Day 229

Defying all expectations I had for them, the Lincoln Under 18s climbed to fourth in Group 3 of the Under 18s league, after beating Colchester 3-1 today. I had expected them to finish near the bottom, but with four games to go they could conceivably end up in third. Unfortunately, none of them will be graduating to the senior team—even Aaron Rice and Jordan Thomas may struggle to stay at the club as reserve players.

Striker Omar Koroma returned to the starting eleven today for the match against Luton. He had been sidelined for ten days with a bruised rib at the start of the month, and didn’t quite make it back in time for the previous game. Ben May dropped to the bench to accommodate the brilliant Gambian. I selected an otherwise-unchanged team.

We were looking to pick up our fourth straight clean sheet and win. Koroma nearly put us on track for that in the 7th minute with a mazy run. His shot was blocked by a diving defender, however. Barnes-Homer found the net a minute later, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

It only took another minute for us to score a legitimate goal. Barnes-Homer played the ball into space outside the box. Koroma, onside because of tardy defending from Luton’s left-back, had all the time in the world to run onto the ball and fire beneath the Luton keeper. We’re a different team going forward when he plays; it’s really something. (I’m actually amazed that we’ve managed to win most of the matches that Koroma missed across his two or three injuries this season.)

Gowling made it two-nil after 20 minutes, nodding Shuker’s corner in from the edge of the six-yard box. The big stopper has an incredible eye for goal—that’s his tenth goal of the season (all from set pieces, I think).

Koroma got his second in the 29th minute, displaying incredible pace to make five yards on his man and then leave him for dead in the race for a long ball. His finish was exquisite, too, given that the deft flick past the keeper came while running at full pelt.

Another long ball from Gowling put him through again less than a minute later, but this time goalkeeper Mark Tyler stood up tall and made a fine save.

Barnes-Homer made it four in the 40th minute, drilling a low shot into the corner after dashing onto a through ball from Woods. This was turning into quite a rout.

Koroma went down injured a few minutes later, filling me with worry—I just got him back, dammit. He picked himself up and carried on, but he was clearly carrying a knock. I subbed him off, unwilling to take any chances on my talisman striker. He’d done his job, anyway.

Luton should have pulled a goal back in the 53rd minute. Danger man Stuart Fleetwood did well to get in behind my defence, and confidently sent a shot goalwards. Putnins made a brilliant save parrying the ball away. Craig Lynch, who was first to the rebound, shot with the goal at his mercy. But he hit the post, amazingly wasting a gilt-edged chance to shake up the game.

Substitute striker Ben May made them pay. He turned round his marker and struck a venomous swerving shot towards the bottom corner, leaving the Luton keeper with no chance. That’s his second goal for the club, and one that’s sure to boost his confidence.

Luton finally got their consolation goal in the 63rd minute. Alex Lawless played an angled ball through to James Knowles, who beat Putnins with a well-placed first-time shot. It wouldn’t make a difference to the result, but I was saddened to see the keeper’s record of over 300 minutes without conceding a goal fall by the wayside before it could really look impressive.

Our impenetrable shell shattered, we started making mistakes at the back. Sloppy defending in the box—mostly an inability to quickly clear the ball from danger—handed Luton their second goal of the match. Somewhat worryingly, it was their star man Fleetwood who got the goal. I don’t want him spurring a comeback.

We held on to the three-goal lead, however, and now stand eight points clear of second-placed Mansfield. Wrexham, the team that I’m more concerned about, thrashed Stockport 7-1. They remain nine points behind, with two games in hand. Wrexham are the ones who could steal the title from us. We gotta watch our backs.

Omar Koroma may have only played half the match, but he was awarded man of the match for his excellent brace. The bad news is that he came out with a bruised thigh. He’ll be out for another two weeks. His average rating is now 7.42. I wish he would stop getting hurt.