The lowdown on Lincoln City 0 Charlton Athletic 0 – Point apiece in blustery conditions
Charlton claimed a point on the road in inclement conditions at Sincil Bank.
Here is the lowdown on the match.
THE LINE-UPS
Lincoln City: Wickens, Montsma, O’Connor, Roughan, Erhahon, Hackett, Ring (Jefferies 65), McGrandles, Moylan (Hamilton 81), Makama, Draper (Cadamarteri 74). Subs not used: Pardington, Duffy, Street, Walker.
Charlton Athletic: Maynard-Brewer, Gillesphey, A Mitchell, Jones, T Campbell, Docherty, Taylor, Edwards (A Campbell 74), Anderson (Small 74), Ahadme (Leaburn 67), Kanu (Godden 66). Subs not used: Edmonds-Green, Berry, Laqeretabua.
SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME
An awful game played in horrible weather that produced few chances. Former Addick Reeco Hackett had Lincolns’ best opening 20 minutes from time, with Allan Campbell wasting Charlton’s a few moments later.
TACTICAL APPROACH
Jones, who welcomed Lloyd Jones back into the starting line-up following injury, switched to a 3-5-2 – with Josh Edwards and Tyreece Campbell operating as wing-backs. It was clear from early on that the conditions would play a part in the contest as a Lincoln long-throw was blown behind for a goal-kick. The first-half was evenly contested but Charlton made more of an attempt to get the ball down and play than they did in the midweek defeat to Crawley Town.
Miles Leaburn and Matty Godden were introduced with 25 minutes left – followed by Thierry Small and Allan Campbell a few minutes later – but other than a late chance for Allan Campbell that was prodded wide they didn’t do enough to edge a game desperately lacking quality from either side.
STAR MAN
Macauley Gillesphey. Won a few defensive headers from corners and in open play in very difficult conditions.
BEST MOMENT
Conor McGrandles’ attempted volley seemed to be flying over the bar and headed for exactly where my car was in the car park behind the goal – thankfully Storm Darragh blew it out for a throw instead.
MOAN OF THE MATCH
League One football can be an endurance test at the best of times but chuck an unrelenting storm into the mix and it was almost farcical at times.
A TALKING POINT DOWN THE PUB
There’s still a distinct lack of creativity on the ball for this Charlton side. It was clear that the Addicks were looking to play the ball on the floor a lot more than they did during Tuesday’s hoof-fest against Crawley.
But just one shot on target tells the story of how many times any moved broke down in Imps territory. Tyreece Campbell had a poor game on the ball – unable to turn most situations into opportunities until the late chance for namesake Allan.
It’s been a concern since the very start of the campaign and whilst Nathan Jones still hopes the side can become more fluent- it simply hasn’t happened yet.
Any realistic hopes of being able to play their way back into the play-off race will need so see an improvement. The Addicks will have to win over half of their remaining games to hit the average points total required for a top six and not lose many more so it’s probably too late already.
WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY
“It’s a seventh clean sheet so far, 10 in all competitions. Last year this football club only kept five clean sheets in the whole season. It shows we’ve improved things defensively.
“I’m proud of the performance. I don’t think anyone realised how bad the conditions were until we went into the middle of the pitch. Second-half, it was blowing a gale against us. We were brave, took the sting out of the game and had the best situations.”