Live IFOllow thread v The Inps from the Globe

[Westgate Wanderer]

Not pretty, not entertaining

If the Board ever wonder why attendances have been consistently falling for the last few years, this is one of he reasons.

absolutely!

[BerlinWaller]

I agree that we are in a needs must situation but that was Lincoln City today not Real Madrid. To watch a small ball boy roll his foot over the ball 3 or 4 times before giving it to their keeper was shocking. To see players refusing to attack in front of a home crowd isn't good enough. We probably will stay up but at what cost?

Credit where its due, Jim has signed 2 very good defenders in Old and Sam, they really are solid.

[Christies Child]

Wonder if the ball boy saw what the Accy ball boys did and said 'whatever they do l can do it better'

[broadwayshrimp]

Why can't people appreciate the defensive part of football. I thought that was a superb defensive display with every player showing tremendous effort and commitment. Another good point gained in our quest to stay in the football league.

[mrpotatohead]

Solid defensive performance against a good team chasing the playoffs , our players gave 100 percent and the man of the match went to the right person , a very valuable point ,and the fans rightly applauded the lads off, the criticism is uncalled for but everyone is entitled to their opinion, it's better to be a whining shit that turns up and pays than one that doesn't.

[bill ding]

You'd all be bloody moaning if we lost, Lincoln, fit, organised and well drilled and 7th, didn't win, and we hit the bar twice.

Everything we are not.

Yes we hit the bar twice, one a deflection that looped on to the bar and the other was the only piece of quality in the 90mins.

We basically dicked about and time wasted for the entire 2nd half. 5 from 9 is decent but churning out performances like that to get them is poor.

I wonder what your Genuine comments would have been on the game if the free kick had gone in BW the dicking about would have been applauded .True we played for the point at the end , but that point could be vital at the end of the season . Maybe you are only happy when we are winning ?

[bill ding]

Solid defensive performance against a good team chasing the playoffs , our players gave 100 percent and the man of the match went to the right person , a very valuable point ,and the fans rightly applauded the lads off, the criticism is uncalled for but everyone is entitled to their opinion, it's better to be a whining shit that turns up and pays than one that doesn't.

Hell I actually agree wholeheartedly with this ................DRINK !!!!!!

[BerlinWaller]

You'd all be bloody moaning if we lost, Lincoln, fit, organised and well drilled and 7th, didn't win, and we hit the bar twice.

Everything we are not.

Yes we hit the bar twice, one a deflection that looped on to the bar and the other was the only piece of quality in the 90mins.

We basically dicked about and time wasted for the entire 2nd half. 5 from 9 is decent but churning out performances like that to get them is poor.

I wonder what your Genuine comments would have been on the game if the free kick had gone in BW the dicking about would have been applauded .True we played for the point at the end , but that point could be vital at the end of the season . Maybe you are only happy when we are winning ?

If I was only happy when we won I wouldn't be in my 33rd season of supporting the Club and my boy wouldn't be watching his 6th season.

As to the dicking about and the free kick? Do you actually think that Jim sent the lads out to waste time and defend in the hope of McGurk getting a freekick from the edge of area? Yeah I whinge but my word, some of you post some shite.

[BerlinWaller]

Solid defensive performance against a good team chasing the playoffs , our players gave 100 percent and the man of the match went to the right person , a very valuable point ,and the fans rightly applauded the lads off, the criticism is uncalled for but everyone is entitled to their opinion, it's better to be a whining shit that turns up and pays than one that doesn't.

I will stop being a whining shite when the club recognise my ball boy duties from the 1993/94 season when i patrolled the grassed car wash side on my own.

[bill ding]

Well I will trump you with 40 years BW not that that makes a shite of difference . We had a team of tired legs today as you could tell at the end of the game following 3home games . We were playing a big physical team with a lot fresher legs and a well practiced pushing and pulling routine that the ref was blind to . My only criticism is the long ball to Oliver .....it doesn't work !!!

[cyprus-shrimp]

And actually a pretty decent crowd figure. How many were from Lincoln?

[Gone_Shrimping]

And actually a pretty decent crowd figure. How many were from Lincoln?

676 Imps , so a respectable 1,200 + Shrimp fans

[mrpotatohead]

Great stuff overall , you have to take your hat off to their large group of supporters, well behaved and noisy too, good atmosphere yesterday.

[Freez]

Have to agree, 676 largely noisy, vociferous and good natured fans, tough game, applauded their team off after a hard earned point.

[CityShrimp]

Not a great game and our lack of attacking threat was disappointing but Lincoln quite simply looked like a better team than us. I think it was a good point well earned. Refreshing to see a really professional defensive performance after seeing so many soft goals conceded in recent seasons.

[Pandashrimp]

I actually thought for a period early in the second half we did give it a go but were limited by the players at our disposal and Lincoln's excellent pressing all over the pitch. Everything had to go long as we had nobody in that 11 capable of getting the ball down and controlling the game. Kenyon battled excellently yesterday but as soon as he has any pressure applied the ball went go long or backwards. Compare that to Woodyard for them who was always comfortable under pressure and playing balls between our midfield and defence.

As mentioned above we defended fantastically yesterday. They are reporting they put over 40 crosses into our box!! I do get the fans frustrations over negative football at home but the workrate was there for all to see yesterday and it has to be a point gained.

Finally Cowley was again full of praise for Jimbo after the game. The fans that come and the fans that stay away may have their own opinions about our manager but you will struggle to find one held in better regards by his peers.

[Phoenix Shrimp 2017]

^ This.

At the end of the day we were playing a quality team who just last season beat Championship teams and a Premier league team away, in their march to the later rounds of the cup. We've all seen a lot of soft goals conceded in recent seasons so to have a bit of solidity in recent games is great to see. Unfortunately we can't afford the creative players required to consistently have a go at the best teams, but hey 5 points from the 3 games is what we needed and gives us some vital breathing space.


COYS.

[Ispyshrimp]

If we had got 5 pts per 3 games all season we would be on 60 plus points so on the whole 5 pts this week from 3 games is good

[Keith]

Why can't people appreciate the defensive part of football. I thought that was a superb defensive display with every player showing tremendous effort and commitment. Another good point gained in our quest to stay in the football league.

100% agree. I actually enjoyed the game and thought we deserved a point against a good team. Also, bear in mind, half of the bench were carrying knocks and weren't fully fit.

No arguments over the sponsor's choice of MotM but I'd have gone for Kenyon who was battling everywhere.

[Phil Anderer]

I find myself in a similar, if reversed, position as after the Cheltenham game. Then, I was the voice of positivity in a sea of negativity, and now the opposite. Firstly, this suggestion that Lincoln were a good side and we effectively neutralised the threat; Exeter were in a similar league position 7 days earlier, we went out to attack and won. Lincoln by contrast I felt weren't up for it and were actually there for the taking if we'd tried, but we weren't set up for it. I do understand about the tired legs, but we started with 3 centre backs and a defensive midfielder; no disrespect to Alex Kenyon, who did put in a good shift, but we had another, more attacking but still good tackling midfielder (Fleming) on the bench - unless he isn't fully fit (in which case why is he on the bench) in my opinion he should have started ahead of Kenyon when we already had a 5-man backline. Others have previously criticised Jim for setting up for the opposition rather than playing our own game, whereas I think (long time ago) I have actually defended that in the dim-and-distant past. The problem is that with such defensive tactics we are going to lose more fans, which we can ill afford to do. I am glad we got a point from the game, which we deserved, but I just wish we'd tried to entertain. At the end of the day, the fans who go are paying customers, and deserve entertainment. If they don't get it, they'll go elsewhere, as so many already have.

I suppose since I apologised for the positivity last week, I'd better apologise for the negativity now.

[Shrimpy]

Firstly, this suggestion that Lincoln were a good side and we effectively neutralised the threat; Exeter were in a similar league position 7 days earlier, we went out to attack and won. Lincoln by contrast I felt weren't up for it and were actually there for the taking if we'd tried, but we weren't set up for it.

I think you need to take into account all the variables that went into Saturday, it's not just as simple as saying Exeter and Lincoln are both good sides, they are completely different prospects to play against.

Lincoln employ probably the best target main in this division up front in Matt Rhead who will quite happily spend 90 minutes plodding about and chucking elbows around. They then have two very good, dominant centre backs and a team filled with big, strong, tough battlers. Their whole game plan is hoof the ball up to Rhead, high intensity, physical play whilst being well drilled in defence and solid at the back.

Exeter on the other hand have always been a team that like to play football, get the ball on the deck and pass it around. It's a lot easier to impose ourselves on a team like that than Lincoln.

As has been said, it was our 3rd game in 8 days, Lincoln were only on their 2nd. The pitch also played a big part. Whilst it suited Lincoln perfectly as it didn't really make any difference to their usual game plan of just pumping balls into the box at any opportunity, our lot found it difficult to play on the deck as they were under constant pressure from the Lincoln midfield and forwards which often resulted in us resorting to aimless hoofs up field which Boswell and Wharton just ate up all day long.

One instance summed it up for me in the 2nd half. McGurk superbly pulled down a long ball, in attempting to trap the ball it took a bobble and rolled away from him but he managed to re-gain control and beat his man, turned inside and set off on a dribble, only for it to keep bobbling up in the air making it incredibly difficult for him to gain any kind of momentum and he was eventually closed down and lost the ball. On a better pitch that might have been the start of a promising attacking move.

I don't think we set out not to win the game or not entertain, it was just a combination of the poor pitch, 3 games in 8 days, the physical nature of the opposition players and their game plan / tactics made it incredibly difficult to do anything other than just scrap and battle away. You could tell in the final 5 / 10 minutes we were spent and were just hanging on for the draw which I have no problem with whatsoever.