26th December 2021
Lincoln City vs Milton Keynes Dons @ Sincil Bank - Lincoln
EFL League One
15:00 KO
£40 entry (Legends Lounge ticket)
Attendance - 8,328 (333 away fans)
Half-time score: Lincoln City 2-0 MK Dons
Goals:
Lincoln City: O'Hora - 4' (OG)
Lincoln City: Maguire - 8' (P)
MK Dons: Twine - 59'
MK Dons: O'Riley - 75'
MK Dons: Twine - 90'
Brief match highlights are on YouTube, see link below:
Final Score: Lincoln City 2-3 MK Dons
For Christmas, the family and I were up in Saxilby, near Lincoln, staying at the in-laws, so we had planned a few months back to go to the Boxing Day match at Lincoln City. Unfortunately, the plan was hit with an immediate set back, I was supposed to go with my father-in-law and brother-in-law, but the latter could not make it up as they were isolating due to Covid-19. Therefore, we had a spare ticket, so my wife had her arm twisted to join us. To my surprise, the father-in-law had upgraded the tickets, giving us access to the Legends Lounge and padded seats, a step-up from what I am used to, if Dave is reading, thanks for the Christmas present!
On the run up to the game, fixtures were dropping left, right and centre due to Covid outbreaks, but somehow, thankfully, this game still went ahead. However, there was another unforeseen set-back, all trains were cancelled on Boxing Day! I had never seen this before, and it seemed to be due a combination of industrial action and Covid, but odd how the trains were running the next day....So, we had to change our plans, leaving out the pubs in Saxilby, and beg for a favour from the mother-in-law to take us into Lincoln in two loads, as we could not leave the kids alone, and the same had to happen on the way back, so thanks to Jackie if you're reading! As Lincoln is a thin city, to make her life easier, we got dropped off and picked up at West Common, a mile outside the city centre, to save time and cut-out traffic.
Eventually, we made our way to the main High Street, and to the first pub, The Treaty of Commerce, for a couple of pints of Bateman's XXXB, an excellent pint of bitter. The pub was heaving and they were giving out mince pies and chip butties. We then made our way to The Golden Eagle, where I had a pint from a local brewery, Pheasantry, and more mince pies were on offer. This pub allowed away fans, and both the pub and extensive beer garden's were packed, with a nice mix of fans, all very good natured. After this, we made our way to Sincil Bank, so named as it sits on the bank of a small stream.
The ground is a real hodge-podge of different stands, giving it a lot of character, but we were in the large main Co-op stand. Outside the ground was buzzing, with burger and hot dog stands galore. We headed to the Legends Lounge, and on arrival were given a programme, team sheet and a complimentary Quality Street. It was great to see a printed programme, and it was similar to the one at Colchester United, thick, glossy and detailed, very nice.
We had a drink in the Legends Lounge, where the corridors were lined with lots of nice Lincoln City memorabilia, then made our way to our seats to watch the teams warm-up. The seats were nice and comfortable and we had a great side view of the action. Ex-Colchester player Cohen Bramall was starting so I was keen to see how he would get on. Lincoln City were on a terrible run of form, and were in freefall in the league, only just above the relegation zone. In contrast, MK Dons were doing well, and were on the cusp of the play-off places, and they had a few big names in their team, such as Eisa, Twine and McEachran, as well of two former Cambridge United players I was familiar with in Harry Darling and Hiram Boateng. I was particularly interested to see Twine, he is in a rich vein of form, and impressively made the EFL Team of the Year. Therefore, despite the home advantage, MK Dons would have to go into the game as favourites.
From kick-off, Lincoln immediately made a terrible mistake, giving the ball to MK Dons in front of goal, but danger man Twine's shot from outside the area was just wide. This scare seemed to jolt Lincoln into life, and they began to have the better of the play, and got a quick-fire goal in the 4th minute courtesy of a fast attack. Maguire got the ball in the centre of the park and hit an excellent ball to the right corner for Adelakun to run onto. He out-paced his man whipped in a ball with his first touch, and it was heading for Fiorini for a tap in, but defender O'Hora got across him, and in an attempt to put the ball out for a corner, slotted the ball home, to make it 1-0 to the hosts.
Lincoln continued to press, and MK Dons looked shaky and nervous, and Lincoln got the inevitable second in the 10th minute. A poor clearance fell straight to Adelakun, he played a 1-2 and ran into the box. Harvie came across to defend, went down and assuming he was fouled, stupidly grabbed the ball and the referee had no choice but to award a penalty, a moment of madness. Maguire stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way.
Being 2-0 up, confidence was high, and Lincoln continued to dominate the game. Lincoln had a few corners, and I found it brilliant that a Lincoln fan had an air raid siren, which was blasted out for every Lincoln corner, a tribute to nearby Bomber Command I am reliably informed. There was a moment when Twine and a Lincoln player got a bit heated and pushed each other, but I think a yellow for both was fair, despite the Lincoln fans trying desperately to get the MK Dons dangerman sent-off. From the 30th minute, MK Dons stepped up a couple of gears, and started to penetrate the Lincoln defence, and create chances of their own. If was from one of the MK Dons corners that they went close, in the 31st minute, Kioso was left completely unmarked and his header was just wide of the far post. In the 34th minute, Twine had another strike from outside the box, which was deflected and had to be tipped over by Griffiths for a corner. Heading into half-time, MK Dons were on-top.
For half-time, we headed to the Legends Lounge for a drink, a whiskey for me, and there was a half-time chat with ex-Lincoln goalkeeper Swinburne to listen too. When the second half kicked off, the first 10mins were cagey, but from 55 minutes on, MK Dons really began to dominate the game, and it did not take long to get a goal. In the 59th minute, Lincoln had a chance to break, but opted to go sidewards, and a telegraphed long forward pass was won by O'Hora, he passed to Boateng on the right wing, who winged a ball into Eisa, who deftly flicked the ball onto Twine, and completely unmarked, and with plenty of time, from inside the box, he hit the ball in at the far post, past Griffiths who had tried to close down the angle, 2-1 and game on. There were some afters, with Bridcutt trying to steal the ball from Twine and pushing him over, and I think he was lucky to just see a yellow, but fair play to the referee for remaining level headed as it wasn't that bad.
Shortly after, Lincoln had a golden opportunity to go 3-1 up. Bridcutt played in substitute Scully, in his first appearance back from an injury, and he was through 1-on-1 with the keeper. His first touch was poor, taking him wide, allowing goalkeeper Fisher to close the space. He therefore elected to square the ball in to Fiorini, the ball was marginally behind him, and he scuffed his effort millimetres wide of the post. That was the chance, and from that point, it felt like the next goal would win the game, despite Lincoln being 2-1 up, as MK Dons were attacking at will.
MK Dons got the equaliser in the 75th minute, Eisa shot from the edge of the box and it was deflected out to O'Riley, also on the edge of the box, and his left footed reaction shot was low and accurate and flew into the bottom corner, leaving Griffiths rooted to the ground. O'Riley scored a similar goal in the 1st half, but it was ruled out for a foul in the box, so Lincoln cannot say they weren't warned. From this point, it was all MK Dons, the home fans were stunned silent and the 333 MK Dons fans were making all the noise. Lincoln were holding on by their fingernails, but the class of Twine shone through in the end. He drove into the box, played a 1-2 with Kioso, and with his back to goal, flicked up the ball, turned and volleyed, and the ball smashed off the chest of the Lincoln defender Regan Poole and the ricochet left Griffiths wrong-footed and the ball hit the back of the net, to underline a remarkable comeback from MK Dons. From here, there was no way back for Lincoln and MK Dons closed out the game without little further incident.
That was a real game of two halves, but ultimately, Lincoln sat back on their lead to allow MK Dons back into the game, and with players like Twine and Eisa, this was always a risk, one which did not pay off. Lincoln had the perfect opportunity to close the game out, but it was squandered by Fiorini, had this had gone in, I think Lincoln would have taken the 3-points. But, MK Dons never gave up, and were ultimately good for their win, and Twine is some player, I wonder how long MK Dons can hold onto him? Some of the Lincoln substitutions were questionable, and seemed to give MK Dons a lot more space in the centre of the park, and this also led to their downfall. Nevertheless, I saw enough in Lincoln to see that they should not go down, but they have some difficult fixtures coming up, so will need to pick up points where they can. I must also say that Bramall had a poor game, a lot of the MK Dons attacks came down his flank and he lost the ball a lot.
After the game, we went back to The Treaty of Commerce for a couple of drinks and understandably the atmosphere was low, having lost from a 2 goal lead. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the day out, and for a neutral, it was a fantastic game. I will definitely go back to Sincil Bank, hopefully one day as an away fan! I wish The Imps all the best, and hope that they stay up, it is good for the city, and it's a lovely city indeed.
Line-Ups:
LINCOLN CITY: Josh Griffiths, TJ Eyoma, Regan Poole, Lewis Montsma, Cohen Bramall, Teddy Bishop, Liam Bridcutt (C), Conor McGrandles, Hakeeb Adelakun, Chris Maguire, Lewis Fiorini. SUBS: Anthony Scully, Lasse Sorensen, Jamie Robson, Sam Long, Freddie Draper.
MK DONS: Andrew Fisher, Dean Lewington (C), Harry Darling, Warren O'Hora, Daniel Harvie, Josh McEachran, Matt O'Riley, Peter Kioso, Scott Twine, Mohamed Eisa, Hiram Boateng. SUBS: Tennai Watson, Zak Jules, David Kasumu, Charlie Brown, Ethan Robson, Troy Parrott, Franco Ravizzoli.
I was at the game and this is a very accurate match report.