Charlton Athletic 2 Lincoln City 2

Apologies to those of you that get to games a lot more frequently than me, it was the law of sods that meant I witnessed our worst performance since December in my first game in SE7 for a fair while.

However the comeback was stirring and a point was valuable from a game we would’ve lost on most others occasions in recent years.

Jones sounds as if he’s put his hand up for an odd team selection and a first half performance that was jittery, error-strewn and certainly not the best version of ourselves.

We looked lost as an attacking threat, with Anderson the most lost of all. We badly missed the miscellany of TC and once again Lloyd Jones’ absence showed how critical he is to the team.

In fairness Jones reacted quickly bringing on Chuks at the break, and then after a complete breakdown in defence to go 0-2 down he hauled off a clearly rattled McIntyre and an ineffective Berry.

From then on it was better, much better. We had an attacking focal point in Aneke, Dixon provided some deviance and Small and Edwards played further up the pitch.

Coventry had his worst game for as long as I can remember, but he and Docherty wrestled the midfield back and we created some very good chances.

Their keeper, Wickens, was MoM. He saved expertly from Aneke before a loose ball from a corner fell to Gillesphey, who scored as if he was a career no. 9.

The crowd had stayed with them, but the decibels were turned up after that as the Covered End did their very best to suck the ball into the net.

Meanwhile Lincoln, who in all honesty should have continued to play as they had up until the 50th minute, became intent on doing everything to waste time for 40 minutes.

In years gone by players and crowd would have simply became frustrated but together there was a real determination and resolve, and we got the equalizer when Docherty smashed a superbly executed volley left footed into the net with 15 minutes remaining.

After that Wickens made a terrific safe from a Godden header that had ‘goal’ written all over it, and also saved from Gillesphey‘s free-kick, whilst Aneke had a shot just wide of the post.

It was still a point, from being 2-0 down, but we can’t afford many off days like that, but the commitment and desire not to lose was there for all to see.

A final word on the ref. After being worse than incompetent all game for both sides, he somehow felt that 5 minutes of injury time was plenty sufficient.

There were so many stoppages in the 2nd half. Three times the players went over to the touchline for some coaching following ‘fouls,’ and he himself burnt so much time following every blow of his whistle, let alone the fourth official trying to work out his substitutes board for one of the nine subs.

Add in three goals and Lincoln’s assorted efforts of wasting time, five minutes for which he blew on exactly was a joke.

🎙️“That’s a good point, in the end. We showed a lot of spirit in the last 30 minutes, no question, but before that we were a mile off. I take responsibility. The last two or three days we’ve been passive in so many decisions we’ve made and I won’t make that mistake again.” – Nathan Jones

⭐️ Macauley Gillesphey 

🏟️ 15,611 (604 Lincoln)

📸 Paul Edwards