toal. He's a real plus. Somehow we need to find a Jutkiewicz type to score a few and make us solid and hold up the ball. Maybe Bodvarsson can step up, Bakayoko I doubt. Without more forward strength we probably won't hang on to a play off place...but our out of possession play is very good and should keep us in the running.

Well
I didn’t get any of my 1 2 3 wishes
Never got the unchanged side
Never got the win
Annnnnd, never got the clean sheet😞😞😞

Evatt doing what Evatt does best

Iredale, in my view, has earned enough credit to have started that game and if IE was tinkering on a lucky surprise gift from Sadlier, that selection (and position he played in) was a gross error of judgement and costly I’d say, Evatt should be challenged on that choice, but then, who could possibly challenge him?? SB?? 🤔🤔

He has carte blanche selection and is in complete control and free to do whatever he likes as we are in a ‘healthy’ position as that’s how our owners would see it

Next up for Lincoln City, with their unbeaten home record intact, is Ipswich to show us how to win at Sincil Bank and of course, why they are top two in the league


There will be players out there that could enhance our team and enhance our position in the league heading into the second half of the season, but none of this will be possible with General Evatt commanding operations

It’s New Years Eve and I feel reet proper pi55ed off over that scraty point last night

Let’s hope Barnsley don’t show us how it should be done