Match Thread Lincoln

Subs are Cartwright, Waterfall, Amos, Efete, Green, Holohan, Khouri, Wilson

Looks like 4-4-2. I wonder if this is going to be Hurst's 1st eleven or he's still unsure.

Looks like 4-2-3-1 to me, unless it’s already kicked off and I’m talking out my bottom!

Quoted from Brummie Codfather

Looks like 4-2-3-1 to me, unless it’s already kicked off and I’m talking out my bottom!

Kick off 7.30

Quoted from DB

Looks like 4-4-2. I wonder if this is going to be Hurst's 1st eleven or he's still unsure.

I’m sure that if the season kicked off now, it’d be his first eleven. But, I’m also sure that it isn’t set in stone just yet.

Lincoln playing there reserves/young team

Bit underwhelmed imps playing a mix of trialists & youth team , expect this to be 6/7 zero to be honest , payed for ticket thinking it be a good test for us

Is it possible to show squad numbers?

Quoted from fishcake63

Bit underwhelmed imps playing a mix of trialists & youth team , expect this to be 6/7 zero to be honest , payed for ticket thinking it be a good test for us

Really!  Very surprising as it's only 11 days to first match of the season.

Apparently saving their first team for a home game against Rotherham because that's a bigger deal than this game I guess. No wonder the excuses came rolling in if they knew this was happening and it could end up a cricket score.

Pitch is looking good, lets hope it can stand up to the heavy rain forecast.

Good test for the new drainage system

Quoted from 123614

Pitch is looking good, lets hope it can stand up to the heavy rain forecast.

Just a shower forecast now

Quoted from fishcake63

Bit underwhelmed imps playing a mix of trialists & youth team , expect this to be 6/7 zero to be honest , payed for ticket thinking it be a good test for us

Think you’ll be slightly disappointed if you think it’s going to be 6 or 7 nil…

Quoted from out of town

Think you’ll be slightly disappointed if you think it’s going to be 6 or 7 nil…

This.

Anyone not got sound?

Quoted from monkeyboy

Anyone not got sound?

No
Boooooo

I've got sound..

25 minutes in, enjoying it so far. Passing is good and created a few half chances it's just that final ball.

1-0 Hunt

Great finish from Hunt that following some lovely football.

From a tight angle, great goal.

Cracking goal from Hunt.

Glad to see Hunt get a goal, looked good in the first 30 minutes and deserves it. Didn't quite work out for him last season, struggled in the defensive position he was being played in but a natural passer of the ball and set pieces. If he can regain that confidence and swagger he had when we had him on loan he'll be a hell of a player in L2.

good save by Eastwood

Got to say no4 for Lincoln is massively standing out for them. Trialist family must be proud

2-0 Town get in.

2 0 Rose. Another good goal.


For those interested their no4 is Jordan Willis.

Another lovely finish Rose 2-0

Another good goal for Rose, 2 0 up

Nicely placed finish

Pre season results mean nothing but I’m liking the way the team is chasing every ball and and knocking it about.

Quoted from grimps

Pre season results mean nothing but I’m liking the way the team is chasing every ball and and knocking it about.

Unless you win  

You can only play whats infront of you and results in pre season mean nothing but the way you play means a bit.
We are clearly looking to play the ball on the deck as much as possible and its been great to see.

Good 1st half from the new look Town. Passing well and 2 excellent goals.

I think a water mains has burst!

we're doing well but the opposition is very weak.

Nice half of football. Took us a bit to wake up , but once we did Lincoln haven't really been in it. High press, fast pass and movr football and we've been rewarded with2 good goals.

I like the look of Trialist A for them though. He's been their best player easy.

2 good finishes by Town, due to poor defending and 2 decent saves by your keeper - that’s been the difference.

None of these Imps look like they’re gonna threaten the starting X1 v Bolton, so hopefully the entire subs bench will come on after the break.

So has Waterfall lost the Captaincy now, as I think this is the 2nd or 3rd match that Danny Rose has been given the armband.

Captain on the pitch needs to start. Expect Waterfall is still club captain. Let’s nick trialist A.

Comfortable enough...slowish first 20 mins with possession but no cutting edge....final pass, not picking out players when crossing /pulling back.
Eisa dropped inside and has sparked some life into it ...nicely worked goal from Hunt from some intricate play...all one way and nice interplay now between midfield and front players....although Vernam for me virtually anonymous.  Unfortunately the feed froze for the second goal so no idea other than Rose scored.

Lincoln are poor but not their first team after all.

Pattern of play is patient build up, to feet and fairly narrow, no width hugging wingers in evidence so far. Albeit it looks nice but given the level of opposition would have preferred to have seen more attempts on goal for the possession we have had.

We've signed some good players and we look organised. They are weakened but we are right at it.

Really liking Rose.

Quoted from DB

Good 1st half from the new look Town. Passing well and 2 excellent goals.

You wouldn't mind Town play like this when the season starts properly.

Quoted from lukeo

2 0 Rose. Another good goal.


For those interested their no4 is Jordan Willis.

Good experience  and played at a good level


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Willis_(footballer)

Impressed with Conteh so far.

Bit surprised we haven’t made loads of subs

Quoted from chaos33

Bit surprised we haven’t made loads of subs

Hurst often treats the last couple if preseasom friendlies more like real games with his subs

Quoted from chaos33

Bit surprised we haven’t made loads of subs

We play Boston away tomorrow night. I'm sure they'll all get a run out then.

How'd he miss that! Vernam did all the hard work and flopped the finish

We've changed our shape at galf time haven't we? Eisa has come inside and taken up more of a no.10 role looks more like a 4231 now compared to the 433 in the 1st half.

Another good save by Eastwood

Town looking very good tonight

Vernam not happy with that challenge, holding his face.

Here's the rain that was forecast.

Fair few first-framers off the bench for Lincoln. Should be a bit more of a challenge for the last 30. Be interesting to see how we cope.

Lincoln looking sharper since bringing all the subs on

Quoted from Poojah

Fair few first-framers off the bench for Lincoln. Should be a bit more of a challenge for the last 30. Be interesting to see how we cope.

Lincoln has stepped up the pace a bit so not as one sided now, but Town keeping shape and are doing well.

Amazes me how much the refs let players nick yards on throw-ins these days, Town player just nicked about 10 yards.

Quoted from DB

Subs are Cartwright, Waterfall, Amos, Efete, Green, Holohan, Khouri, Wilson

I assume Khan won’t feature so much in these games given his international duty

Yet another good save from Eastwood, he's having a good game.

Yeah where is Khan?

Something tells me we will not miss crocome much

Does Eastwood suffer with cramp ?

Eastwood been mom for me 3 or 4 extremly good saves

Really impressed with Eastwood tonight

One of the best keeping displays I've seen from a town keeper in the last few years, even for a friendly he made 3 or 4 quality safes. Came out twice sharply and dealt with crosses well.

Lincoln named a strong bench so it wasn't surprising they took control more last 20 minutes when they made 8 changes.

Very good display, well worth £5. UTM

Well that was pretty pathetic from an Imps perspective …. your keeper & No:7 looked outstanding though.

The sooner Tyler Walker gets fit the better.

Many thought Max was good and he was but Eastwood has moved the keepers job up a few notches and given one of the best displays in years. Command his box and area well as well as shot stopping.

Any one getting wet ?

Quoted from denni266

Any one getting wet ?

Only the inside of me. Cheers

Quoted from fishcake63

Eastwood been mom for me 3 or 4 extremly good saves

Yep, Eastwood was excellent and you’d assume based on the fact he got the full 90 minutes tonight, and played so well, that he’ll have possession of the shirt as we go into the season.

In many ways, a useful outing tonight - the first 60 minutes gave us the opportunity to work on our attacking shape whilst Lincoln’s changes for the last 30 gave us more of a defensive workout.

I enjoyed the style of play for the most part, and thought we scored two really good goals with the help of two clinical finishes (something we didn’t see enough of last season). The exception perhaps Vernam’s shanked open goal, but it was a nice move all the same and he did well in rounding the ‘keeper.

It also occurred to me tonight that at some point this season, a commentator, most likely JT, is going to mix up their Conteh’s and their Hunt’s and say a very rude word live on air. When the inevitable happens, my inner 13-year old (who still does most of my critical thinking tbf) is going to find that mightily amusing.

Enjoyable watch. Can’t ask for much more than that from a pre-season friendly.

Quoted from denni266

Any one getting wet ?

I’m excited but it was only a friendly.

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

I’m excited but it was only a friendly.

Really enjoyed that game.

The first hour showcased some lovely football and we were head and shoulders the better side. You can make your own judgements about youth/trialists etc and I'm of the belief it does make life easier but you still have to make the ball work for you.

Regardless of the standard I really liked the manner in which we went about things and I think there was a lot more intricacy and relationships on show than last season. Just that little bit more 'in-tune' when trying to progress forward and an air of control and comfort playing across the back into midfield.

I'm expecting the first game at Wimbledon to be more tough and we'll certainly have to earn our points this season but if that's a marker for how we aim to go about our business then I think we should get some exciting games at BP, I definitely hope so at least.

Two notes within the game that threw up some cautions; Rodgers and Maher at times came well out from the back line to press and win the ball. Personally I love that and hope we keep at it but I think teams with quick attackers who move the ball fast may find that a worthwhile avenue to exploit. Naturally I have utmost trust that PH knows exactly what he's doing and what the 'safety' is in that manner of defending.

The second one was how the pace and rhythm changed when Lincoln brought on their first teamers. Whether that was partially by design to adopt a different strategy to see the game out and conserve energy or whether Lincoln gained the upper hand on ability alone it did bring a sense of reality that good as the first hour was the game isn't going to be that easy throughout the 90 minutes.

Final one for me is echoing what others have already said about Eastwood. Really enjoyed his second half performance and can't really argue with those who've submitted him as MoM. Hard to pick as good performances all over but just his general availability to play out, his reading of the game and the decisions alongside that coupled with some great saves suggests he's nothing like the keeper Rochdale fans seem to paint him as and hopefully he can keep that level up. If he does then he could establish himself very much a fans favourite.

Positives - Mullarkey, Conteh, Hunt, Eastwood, Maher, Rodgers, Eisa , Glennon all looked good tonight and pretty comfortable to have the ball even when under pressure

Middling - Clifton, didn't influence alot for me this evening. Rose a little isolated,  worked but didn't look too threatening in himself ( caveat...my feed to the game froze just before his goal so no idea how he scored )

Negative - Vernam looked ineffective other than a few minutes around his scuffed chance when he rounded the keeper.

I guess Lincolns board will be full of ..."its only their second string excuses " then..

Quoted from moosey_club

Rose a little isolated,  worked but didn't look too threatening in himself ( caveat...my feed to the game froze just before his goal so no idea how he scored )

It was a really smart finish, smashed across the goal from just inside the box (or at least that’s my recollection of it).

How strong a Lincoln side was that?

Have had two payment acknowledgements through from the service provider for tonight's PPV...separate transaction numbers both for a £5 ...anyone else had same ?

As others have said it was "only" a friendly, although it was played at the tempo and intensity of a competitive fixture. But   that was an entertaining match and Town were impressive. I don't use that word lightly. There was a confidence and swagger in their play, that it was hard to believe many of the players have only been playing together for a few weeks. You would have honestly thought we were the league one team, such was the way we out performed them in all areas of play, especially during the first half. Yes I know it was only a friendly, but i've a really good feeling about the coming season and think were in for a hell of a ride. UTM!!

Hugely impressive first half.

Eastwood looked extremely assured & a good base to build upon.

Mullarkey absolutely nailed on to be a fans favourite.

Conteh… I’ll tell you now, he’ll go for a lot of money.

Rose, he’s going to be our lynchpin this season. Everything came through him & it was effective. However, we need to ensure that we have a replacement for him in case of injury/suspension. If I was going to be ultra critical, I do wonder if we’ll be a little bit predictable but teams will struggle to defend against his hold up play, supported by the pace around him.

Great evening at BP.

Was against a Lincoln reserve side with trialists and youth so not gonna get too carried away.

Rose is very good, with a great leap, thought Eisa looked handy and Eastwood in goal looked very assured

Vernam not really in the game, much like the Hull game.

Good to be back at a rainy BP In the summer months though

Quoted from moosey_club

Positives - Mullarkey, Conteh, Hunt, Eastwood, Maher, Rodgers, Eisa , Glennon all looked good tonight and pretty comfortable to have the ball even when under pressure

Middling - Clifton, didn't influence alot for me this evening. Rose a little isolated,  worked but didn't look too threatening in himself ( caveat...my feed to the game froze just before his goal so no idea how he scored )

Negative - Vernam looked ineffective other than a few minutes around his scuffed chance when he rounded the keeper.

I guess Lincolns board will be full of ..."its only their second string excuses " then..

Agree with most of that . A little harsh on Rose. Vernam the one worry at this stage.

Rekeil Pyke injured?

Like others have said it was an entertaining game and whilst Lincoln didn’t field their strongest team the fact that a number thought Eastwood was MOM demonstrates that it was still a competitive game.

My initial impression is that we are destined for more entertaining matches at BP this season and those not renewing season tickets may regret that decision. We tried to play the ball on the floor and whilst there was the obligatory passing amongst the back four this was minimal and in Hunt and Conteh we have two players who want to receive the ball and get it moving forwards with a number of quick interchanges involving a number of players. Agree with poster above re Conteh and whilst I don’t want to get carried away he looks like our own version of Jude Bellingham, big strong good on the ball he always seemed to be in the right place to pick up the loose ball. Looks like I did get carried away but he looks the real deal but let’s hope he reproduces this come the leagues start.

Thought Harry struggled to get in the game in a pretty unfamiliar number 8 role first half and although a bit more involved second half it was not his best game but that’s no big deal. Only disappointing aspect for me was Vernam’s performance but as with Harry you rarely get all eleven having good games on the same night.

Will finally sign off with praise for Rodgers and Maher who will take some shifting as first choices but Waterfall has overcome bigger hurdles so excellent choices at the back.

I really liked the dynamic between Hunt, Conteh and Clifton in midfield tonight. Think that trio has real potential.

Really enjoyed that if I’m honest. I know there’s issues with the strength of squad Lincoln brought but you can only play what’s infront of you.

Thought we played some really good, entertaining stuff and you even saw the forward line starting to gel as the game progressed. The intensity of the pressing was good and like against Hull we look like we can nick it high up and that will make us very dangerous in the League. Overall though we just look an awful lot more comfortable on the ball which should solve some of the frustrations from last year where we just missed the killer bit in our play.

There was one move in the first half which ended up with Glennon putting a really good ball in that narrowly missed our oncoming player (couldn’t see but assume it was Clifton) the interplay and movement to create that was very very good.

A few thoughts;

Eastwood: Honestly, as I said at the time, never understood the issue some had with him he’s a very capable keeper and showed us that when he was here a few years back. He had a really good game tonight. Looks confident and assured, a few good saves and dominates the area better than I remember. The one where he shot off his line to collect at a strikers feet was great and probably went under the radar.

Rodgers looks a massive addition.

Mullarkey ahead of Efete for me. Defensively looks very sound and when further up has a little more confidence and directness about what he does and linking with the winger/overlapping etc.

Hunt: we know he’s good on the ball but he’s definitely been in the gym this summer. A few occasions he out muscled their midfielders and if he can now add that to his game, he will be a much improved player. Think him and Conteh compliment each other well.

Conteh - wow. That’s it really…

Everyone had good games but they’re the things that stood out for me. Obviously tired and Lincoln dominated the ball more second half but that isnt surprising when they made 8 subs with fresh legs, encouraging it didn’t cause to many problems in our defensive third even if we did start to lose out in midfield.

Early days… but we may, just May, have a team on our hands here!

(Special mention to Danny Rose being a proper shitehouse aswell, in a pre season friendly - love it)

Quoted from ChannelMariner

Rekeil Pyke injured?

Yes.

Eastwood was the pick of the "new" signings for me, very impressive and having Cartwright pushing for the first team will mean that he has to maintain this level of performance. Eisa's performance was promising as well, the way he switched between inside and out wide will be a nightmare for most defenders at this level. Hunt looks ready to be a regular starter but I thought Conteh looked like Hunt last year - flashes of potential but not quite there yet. Exciting times with a team looking to play on the front foot.

Worth every penny yesterday for me.

Watched it on Mariner TV. Couldn't comment on this game as I didn't have a clue what was happening with picture freezing every 10 secs. and urine poor commentary. Enjoyed reading the match thread on here though. Can't wait for the season to start and get back to B.P.

Quoted from golfer

Watched it on Mariner TV. Couldn't comment on this game as I didn't have a clue what was happening with picture freezing every 10 secs. and urine poor commentary. Enjoyed reading the match thread on here though. Can't wait for the season to start and get back to B.P.

Watched the stream and  it was perfect, not a single frame drop or stutter, might be worth checking your broadband. John Moore's a bit meh for me, don't mind him but I'd go for the commentator/co-commentator any day, though for a £5 friendly I don't mind us keeping it basic.

Don't you just love football forums!
The fishy - generally great performance, full of promise for the new season
Vital Lincoln - based on the first half against our juniors, if that was the cods starting line up they're going to struggle this season

Quoted from buckstown

Don't you just love football forums!
The fishy - generally great performance, full of promise for the new season
Vital Lincoln - based on the first half against our juniors, if that was the cods starting line up they're going to struggle this season

I didn't spot many Lincoln fans doing 'high sixes' last night.  

Lincoln fans last night were a pretty subdued lot nothing for them to cheer about, content with kicking a ball around the stand to ease their embarrassment, what a waste of money following that shower

Quoted from Surrey97

I really liked the dynamic between Hunt, Conteh and Clifton in midfield tonight. Think that trio has real potential.

Agreed.  I think the signing of Conteh pushes others in the team and the team overall to the next level.  He's a proper holding midfielder, not someone who can just take the ball of the defenders and/or protect them.  I took a bit of time in the second half to watch his movement and he's literally a linchpin, his movement dictates everything around him.  The way he takes the ball under pressure and moves opposition sides will open up teams for fun in League Two.  It was joyful watching Lincoln try a high press on him and get dragged about like unorganised schoolkids.    

Conteh in that role frees up Hunt too.  Was speaking to my brother-in-law the other week, as a Wednesday fan he's got a fleeting interest in Hunt's development was genuinely surprised we were using him in that No.4 type role.  Said he was always viewed at Wednesday as someone who would play further forward, an understudy to Barry Bannan is how he described him.  

Hunt himself has clearly bulked up and that's only going to help his game.  But getting him further forward where he can unlock teams is very exciting.  I thought Clifton, Vernam and Eisa all drifted in and out the game, not at all concerned by that.  We know what Clifton is about.  Vernam and Eisa are probably going to do that most the season, if they had anything near 100% consistency they wouldn't be dicking about at this level.  What I like about how Hurst has built this team is that there's so much going forward.  If the wingers aren't doing much, the overlapping full-backs will offer something.  There's two guys in midfield who are pressing high, helped by Rose pulling defenders out of position.  

Eastwood looked great.  Big, commanding, distributed well with hands and feet and some very smart saves.  

Maher and Rodgers look a hell of a pairing.  Both good on the deck, strong in the air and we don't look like we'll struggle for pace either.  Was impressed again with Mullarkey too, hope he was just taken off as a pre-caution.

Reserves or not, we schooled Lincoln in that first half. Some of our play was an absolute joy to watch.  Second half we tired and they brought a stronger side on who were fresh, was only going to swing the balance of play.

Deluge of rain mid-game and then just as leaving the ground, thought I'd escaped it.  5 minute walk back to the car and it looked and felt like I'd swam the Humber.  Sods law that it eased off the moment you get in the car too.  July, eh?

Quoted from buckstown

Don't you just love football forums!
The fishy - generally great performance, full of promise for the new season
Vital Lincoln - based on the first half against our juniors, if that was the cods starting line up they're going to struggle this season

I wouldn't worry about Vitals and their opinions as you suggest forums will always be biased.

The reality is always probably in between the two - The team we played for the first 65 minutes bar maybe 1 player will not be near our 1st team - but to limit a strong L2 side to 2 goals I think bodes well for their development. The last 25 odd minutes probably had 7-8 of our first team, maybe Tyler walker gets added to that, and I am pretty certain we will add another player or two. From what I gather we were the better side for this last part of the match and your keeper was outstanding.

I have read a few posts on here suggesting we were almost arrogant by playing our reserve side against you, but is much more down to science with pre season and putting certain minutes in legs - Hurst would have known this - Kennedy put this message on our website so it was not a secret. We put our 1st team out against Boston United and beat them 7-0, you will probably play your second string?

I think we all acknowledge that Vitals is the place where serious football discussion goes to die. Even Norfolk Imp incurred the wrath of Vitals Admin, sorry, 'owner' when questioning their performance and daring to praise a couple of Town players.

No struggles this season, this is a team that more than comfortably competed in last seasons L2 that has now had extra strength and skill added to all areas.
Apparently we're all so happy to have won 2-0 against their 'kids and trialists'...no, we're happy bc even when Lincoln threw on SEVEN subs and effectively made their team a more than half decent outfit we simply changed gear and while Lincoln improved a lot we still had it in us to contain them, despite just one sub. Eastwood made some very good saves and had an excellent game but the shots were hardly peppering his goal.

In the true nature of friendly games we had a couple of questions and even slight doubts answered in the game and saw that the fitness, strength and passing game is coming along nicely while Lincoln probably took away more questions than answers.