Other fans I’ve spoken with seem to have taken Saturday’s good hiding on the chin and have put it behind them and I feel the same. I’m looking forward to tonight’s encounter as something of a, hopefully pleasant, diversion and it’ll be a chance to see how some of our other squad players can perform. There’s also the possibility that ex-Sunderland favourite Chris Maguire will be lining up against us. I really enjoyed winning this competition last season though we lost the track not long afterwards. LJ has already said that some younger players will get a run out this evening so I’m intrigued to see who will feature. I wasn’t sure what the structure of this competition was but have just been informed that we are in a group after all and that this wasn’t a knock-out match. It looks like there’s going to be heavy rain again so I trust our players will have learnt how to cope with such conditions better. I’ll be watching the match with my fellow bubblers in Sunderland and my match prediction is 2-1 to us.
I got drenched walking round there and wondered how our travelling fans would fare this evening. We ordered a Chinese takeaway and then perused the team-news. There were certainly wholesale changes and there was one player, Sohna, whom I’d never heard of. O’Brien and Pritchard were starting upfrontish while Neil and Hume were also in there. We had Embleton and O’Nien on the bench while Maguire was starting for them.
It was going to take a bit of getting used to the fact that Lincoln were playing in red and white stripes. They started off brightly but we took the lead in the second minute with a great strike from Neil from outside their box after receiving a pass from our left. We had much the better of the opening ten minutes and I don’t think Burge had a sniff of the ball. Lincoln enjoyed a decent few minutes but then Neil had another deflected effort on target. Lincoln won the first corner of the game in the sixteenth minute but we got it clear. We soon won our first corner but it went out for a throw to us on the left. Next thing Maguire had his first shot of the game but it went high and wide. We were certainly playing tenaciously and I fancied us for a second goal before long. Just before the half-hour mark Burge had to punch away a cross following a corner so that would keep him warmed up a bit. He was called on to make a much better save not long afterwards and then Maguire had a good effort on target but it was deflected for a corner. This led to another good Maguire effort but we survived and next thing Harris went close at the other end from a long clearance. We were awarded a free-kick just outside their box but Pritchard wellied it high and wide. It was going end to end now and just before the break O’Brien cut in from the left and unleashed a great shot that bounced off the angle of the bar and the right post. It remained 0-1 as the whistle went and we started to tuck in to the takeaway.
Taylor had a decent shot on target shortly after the restart but at once Robson had a better effort at the other end that Burge did well to tip over for a corner. Two more corners followed but we got them clear. I thought was going to be 2-0 when a great through-ball was met by our number 37 (sorry, but the stream was pretty blurred and we couldn’t find out online) but Long in goal dived at his feet to make a good save. Maguire was subbed by Bramall with about twenty minutes left and I was glad to see him go as he’d had a few good shots on target. Shortly afterwards Wearne, who’d not been on long as sub, bundled in our second from close range and the win was looking good. O’Nien came on for Harris and how great it was to see him but he was badly fouled immediately – he’s always in the thick of things. He recovered, but was soon laid on the deck again and had to be replaced by Embleton. It was very much a cameo appearance by Luke so I hope he recovers soon. Lincoln’s finishing left a lot to be desired as they had a couple of decent chances in the closing ten minutes but fluffed them. There were four minutes of stoppage-time and Lincoln pulled one back with a low long-distance effort from Montsma but it was too little too late and it ended 2-1 to us.
We looked the better side for most of the game and it was pleasing both to win of course and to defeat one of our promotion rivals on their own ground. The young players performed well and I’m sure we’ll be seeing some of them in league games before long.
