Albion’s unlikely task proves to be Mission Imp-ossible
BREWERS CANNOT DENY LINCOLN THE VICTORY TO TAKE THEM TO THE TOP
QUITE a few times in a season, a result defies all logic and an unfancied team pulls off an unexpected good result.
Saturday at Sincil Bank was not one of those days, as Lincoln City did exactly as logic suggested they should and put a demoralised Burton Albion to the sword, cruising to a 5-1 win which sees them leading League One.
The Brewers had lost their previous two games, chipping away at the hope raised by a four-match unbeaten run, and had lost centrehalf Sam Hughes, arguably their best player so far this season, to a serious knee injury.
Lincoln had bounced back from losing successive home games by thrashing Northampton Town 4-0 and were determined to put things right on their own patch, albeit not in front of their own supporters.
The Imps were fired up enough and scarcely needed to be handed two tap-ins in the first seven minutes to set them on their way.
It was the third consecutive game in which the Brewers had seen any hopes of the long-awaited clean sheet blown away inside the first 10 minutes, Ipswich Town having scored in the fourth minute and Doncaster Rovers in the eighth.
Neal Eardley returned to rightback in Hughes’ absence, John Brayford moving across to partner
Michael Bostwick in the middle, but the Albion defence looked pedestrian from the outset.
Colin Daniel, at left-back, was in no man’s land when Lincoln midfielder James Jones unleashed an improbably brilliant 60-yard diagonal pass over his head for Anthony Scolly to run on to down the right in the fourth minute.
The best you could say in Daniel’s defence is that there might not be a better long pass played all season at this level – but he should have been closer to Scully, who drove a low cross across the area which Remy Howarth stretched to turn in from six yards.
Scully was involved again three minutes later, sliding a neat pass through the back line for Tom Hopper to reach on the right bye-line.
His low cross perhaps ought to have been cut out by Kieran O’Hara but it skimmed off the goalkeeper and was turned in by Brennan Johnson from a yard.
Johnson, on loan from Nottingham Forest, looks a real talent and he tormented the Brewers all day with his eager running and quick feet. By the end of the game he had taken his tally to four goals in two games.
At 2-0 with 38 minutes of the half remaining, a seriously embarrassing rout was on the cards and Lincoln might have had a third in the 10th minute when Scully ran 50 yards with the ball then seemed to have too many options and waited too long to decide on one.
After that, Lincoln seemed content with what they had and the Brewers saw a little more of the ball.
Charles Vernam, again their brightest attacker, hit two shots well off target and Lucas Akins fired over from the edge of the box before Johnson sidefooted a chance wide for Lincoln from Scully’s latest delivery.
Two moments might have given Burton a sniff. With his third attempt, after 33 minutes, Vernam cut inside purposefully from the left and curled a good effort narrowly wide.
After 38 minutes, Ciaran Gilligan made a determined break forward and slid a low shot just the wrong side of Alex Palmer’s right-hand post.
If either of those had gone in, who knows?
But let’s be realistic. Lincoln were still quicker to the ball and more inventive. The Brewers were shading possession but, as so often this season, their opponents are content to let them pass it neatly until the only option left is a ball lifted hopefully forward, where Akins is not at his best being asked to hold the ball up.
Johnson might have made it three five minutes after half-time when a quick shuffle on the edge of the box bought him a yard of space but he shot wastefully over.
Lincoln, full of confidence, did not have to wait long.
In the 56th minute, Scully’s audacious dummy allowed the ball to run for overlapping right-back TJ Eyoma.
His low cross was another of those – there have been far too many – that required a hefty boot clear before it reached Howarth beyond the far post.
The Lincoln man improved his angle and shot, O’Hara parried and Scully was there to turn in the goal his performance deserved.
Manager Jake Buxton made three changes after an hour, Kane Hemmings, Kieran Wallace and Steven Lawless replacing Daniel, Vernam and Ryan Edwards, who is struggling to get into games since being asked to play on the right wing.
It made no difference. Michael Bostwick’s pass to Gilligan on the edge of his own box was ill-advised when a full clearance would surely have been the better option and Johnson nicked the ball from the Burton midfielder before slotting in the fourth goal.
The Brewers were a shambles at this stage but they were gifted a goal back in the 74th minute when centre-back Lewis Montsma left the ball for his goalkeeper, who had already decided not to come for it, and Hemmings nipped between them to slide the ball into the net.
They might have had another when Akins nicked the ball on the edge of the Lincoln area and Joe Powell teed up Hemmings, who shot over from 10 yards.
All that was left to rub salt in Burton’s wounds was a slice of illluck and that arrived after 81 minutes, when substitute Harry
Anderson’s shot from 25 yards took a big deflection off Bostwick to loop over a helpless O’Hara.
Frankly, it is hard to see where Buxton goes from here. He is losing patience with players who have previously shown they are better than the performances suggest – few supporters were complaining when the summer signings were made.
The players do not appear to be responding to the manager but it is, as he said afterwards, December, not April. It is way too soon for anyone to be accepting that relegation is inevitable.