Recco Hackett Get's His 2nd Goal Of The Championship

Lincoln Vs Swansea Match Report

Not A Very Dominant Display

Lincoln go into the game on the back of 2 away wins against Preston and Bristol City respectively, now we play Swansea who last played Premiership football in from the 2011/2012 season up until their relegation in the 2017/2018 season. Swansea have stayed in the championship from that season onwards and have made themselves a well established team who have made the playoffs twice. Lincoln played extremely well in the first half making Swansea look a medium team, our attacking play got us on the break and Draper found himself in the box, a slight touch of his ankles and the big went down and left the referee with a big decision in a big game and gave us a penalty in the 39th minuite, Bayliss held the ball, a tactic now used for when the opposition tries to “ice” the taker, but as the game against Portsmouth showed Reeco Hackett took the ball for the 2nd penalty at home, Reeco Hackett smashed the ball into the top right hand corner, and Lincoln ran away at half time 1-0 up, much deserved, although Swansea did pass the ball a lot more than us in the 1st half.

The 2nd half was over for Lincoln as soon as it started, on the 47 minute a played call Yeo, a well known name around the 30+ year olds scored, it was some smooth 1 touch football from Swansea and a low cross which Yeo managed to stretch out and put in the far corner Wickens didn’t have much chance to save it. Eustaquio then scored 4 minute later a wicked and unfortunate deflection from the shot caused Wickens to be beaten, Swansea again played some very good football passing around from the wings and being patient and getting their chance, at this point the possession was 22% to Lincoln and 78% to Swansea to put the passing into context. It finished with 32% to 68% in Swansea’s favour, it looks like Swansea will be a team to look out for next year, I think they will probably make the playoffs. They looked very comfortable on the ball and as much as it pains me to say it they deserved all 3 points.

5-2-3 is the normal Lincoln XI

It seems to work for Lincoln, personally I wouldn’t change this formation. Our midfielders are in control and can feed the wing backs for some explosive action down the wings. We know we won't be able to out play big teams, so we do mix up the play and it’s very exciting for the fans, we have played the passing style of football in league 1 with Appleton and Kennedy and none of us enjoyed it, and I’m glad we have stopped this, football is about putting the ball in the back of the net not out passing the other team, this happened at both out away wins, we didn’t have more possession but we had more shots therefore we won.

Ogbene, Konak and Ladeforge all came on in the 64th minute for Reach, McGrandles and House respectively, Ladeforge showed what he can do when we boot it long to him and played with Draper which I have been looking forwards to as this reminds me of the John Akinde  and Matt Rhead approach we did in league 2 which was great to watch, 2 big men bullying the opposition and winning most of the headers, unfortunately it didn’t pay off, we only had 1 corner in the 2nd half but maybe if we had a few more it could easily have been an equaliser.

2 Goals From Reeco Hackett Makes Him Joint Top Goalscorer
You still have to put the ball in the back of the net but Reeco Hackett has 2 goals from the spot, it's not easy and especially at home where everyone has their eyes on you, but if anything Hackett has proven he is reliable for penalty kicks.

What Comes Next ?

We travel to Yorkshire and play Sheffield United away, only 2 seasons ago they was in the Premiership, they are in not in the best form, sitting 18th, 2 point below Lincoln and with their only 2 wins against Bolton (3-2) and Blackburn (2-1) Lincoln managed to beat Bolton 1-0 and then struggled to score against 10 men Blackburn for the last 20 minutes so it does look like Sheffield have some players who can put the ball in the back of the net, looking at their squad they have a good 5 players who catch my eye knowing they are very good players at Championship level, Patrick Bamford is the obvious one, he has 1 England appearance and has played in the Premiership for Leeds United, Thomas Cannon and Everton youth player, and a player I have signed for Lincoln on Football Manager, Japhet Tanganga which i’m sure will be a player you may have heard of if you watch the Premiership, he has played 27 times for Tottenham over a 5 year period and came through their youth system. This will be a tough test for Lincoln as they will want to kick on with a difficult start and will hopefully underestimate Lincoln as the newcomers, so we could steal this one. Let's make some noise for the mighty Imps !

Click Here For The Full Match