APPLETON PUZZLED BY BOLGER’S DISMISSAL
MICHAEL Appleton was left with mixed feelings after his Lincoln side were held, despite going down to ten men late on against Shrewsbury.
Neither side did enough to win the game during a largely dour contest at Sincil Bank. The main talking point of the night revolved around the red card dished out to Cian Bolger in the 80th minute after he was adjudged to have caught Shrews substitute Shaun Whalley with a stray arm.
City then had to weather a bout of Shrewsbury pressure, with goalkeeper Josh Vickers making good saves to ensure Appleton’s side took a point from the contest.
“It was a mixture of everything,” said Appleton, when asked for his verdict on the performance.
“Coming off the pitch with a clean sheet, having spent 15 or so minutes playing with ten men, was something.
“My initial thought was frustration but, at the same time, we’ve kept a clean sheet and got a decent point.
“Of the performances so far in the league games [in his month in charge], that was below par. In the first 25 minutes we moved the ball quite well and looked threatening, but then fizzled out.”
On the red card, Appleton said: “I’ve watched it back ten times and I still cannot tell what happened. I think Cian has put an arm across his [Whalley’s] body, but I don’t think his arm is anywhere near his head. Hopefully someone will have a better camera angle than the one I’ve just seen.” The Imps edged the first 30 minutes with Bruno Andrade, Michael O’Connor and Jorge Grant all off target with efforts.
However, Shrewsbury ended the half well with Jason Cummings firing high and wide just before the break. In the second half, the visitors had the first meaningful shot on target when Sean Goss’s free-kick was beaten away by Vickers.
At the other end, Lincoln’s top scorer, Tyler Walker, had a goal ruled out for offside after John Akinde’s shot had been saved by Max O’Leary.
Town were given a boost in the closing stages when Bolger saw red and they piled on the pressure in search of a late winner, but Vickers kept them at bay with some fine saves.
Shrewsbury boss Sam Ricketts, though, felt the red card was justified.
“The build up to the red card was part of our gameplan,” he said. “We wanted to turn the ball over and use Shaun’s pace. The defender has tried to block Shaun off as he knows he’s never going to beat him for pace.
“It is a red card. I’m not saying he meant it, but I think that should be the outcome.”
On his side’s performance, Ricketts said: “I’m really pleased with the performance overall. We were excellent and you can see an awful lot from the side in terms of improvement.”