Views from Merthyr Imp following yesterday’s 1-0 win away at Burton Albion in League One: “OK, got home in time for Match of the Day, now here’s my thoughts before looking at any reports or highlights or reading through this thread.
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If we’d kept it as 11 v 11 I think we would have won comfortably – as it was we still could have done if we’d been able to put the ball in the net. Burton looked very limited and their main way of preventing us playing seemed to be to scythe down anyone (usually Bishop) who looked like breaking forward. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a team have eight players booked before. It was unfortunate that unlike with us the yellow cards were shown to all different players. Mitchell’s first booking looked very harsh.
It looked like we should have had a penalty near the end.
The man of the match for me was Erhahon. Draper did well, but bringing House on for him at that time was a good move, and showed the advantage of being able to bring someone like him on that stage rather than – with all due respect to him – Jovon Makama.
Burton rarely made their extra man count, and the longer the game went on the less they seemed likely to get anything out of it – all down to our hard work. As for the nine minutes of added time – more than I expected, but Lasse Sorensen must have taken about four minutes doing his laces up!”
More views from the Match Thread:
Luke Imp: “Well done, Imps! Cracking result given the circumstances. Burton didn’t exactly need any encouragement being a niggly side having been managed by Dino but Patterson was a niggly, annoying striker as a player so they’ll be well versed in that side of the game for a little while longer.
Important that we got another win on the board with performances improving over the last handful of games and a good start to what is a better February fixture-wise than December/January.
Never underestimate the out-of-possession stuff, clean sheets are the foundations you need for games like we’ve had in the last three. Yes, you get the Bolton-type ones where you’re on the wrong end of a narrow result but you also get the ones like today. Excellent stuff.”
azz_88: “What a big win and under such tough circumstances. So proud of the players.
Switch from defensive 5 at the back to 4 at the back and having more presence in midfield and 3 clean sheets follow plus lots of chances created. Actually been enjoyable to watch us on this mini run (ignoring the first half vs Wycombe). Hope we stick to playing Reeco on the wing and not up top though as he’s so effective there.
Really nice feeling to be excited to watch us play again and for the future!”
sedgleyimp: “A single word will do for that win today. Resilience. It was far from a pretty game but one we had to dig deep to get the 3 points. Difficult playing conditions. A pitch that was not in good condition. Then a referee who did neither side any favours. Couple that with opponents who were very physical and had a basic tactic of lump it long, lump it high and repeat. In fact that persistence with that tactic helped us cope with going down to 10 men. You have to spread the game against teams with fewer bodies. They never really looked to do that I thought and especially Jacko and the other defenders will deal with that all day long. Even down to 10 men so early in the game, I thought we always looked the more likely to score and if we had stretched the lead in that second half I don’t think Burton could have had any complaints.
Important win for confidence as much as the 3 points in themselves. Our first Saturday win since October I think and it is good to get that little monkey off our back.
A good day out.”
QUIZ: How much can you remember from last season’s match at the Pirelli Stadium versus Burton Albion? Have a go below!
"If we'd kept it as 11 v 11 I think we would have won comfortably." (opinion):https://t.co/dsvy8neLzf#BAFC #WeAreImps
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) February 4, 2024
