Match Thread: Everton v Lincoln City | Page 13 | Vital Football

Match Thread: Everton v Lincoln City

A great day, soured by the fact that mini Jeff was really poorly, norovirus, and couldn't make it. I was going to dip out too, but from his sick bed he told me I had to go for him, which kind of broke my heart a bit.

So on to the game.A frenetic start by us quietened down as Everton got in the game. Poor defending, and/or bad positional tactics, probably down to settling in due to nerves, on our right cost us twice. Also a clearly lacking in fitness Vickers succumbed to a strange header, it looked worrying. Then we were undone down the Everton attacking left and a cheeky chip over Vickers made it two.

Then....after the storm was weathered we began to get a foothold and really upset Everton. The goal game after a needless free kick conceded and Shackell made a brilliant run...only to have Pickford parry. Bostwick pounced and we clawed a goal back.

We then harried and pressed and caused great concern. Perhaps Freck could have done a touch better with his effort, but that is somewhat being harsh. The second half began with Everton looking a tad rag tag and bob. Yet, we didn't choose the right options with our set pieces. Legs began to lag and Big John nearly had a golden opportunity, but sadly his control resembled that of a pinball machine with a wonky leg. He had ran hard and looked like he was blowing out of his rear quarters.

Anyway, the Biggun came on and was described by the Liverpool Echo as "built like eight wardrobes". Everton saw the game out and could have had more but for a couple of great saves from Vickers.....even though he was clearly struggling and required treatment. Everton also suffered from poor finishing. A header off the line by Everton, ensured it would be the Goodison gang in round 4 and not the Red Imps.

A performance to be proud of and Lincoln clearly did themselves proud and proved they can compete with a Premier League Team, albeit one playing a weakened team. For me, my top performers, in no partiuclar order, were Pett, Shackell and Andrade, when he stayed on his feet...haha. Just a slight dig at the ref there.

Oh and as a slight edit. How many goals have we now scored against Pickford? hahahahaha
 
Terrific performance, very controlled apart from the five minutes around their goals.

My favourite bit of commentary, on my feed:

"There's no mistaking Matt Rhead up there, he's twice the size of most of the players. Literally in the case of Bernard."

Baines is still a really, really good player though.

I watched the Portuguese commentary one and in the final minute they thought it should've been a penalty to us.

"Zouma - Falta"
 
What an amazing game. So proud of my city and my football team. We could have beat them...
 
A really good performance from us. Beaming with pride, particularly considering we went 2 0 down so quickly. We started poorly and played far too narrow allowing them to get in behind down the flanks. Poor defending for their first goal from our view but their second was a bit of class football. They seemed to take their foot off the gas. After we scored and upto half time I thought we were actually on top. Second half Everton were dominant and we started to tire after the huge amount of running we had to do after a busy Christmas schedule. All credit to the lads they just kept going. Everton really should have scored more, but their finishing was pretty poor. They also looked pretty dreadful at defending set pieces. We had one chance to steal a draw at the end, but the corner was wasted. That one will haunt me tonight.

Some great performances today. Shackell and Bossie come to mind. However my man of the match was O'Connor, really superb.

Very happy with the performance. Thank go we don't have a mid week game because the lads will be knackered. Let's kick on with the league.
 
What a terrific performance. We came out with good intent but I thought we were in for a hammering after their two goals but we settled and responded excellently.

We were never going to outplay them and it was inevitable that we would have to try a different tact to get anything, namely being more direct than of late in the first half. We got our tails up after the goal and without really looking like creating much from open play, started to unsettle them.

At that point I think they gave us a bit more respect and we realised that we were able to compete. That was evident with their double substitution at halftime.

Our second half performance was immense. We were very well organised defensively and dare I say, looked reasonably comfortable with their attacking threat. Bozzie played a blinder and despite Vicker’s obvious injury concern, he looked assured and pulled off a fantastic save from Sigurdsson.

They were at no point comfortable with a one goal cushion and pressed us to try and put things to bed, which just didn’t happen.

Goal scoring chances were inevitably few and far between but we became more relaxed and tried to pass it round more going forward.

I thought O’Connor was excellent and was probably only taken off to add a more attacking dimension, which was necessary with the time remaining. There was no point in settling for a valiant defeat without giving it a go.

It was great to see Chapman come on and he played a beauty of a ball to McCartan. I think he will shine in the future in more free flowing games where he has a bit more time on the ball.

Andrade wasn’t afraid to demonstrate his flair when having a go at their full back, and Anderson similarly tried his usual run at them without fear approach.

Akinde showed his ability and Rhead also kept up his deft touches, looking un-phased again playing against higher quality opposition.

An overall fantastic performance from the whole team. This was no plucky lower league showing against the big boys. We gave a tremendous account of ourselves, as good as I’d hoped we would.

Now we move on to the real goal of the league, from which this performance can do nothing but galvanise us and push us forward. UTI
 
Talking of midweek games, imagine if Grimsby get a draw today and have to put in another mega shift the Tuesday before they play us.
 
And just to say, we went toe to toe with a team that bought on a player that is worth about 5 times our whole club (the entire club), a player that featured for Barcelona last season and England's number one keeper amongst many other players.

Really was a great performance.
 
Talking of midweek games, imagine if Grimsby get a draw today and have to put in another mega shift the Tuesday before they play us.

That's a good point. Hopefully Palace will tire them out so we can finish them off :-)
 
Back in a Liverpool hotel and reflecting on what was such a great performance from City. Hugely worried after their easy second, thank goodness we showed them less respect after that and dragged ourselves back into the game. From then on it was toe to toe interspaced with moments of Everton quality particularly from Gomes.

What an experience for all those who played. The fans were brilliant, all so proud to be Imps today.
 
We did all a fourth tier side could do away to a Premier League side, although we sat too deep for the first twenty minutes and were deservedly two down. But:
Leighton Baines was magnificent. At 34 and with only 4 starts to his name all season, Danny - get on the phone and ask if he fancies some winter sun in the Lincolnshire Alps. He would rip League Two to pieces.
 
chapman is young enough to improve rapidly once he feels at home in the squad. hope it happens during january as it would be like another top signing. has the energy, and the physique we are missing in that area. and can obviously get forward and play.
also, anyone know how habergham is doing?