Lincoln City 3-0 Blackpool: Post-Match Views & Stats

Views from Luke Imp following Saturday’s 3-0 win at home against Blackpool in League One: “Blackpool could have had 12 players on the pitch and still not scored. I thought they were fairly tidy on the ball but a lot of their possession was in non-threatening areas, we fairly quickly swatted out anything of any note after the first five mins or so when they came at us. Looked a team who were trying to do the right things but couldn’t quite do it. They were also very predictable – they went side to side, into midfield and out again, side to side and always ended up a) hitting CJ Hamilton on the diagonal or whacked it up front to the tallish striker to flick on, so style wise they were neither here nor there. Long story short, don’t get drawn in by their possession stats. I don’t think Lavery going off helped them because they had no threat in behind through the centre of the pitch then. They pressed well too but once we broke through that, their defence was all over the shop I thought and talk about kamikaze defending, what on earth are they doing for all the goals?! The first penalty was a slow motion challenge, how they let Erhahon travel so far is anyone’s guess and did their guy really need to get himself sent off? House was a about to tap it in from a couple of yards?

As for us though, I thought we were our solid self. A couple of dodgy moments, which I think was a consequence of O’Connor and Jackson swapping positions and Burroughs being caught out every so slightly in the opening 20 minutes or so. I mean, it was basically game over at HT wasn’t it because they were never going to score in a month of Sunday’s from the 5th minute onwards.

Today is another example of what happens when you have a strong CM pairing (Erhahon and Hamilton), depth on the bench (Bishop penalty and Walker’s flick in the build up to the foul on House) and a sprinkling of quality (Mandroiu’s flick for Erhahon’s goal) and a strong spine to the team full stop.

Erhahon was outstanding, again, and what a Rolls-Royce player he is. A top, all rounder of a midfielder. Hamilton compliments him very well and had a good game, Mandroiu was quiet because we didn’t have as much of the ball as previous games but without his high risk/high reward mentality we don’t score the second because who tries that kinda flick with their back to goal in that position?! House was a right pain for their defence all game and Sorenson kept his man quiet and running the other way.

Another thing that was really clear is that when we switched from Cowley to Appleton, you could sense the frustration and restlessness in the stadium at times because it was a very, very possession based style and a big change. Last season there was a little bit of that under Kennedy as people wanted us to engage the opposition bit more and higher up the pitch but what struck me today is that there was none of that despite Blackpool having lots of the ball. There’s clearly a trust in the players, an understanding of how we play and that we’re capable doing so as well.”

Who was your Man of The Match versus Blackpool? You can vote HERE or at the bottom of the page!

More views from our Match Thread:

Scotimp: “The summary from the Blackpool Oracle is that Lincoln were poor, created nothing and were gifted the game by Blackpool.

Why can opposition supporters not admit that the team that has just beaten them were actually not poor, appalling or awfull (sic)?”

sedgleyimp: “Back home. Really enjoyed that game today. Two teams who are in reality very close to each other with the difference today being we took our chances whilst they did not. Excellent performance by us as a unit.

Every player knew what was expected of them today and something else I noticed was how well players understand the roles of their team-mates and cover for them when needed. Best example of that I saw was when Burroughs went on his mazy run late on, Ben House was the one who slipped into his role at the back just in case. So many other examples I could give.

Great 3 points against a team who looked very good in possession but were a little toothless in front of goal.

Everyone contributed today. Picking one MOM will be difficult as there are many candidates. Erhahon and Mandroiu will get plaudits. Ben House deserves special mention for his leading the line today which was exceptional. Sean Roughan showed great maturity covering for Burroughs who had a very tough opponent to deal with. Overall a great team performance.

We are looking a proper organised team at the moment and much praise for that has to go to MK and his coaching staff.”

Thank you to Graham Burrell and Lincoln City Football Club for the photograph!

Lincoln City 3-0 Blackpool: Post-Match Views & Stats:https://t.co/VSlUMVzeBy#WeAreImps #UTMP #BlackpoolFC

— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) August 29, 2023

Lincoln City				Blackpool
Mândroiu 7' (PEN), Erhahon 40', Bishop 73' (PEN)
1. Jensen				32. Grimshaw
23. Roughan				3. Husband
5. Jackson			79'	21. Ekpiteta			45'
15. O'Connor (c)				20. Casey
2. Sørensen				22. Hamilton
16. Burroughs				2. Connolly
11. Hamilton			79'	12. Dougall			45'
6. Erhahon				8. Morgan
18. House			85'	6. Norburn (c)
7. Hackett-Fairchild			67'	19. Lavery			27'
14. Mândroiu			67'	18. Beesley			45'
Substitutes
12. Wright (GK)				1. O'Donnell (GK)
3. Brown				24. Lyons			45'
23. Mitchell			79'	5. Pennington
10. Bishop			67'	10. Carey			45'
8. Smith			79'	15. Weir			81'
17. Duffy			85'	7. Dale			45'
19. Walker			67'	16. Rhodes			27'

Game Statistics
10	Goal attempts	14
5	On Target	3
1	Corners	2
13	Fouls	13
1	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	1
35	%	65