Just back to car

Quoted from timmo

Well where do we start?

Defence shaky.
Midfield lacked bite or passion, Disley killed what we've built so far. IMO he is a last 10 min regroup player this season.
Attack poor. Scotty tried too much rather pass simple.

LJL - can someone explain what he brings to the team? I cant see it. IMO the worst forward we've had at the club.

Macca looked worried tonight, for their 2nd pen (stone wall) he should have cleaned everyone out and took the ball however Bignot (worst player on the pitch) should have put it over the stand.

Timmo
UTM

We'd better rub out his goal then eh?

Massively frustrating to lose a game we shouldn't have lost. And I always hate to lose to a team that play in a thuggish style and turn the game into a game of set pieces.

First half they came out strong and put pressure on us. They worked a few attacks down their flanks where their full backs had all the time in the world with out lack of wingers closing them down. When we were in possession we were closed down quickly and often before a passing option became available, resulting in us giving the ball away cheaply far too often.

We got back in it with Disley's goal and I was happy with that at half time, thinking we wouldn't be as poor as that in the second half.

And we wasn't. Lincoln seemed to either tire or stop closing us down so quickly and we quickly settled into a few spells of possession, immediately looking more composed on the ball.

The second half was dominated by us really, until a spell near the end when the constant long stoppages every time they wanted to take a long throw or throw a longball set-piece into the box.

Apart from their penalty miss, I can't remember them missing many, if any, chances. I remember McKeown making a good save 1st half and then one from a low free kick that I'd expect him to save. But nothing else.

On the other hand we had LJL's lob over the keeper that he should really have scored. Nielson's cracking shot that cannoned back off the post and then the simpler task of putting the rebound in that he fluffed. Toto had a good header saved too Pittman, Nielson and LJL looked dangerous going forward.

Bignot taking a lot of stick. He didn't deal with the situation for the 2nd penalty very well at all but he did get in the way of a Lincoln player having a 2yard tap in 5 minutes after that. Unfortunately, defensively, he isn't at the level of the other 3 of the back 4 and I'll be happy when we've got Thomas back and shift Magnay over to right back. Magnay was excellent tonight in a system that leaves full backs exposed and often with few options on the ball.

Seen a lot of criticism for LJL and a lot of messages on radio saying he cost us and he's to blame blah blah blah. Him and Pittman worked well and LJL only missed the one chance with that lob. Many saying Hannah should have came on earlier but I'd struggle to choose who should've made way for him.

I can see why Hurst picked Disley today. Maybe not everyone agrees, and I don't think I'd have changed Paddy for him personally.  But there was logic behind it and it's not a decision to batter him for. Disley's good in the air and against a team that put the ball in the air a lot, his spring and timing of jumps helped us in there. And his recent record of scoring at Sincil Bank continued.

The biggest mistake Hurst made, IMO, was not sending Doig on as soon as Pearson came off the pitch. You could see from Pearson hobbling off barely able to stand that he wouldn't be able to carry on. And that cost us their 2nd goal with Bignot covering centre-half.

All in all, drunk off we lost but not worried because we looked dangerous going forward and could've had 4 on another day. And the effort was there from our boys, it wasn't for a lack of trying. Onwards and upwards.

Quoted from Perkins

What's with this diamond formation? Completely overrun in midfield for the first thirty minutes. We were so slow coming out of the blocks, very hesitant. Disley the weak link for me despite scoring. Great goal from Pittman, and a great strike from Neilson that rebounded off the post straight to LJL who should have done better. Hesitancy by Bignot caused him to trip their man for a penalty, (It was straight in front of me). this whilst we were down to 10 men. Looked to me like Macca was impeded for their third. Hope Hurst learns from this and doesn't resort to the formation he started with again.

Agree

Disappointing game.
Lincoln should have been out of sight in the first half, we were very lucky to go in at half time level.
We were better in the second half but credit to Lincoln for keeping going at it too the end.
Why does Hurst have to tinker with the formation game after game? Why does he seem to worry how the opposition will play rather than concentrate on our game?
  
No chance of promotion with him in charge.

Quoted from barralad

We'd better rub out his goal then eh?

Right place right time, anyone could have been there.

what else did he do?


Timmo
UTM

Quoted from timmo

Right place right time, anyone could have been there.

what else did he do?


Timmo
UTM

Won quite a few headers and got stuck in. Isn't being in the right place at the right time what it is all about? Given some Town players record in front of goal I'd dispute the "anyone" bit....

Quoted from TAGG

Agree

Disappointing game.
Lincoln should have been out of sight in the first half, we were very lucky to go in at half time level.
We were better in the second half but credit to Lincoln for keeping going at it too the end.
Why does Hurst have to tinker with the formation game after game? Why does he seem to worry how the opposition will play rather than concentrate on our game?
  
No chance of promotion with him in charge.

I can see some of where you are coming from but Lincoln offer a different proposition to most of the teams we play with their aerial bombardment which surely merits some consideration. Disley offers more defensively than Paddy

Quoted from barralad

Won quite a few headers and got stuck in. Isn't being in the right place at the right time what it is all about? Given some Town players record in front of goal I'd dispute the "anyone" bit....

Agreed, however we have built a great understanding between the midfield 3 then change it for no apparent reason (not heard any reason apologies if PH explained) 'don't fix what isn't broken'

I thought at 1st Dis experience and calmness however for me it was wrong.

Timmo
UTM

Quoted from timmo

Agreed, however we have built a great understanding between the midfield 3 then change it for no apparent reason (not heard any reason apologies if PH explained) 'don't fix what isn't broken'

I thought at 1st Dis experience and calmness however for me it was wrong.

Timmo
UTM

Fair dos....

A disappointing evening though I really felt we had put up enough of a fight to deserve to walk away with a point. To take nothing from that was pretty un-just.

I guess there were positives to take from it. We know Lincoln are a better team this year and for the last 10-15 mins of the first half and for the majority of the second were in control and looked good. Some great play from key players, and I really am starting to like Magnay as someone who's extremely composed and confident. Neilson was great too - has a real flourish that I think makes him look like a player from a higher league.

But as others have said, you concede two penalties in a game, you're asking for trouble. Certainly the second penalty, conceded by Bignot - pretty much everyone around me didn't protest it and all said they felt it was pretty clear cut. And credit to Lincoln, I think they did have some good spells in the game and seemed like more than a handful on quite a few occasions so I simply can't say that it was just down to us having an off night - they did play pretty well.

I guess one positive was that walking away from the ground afterwards, I heard several different snippets of conversation from Lincoln fans - one lot said something about Grimsby playing really well, and another defending us against a group of their mates saying that they thought our second goal was exceptional.

I think there was some sloppiness - some bad passing, and a real lack of anything decent in midfield - but there were a lot of positives to take away from tonight.

I just wish sometimes Hurst would play to our strengths and not counter the opposition. Tonight looked like we set up to counter their strength, why not set up to exploit their weaknesses instead?!