Lincoln 0-0 Crawley Six Things: one-dimensional Imps

Imps hit Rhead too often – uptheclarets.com

A man-of-the-match performance from Lincoln goalkeeper Josh Vickers and an organized away performance from Crawley meant a 0-0 draw between the two teams at Sincil Bank. Here’s six things from the game. 

Lincoln’s good start

The home side looked a threat in the early stages, pressing at a high-intensity, taking opportunities to get early balls into Matt Read, whose eyes lit every time possession was gained. Matt Green volleyed wide on four minutes, then shortly after, Michael Bostwick headed over after Sean Raggett knocked Jordan Maguire-Drew’s corner across goal.

Yorwerth it

Crawley then stemmed the tide. Josh Yorwerth dropped a little deeper onto Matt Rhead, cutting out the supply to the target man and Lincoln lacked the imagination to utilize other areas. Alex Woodard is often capable of passes to unlock defences but, part of a two-man midfield, he played with discipline that restricted his creative freedom, as the attacking unit struggled to connect with second balls.

Crawley’s moments

While Lincoln had longer and more intense spells of pressure, Crawley were more proficient at converting their spells into tests for the opposing goalkeeper. Josh Vickers was up to the task on seven minutes, denying Panutche Camara after a bright run down the right from Enzio Boldewijn. The Red Devils threatened in flashes down the wings: after Jordan Roberts bypassed Neal Eardley down the left, Camara backheeled the ball to Yorwerth, whose firm 30th minute effort was pushed away by the ex-Barnet stopper.

One dimensional Imps

Jordan Maguire-Drew and Nathan Arnold had faded in and out of the first half. However, their withdrawals in favour of Billy Knott and another big striker, Ollie Palmer, exacerbated rather than solved Lincoln’s problems. The midfielders and defenders attempted long balls at every opportunity, thus taking away the element of surprise.

Opportunistic Crawley

Harry Kewell’s side did not always intend to attack, but they were given encouragement due to the lack of balance in Lincoln’s midfield in the closing stages. Sean Raggett was caught out on a couple of occasions by Roberts, who couldn’t quite capitalize on good positions, before Smith’s dipping 81st minute volley was pushed away. Panutche Camara did well to fashion openings given the limited support, his energy epitomized by a powerful run to pressurize the goalkeeper as late as the 92nd minute – his persistence might have been rewarded had he had more support.

Kewell learning

The common question marks surrounding ex-top footballers at EFL clubs is their pragmatism. Kewell, although not uniformly loved at Crawley, displayed a good understanding of what was required for his side to produce a competitive away performance. The level of tests for either goalkeeper dictates that, tactically, he got a lot right.

Lincoln must evolve

Rhead was brought into the side, presumably, to improve the side’s play in the final third. While we saw traces of that early on, at this level it may be that he is better used as a Plan B, rather than someone to hit for 90 minutes. While Lincoln have enjoyed a competitive start to life in the Football League, their creativity and imagination leaves a little to be desired.