Views from Joseph Lovett following Saturday’s 1-1 draw at home against Cambridge United in Sky Bet League Two: “Well, only one place to start on that game. The red and the inept ref. I am gutted for Chapman because that was a rare chance for him to show what he was capable of, and for the 21 minutes he was on the pitch he looked a quality prospect. On first viewing, I was shocked when I saw the referee reach for his pocket as I didn’t think it warranted a yellow. Then to see the red appear was beyond baffling after no consultation with the linesmen (who must have had a better view). I thought maybe the tackle was worse than it looked and maybe there were raised studs. On viewing available clips back it seems that my gut instinct was correct. Unfortunately for the referee, he didn’t improve during the game. He missed two stonewall penalties, one for each team, and completely lost control of the game with the home fans understandably giving him some grief. He even struggled with simple decisions. The half-time interval came at a good time for the referee, a statement that should never be made during a football match. Mercifully for him, the game simmered down second half.
Taking away the red card I think a draw was probably a fair result, though we arguably created the better chances. The stats will show that Cambridge had a bucket load of shots, but most of them were potshots from outside the area. They played some neat stuff today, but take that with a pinch of salt since the majority of that was against 10 men. They could continue to struggle if they can’t improve their finishing.
The two goals were both superb. Ours came from fantastic work from Andrade to win the ball and deliver a peach of a cross for Rhead. I didn’t think Rhead would reach it but pulls off a superb header. At that point, I thought we would be comfortable after Andrade put in another dangerous ball. Then out of nowhere Cambridge score an incredible solo goal, one that had the home fans applauding.
Despite being down to 10 men for 70 minutes we created some good chances and probably should have scored at least one more. Bostwick missed a sitter, we had two cleared off the line and a couple of goalmouth scrambles. However, what a fantastic effort from everyone to not concede when down to 10 men. Credit to all the players for putting an incredible shift in.
Genuinely think that a point today in the circumstances is a brilliant result, though I have no doubt we would have taken all three if we had a half decent ref. Thankfully the results went our way today as well so very minimal damage done towards our promotion push this weekend.
Unfortunately for us, we’ve got a game on Tuesday. Last Tuesday match against Tranmere we had we looked very tired at the end of the match and today won’t help! Key that we start the game well and take a lead. Fingers crossed the appeal is overturned and some of our injured players return.”
More views from the Match Thread:
Luke Imp: “When the opposition manager and the player the ‘foul’ was on tell you that they’ll help in the appeal process, that tells you all you need to know.
Ruined what was turning out to be a good, open game of football.
Missing Shackell, O’Connor and Frecklington with Akinde only on the bench, making a double change and formation change after the sending off wasn’t ideal.
Two good goals, a good penalty shout for each side turned down 30 seconds apart but a game where Cambridge’s cautious nature after our sending off meant that neither side created much after the 20-minute mark.
Cambridge looked neat and tidy, but a little Crewe like. Easy on the eye, looked like something could happen but invariably didn’t.”
gijsbert_bos: “Not convinced that was a red card. I’ve looked at it a few times on iFollow and the ref was in a good position but I’ve no idea how he made that decision. I think everyone was shocked that he pulled out a red.”
Thank you to Graham Burrell and Lincoln City Football Club for the photograph!
"Credit to all the players for putting an incredible shift in.":https://t.co/1imVq93Fl9#ImpsAsOne #CamUTD #EFL
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) October 22, 2018
https://www.facebook.com/VitalLincolnCity/posts/1899438246759078
Sincil Bank Stadium
Sky Bet League Two
20/10/2018 8:45 pm
Attendance: 9108
Referee: Lee Collins
| Lincoln City | Cambridge United | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhead 6' | Brown 11' | ||||||
| Vickers | Forde | ||||||
| Wharton | Halliday | ||||||
| Pett | Taft | ||||||
| Rhead | 34' | Taylor | |||||
| Andrade | Deegan | ||||||
| Chapman | O'Neil | 46' | |||||
| Toffolo | Azeez | 90+1' | |||||
| Bostwick | Maris | 88' | |||||
| McCartan | 76' | Lambe | |||||
| Eardley | Brown | ||||||
| Anderson | 32' | John | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Slocombe | Iron | ||||||
| Gordon | Amoo | 46' | |||||
| Green | 76' | Osadebe | 88' | ||||
| Wilson | 32' | Darling | |||||
| Mensah | Foy | ||||||
| Akinde | 34' | Lewis | 90+1' | ||||
| Adebayo-Smith | Knowles | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 9 | Goal attempts | 18 |
| 1 | On Target | 7 |
| 9 | Corners | 7 |
| 11 | Fouls | 9 |
| 1 | Yellow Cards | 3 |
| 1 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 43 | % | 57 |