“We were dominant for large periods of the game.”
Views from Joseph Lovett following yesterday’s 2-1 win at Macclesfield Town in Sky Bet League Two: “I thought we’d messed that up today! Thank god for Shackell! We were dominant for large periods of the game but unfortunately for us, the Macc town ‘keeper was superb. Macc had spells when they were on top; half-time came at a good time for us and we invited them in to equalise. They played some nice football at times, however, you can see they are lacking that bit of quality.
Bruno was my man of the match. He really is growing as a player and today the defenders couldn’t even get close to him. Won a hatful of free kicks, won corners, took on men with ease, created chances and was simply a joy to watch. A Macc fan said to me after the game he was the best player on the pitch.
Also very glad Akinde had a good game. There were people behind me saying Akinde was useless and shouldn’t be starting. Well, he showed them. His hold up play was fantastic and when he gets the ball he rarely loses it. He doesn’t want the wall to head it, he wants the ball into his chest or feet and when we do that he’s a force to be reckoned with. His set up for Pett was brilliant: control of the ball, awareness, strength and weight of pass (well head) were perfect and Pett (who also had a very good game) smashed it in.
We should have scored more, but three points is the most important thing.”
More views from the Match Thread:
Brendan Bradley: “Strange game that you sometimes get where the home team did next to nothing only to get a goal out of the blue near the end. Fortunately, the Macc keeper, who performed heroics, got punished for one error of judgement. Even if that had ended in an unlikely draw I’d have said it was a good performance, just like at Exeter, but against much lesser opposition. Practically everyone did well but what on earth was Steve Thompson doing giving MoM to Shackell? Not that I don’t think that he is a terrific addition – the team’s defending of our own penalty area is much less frenetic now he’s part of it and we look very secure, but there were very good performances from Wilson, Pett, O’Connor, Akinde and above all Andrade, who I thought was superb. Again, I don’t know why Thommo has such a downer on Andrade, he’s looked to me from the start as a player who will play at a much higher level. Feel sorry for Macclesfield though. Always underdogs in the League they regained their place which I doubt they were expecting, only to lose the manager and key players, so the optimism has quickly evaporated. It doesn’t look like they’ve got much to look forward to.”
sedgleyimp: “Back at home after a very enjoyable match (though the less said about the journey up the M6 the better.)
A match we dominated and on another occasion would have put 4 or 5 in except for their keeper who was rightly applauded by our supporters at the end of the match.
Lots of energy shown and very noticeable how we stretched the play across the whole pitch whenever we could.
A good team performance all round, though I thought Andrade stood out with his forward running and trickery.
Macclesfield are going to have a long season. Very poor apart from the keeper and clearly not a happy bunch if the barracking of their players by their fans is anything to go by. I thought that one of their players (Smith I think) was going to do a Cantona after being substituted and go into their supporters behind the bench.”
Thank you to Graham Burrell and Lincoln City Football Club for the photograph!
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