The Imps grabbed a vital but very nervy 2-1 win against Tamworth this weekend at Sincil Bank. This win now sees the Imps pull out a four-point gap between themselves and Stockport, who occupy the last relegation place. The Imps did concede the first goal of the match after only seven minutes of the match after Dan Gray headed into his own net. But the second half was a different story for the Imps firstly, Jamie Taylor equalised for the Imps before Alan Power, with less than ten minutes of the match to go, scored the winner from the penalty spot.
Manager Gary Simpson was forced into changes to the back line with the suspension of Andrew Boyce. Miller moved to centre back with Nicolau coming in at left back. The midfield saw Jordan occupy the left midfield spot with Power returning to the starting line up in the centre alongside Turnbull. Oliver and Taylor started in attack in what was a 4-4-2 formation for the Imps.
Tamworth got the game underway kicking off attacking the Stacey West stand in front of an inflated crowd of 3,174 supporters of which 132 travelled to support the away side. The match had barely got underway though before a killer blow to the Imps hopes of staying up occurred. A Tamworth break resulted in a cross from the right from Till going into the back of the Imps net via the head of Dan Gray, who got his angles completely wrong.
An awful start for the Imps and the pressure really was on now with everyone in attendance knowing that all three points were a must to help the Imps fight against relegation. The one positive note form this goal was that the Imps now knew that they had to attack and go for the win for the remaining 80 or so minutes. Following this goal the game entered a very scrappy phase, both sides once more electing to use the air instead of the pitch to play on.
As the game edged towards the half time break the match remained awful to watch with neither side showing any quality with the ball. Cunnington was shown a very harsh yellow for kicking the ball away, when, from where I was it looked as though he was genuinely trying to flick the ball on. There was two minutes added on but these passed by quickly and an awful advert for football reached half time with the Imps knowing they had to improve and fast.
The sides emerged from the break unchanged and the Imps kicked off attacking the Stacey West knowing that they had to score to stand a good chance of going into the last match of the season with hopes of staying up. The Imps did start the brighter, Power having a shot blocked for a corner before Oliver had a header claimed by Breedon.
Darren Byfield had calls for a penalty after a tangle with Brown in the box fall on deaf ears before a swift break from the Imps resulted in Power wasting a good chance as his shot flew well over the bar. Shortly after this the Imps then had two good efforts brilliantly denied by Breedon. Firstly Oliver then Taylor having good efforts kept out.
The Imps did finally make a much-needed change with the, again, ineffective Jordan replaced by Jake Jones down the left wing, he brought pace and skill, the complete opposite of what Jordan offered down the left flank. The Imps did finally pull level through no other than top scorer Jamie Taylor.
A cross from the right by full-back Gray was met by Taylor who saw his header drop right into the bottom corner of the net giving Breedon no chance, although he did look to leave it too late before attempting to get across his goal. The relief from the crowd was massive, one more goal was needed now for the Imps.
Oliver cam close to getting on the end of a good cross from Nicolau but sadly he just couldn`t make contact as Breedon again misjudged the ball. A superb run from sub Jones saw him jink past two players on the left before he strode into the box cutting in on his favoured right foot. He then set up a chance for Taylor, but sadly this was blocked for a corner that resulted in nothing for the Imps. The Imps were applying the pressure now though and it appeared that only one side would go on to win the match.
The Imps made their second change of the match with ten minutes of the match remaining. Nicky Nicolau was replaced by Craig Hobson. This resulted in a switch at the back with Gray going to left back and Sheridan reverting to right back as the side lined up in a 4-3-3 formation looking to get that crucial winning goal.
The Imps didn`t have to wait too long though for the opportunity. Jake Jones used his pace to just get in front of Sam Oji just as he looked to clear the ball away, Jones nipped the ball away before Oji caught him and the ref had no hesitation to point to the spot. Alan Power picked up the ball and the captain took the responsibility. He stroked the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal and gave the Imps a massive and crucial lead with just over five minutes of the match remaining.
The final few minutes passed with the Imps taking their time over everything and running the ball into the corners to ensure that they did not surrender these vital three points. The ref did finally blow the whistle and the relief from the stands was clearly evident with many running on to the pitch in celebration.
Whilst the win was crucial again we saw an awful performance for the Imps for the first half and the second half showed how much better the side are if they actually play football and use the ability of Power, Taylor and Jones on the deck. We posed far more threat playing this way than the hit and hope we saw in the first half. For me, there was nothing to celebrate at the end of this match an awful season and big questions must be answered in the summer and changes are needed or else we will yet again be in this position next season.
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