2017/18 Checkatrade Trophy thread

[PUSBCCFC]

Attendance: 41,261.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Congratulations Lincoln City FC.

 

[GTFCfish]

Didn’t realise Matt Rhead was a Stokie until yesterday when a mate mentioned it. Apparently he has a really strong accent, too.

There are a few words I like to call him but Stokie isn't one of them......

 

[GTFCfish]

I bet the Lincoln fans are buzzing, they've been dreaming of a day like this since they started supporting them after the Ipswich game.

 

[Dave-Vale]

Cue the DC wank-off-athon...

At least he’s finally done something of relative note in the Football league.

 

[Maple Hatter]

Well done Lincoln! Proving that the gap between leagues one and two isn't as big as people think.

 

[Carver]

Well done Lincoln! Proving that the gap between leagues one and two isn't as big as people think.

It is big, just look who is struggling to stay up in that division, Northampton, Wimbledon, Bury etc.

 

[valefan16]

It is big, just look who is struggling to stay up in that division, Northampton, Wimbledon, Bury etc.

It depends a lot on the squad you have, we finished third in league two (all be it with foot of the gas at the end) and kept much of the squad that got us up (and some of that was mid table the year before)

We started slow but finished 9th in league one, I recall we added Chris Lines, Carl Dickinson as regulars but otherwise we did ok. There is a gap but if you have the right types to adapt you can do ok. Oddly Gillingham who won the league found the step up hardest of the four who went up.

Second season is usually tougher though.

League One does seem poor this year mind, bearing in mind we’ve been shit this year Oxford who were doing well at the time turned up full strength and didn’t lay a glove on us!

 

[Impish]

Absolutely fantastic win and day out. Thrilled to win this competition at the home of England. Great to see so many smiles (stark difference to the miserable bitter folk on this thread).

Danny Cowley will more than likely be back there...as manager of the Three Lions one day. God save the Queen.

 

[Meadow]

Well done Lincoln. I've been boycotting the tinpot trophy for two seasons now but it's nice to see the lower club win (providing it's not us on the receiving end). I would have been stewarding in the Shrewsbury end but a stinking cold put paid to that. Therefore my boycott record remains intact.

 

[Meadow]

I should add that boycotting doesn't include earning a pittance from the takings.

 

[GTFCfish]

Attendance: 41,261.

Which categorically proves that this competition has been a resounding success, proved all you miserable doubters wrong so once again I was right, all you peasants were wrong.
So shove that up your fucking arses you bunch of twats.

SIGNED:

Shaun Harvey.

 

[Luke Imp]

Back from London at 4am, up at 6am for work. Happy days!

I've not seen anything back from the game yet but it felt like we shaded the first half, although they probably had the best chance from the free header (despite Green being fouled at the back post, hence the free header).

I think we saw the proper Shrewsbury from 45-65/70 minutes but then they ran out of steam and ideas, passing sideways a lot and putting balls into the box, which we defended well and easily. We defended strongly in that period and I can't remember Allsop having to make a save of any note despite them going up a gear.

We seemed to struggle at times in the second half. Didn't seem to be an out ball and anything we went into the channels with was skipping off the surface - it was absolutely hammering it down at times, particularly before the game. 4-3-3 certainly offers us some further strength through the centre of the pitch and defensively but it takes away going forward. Green on the left of a three didn't really work, nor did Rhead up through the middle.

Whitehouse was rightly MOTM. Despite his technical deficiencies, he never lets anyone down. Work rate, he battles, strong as an Ox and has a knack of grabbing goals in and around the 6-yard box as shown yesterday. Bostwick was outstanding as well, the two full backs are exposed more in a 4-3-3 but didn't put a foot wrong and won their one-on-one's all match.

And what a ball ache car parking is. It took 2 hours to do the final 4 miles and it turned out that 3 lanes became 1 on the way to the parking and a guy physically writing down all the car details despite pre-booking and the information being on your confirmation email anyway.

Anyway, cracking day, though. I didn't think I'd ever see my Club at Wembley, winning a cup or winning a league and we've done that in a year on top of the FA Cup run and Emirates last season. Crazy. This makes up for Carshalton, North Ferriby, Hayes and Yeading, Kettering and all the others.

 

[Luke Imp]

Oh, and the Cowleys having Colin Murphy walking the team out was a really nice touch, as were the two Club mascots - one with incurable cancer and the other with no limbs. It made the whole build up and end feel very family orientated and personal.

Think we made £800k-£1m from the run as well.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Congrats Lincoln but who was that cock that missed the header in the 93rd for Shrews, Needed BTTS for £700!

 

[oakroader]

Back from London at 4am, up at 6am for work. Happy days!

I've not seen anything back from the game yet but it felt like we shaded the first half, although they probably had the best chance from the free header (despite Green being fouled at the back post, hence the free header).

I think we saw the proper Shrewsbury from 45-65/70 minutes but then they ran out of steam and ideas, passing sideways a lot and putting balls into the box, which we defended well and easily. We defended strongly in that period and I can't remember Allsop having to make a save of any note despite them going up a gear.

We seemed to struggle at times in the second half. Didn't seem to be an out ball and anything we went into the channels with was skipping off the surface - it was absolutely hammering it down at times, particularly before the game. 4-3-3 certainly offers us some further strength through the centre of the pitch and defensively but it takes away going forward. Green on the left of a three didn't really work, nor did Rhead up through the middle.

Whitehouse was rightly MOTM. Despite his technical deficiencies, he never lets anyone down. Work rate, he battles, strong as an Ox and has a knack of grabbing goals in and around the 6-yard box as shown yesterday. Bostwick was outstanding as well, the two full backs are exposed more in a 4-3-3 but didn't put a foot wrong and won their one-on-one's all match.

And what a ball ache car parking is. It took 2 hours to do the final 4 miles and it turned out that 3 lanes became 1 on the way to the parking and a guy physically writing down all the car details despite pre-booking and the information being on your confirmation email anyway.

Anyway, cracking day, though. I didn't think I'd ever see my Club at Wembley, winning a cup or winning a league and we've done that in a year on top of the FA Cup run and Emirates last season. Crazy. This makes up for Carshalton, North Ferriby, Hayes and Yeading, Kettering and all the others.

i'm not one for saying ..."i told you so"

 

[Shrew_fan]

Well done Lincoln. Could have been very different if VAR had been in operation (or if the ref and linesman had any competence) as the Imps would almost certainly have been down to 10 men, possibly 9 for the handball, and a penalty for us to boot. On the balance of play we were definitely out hustled and, apart from 15 mins after HT, we were well below the standards we've set this season - credit must go to Lincoln for nullifying us although I'm glad I don;t have to watch them every week!

Bigger picture, although it hurt to lose, that competition didn't really matter, we need to regroup and focus on the promotion push - although with 4 defeats in 4 trips, I don't fancy our chances should we get to Wembley.

 

[jacobncfc]

Seen nowt of this other than a short clip on Twitter, but is Rhead likely to face some action for that horror elbow on the ‘keeper or did the ref see it at the time? Proper made me wince just watching it.

 

[Luke Imp]

He got booked, so nothing can be done.

Couldn't see what happened from our end and I've still not seen it. Not seen this handball incident either. I can't recall a penalty shout during the match for one?

 

[Tom_CUFC]

https://twitter.com/uglygame/status/983014490957598720
https://twitter.com/uglygame/status/983303361192779776

So, despite Lincoln's best efforts...:

- Total attendances down 18k on last season, therefore still below 2k per game and about 55% down on the 15/16 season before B teams were introduced
- This is despite rigging the group stage draw to match up local rivals
- Having said that, crowds were up in total at all stages except for the final, which was 33k lower than last season
- In the group stage, average crowds for games involving B teams were down, but crowds for all-EFL ties were up, indicative of the draw rigging

So there's still something for Harvey to cling onto there, that the only reason crowds were down overall was because of the reduction in the final (well done Shrewsbury), and there was improvement at every other stage of the competition vs last year. The counter-argument being that this is because fans demonstrated that they want to see games against (mostly local) fellow EFL sides, and not B teams where crowds were down.

A 2 year deal and enough evidence in his favour for Harvey to carry on with it though, so we'll be back for another crack at killing this bastard off in August. Let's see what shithousery they come up with for next season to try and make it look like a a success again and which set of mugs buy into it this time.....

 

[shoddycollins]

Absolutely fantastic win and day out. Thrilled to win this competition at the home of England. Great to see so many smiles (stark difference to the miserable bitter folk on this thread).

Danny Cowley will more than likely be back there...as manager of the Three Lions one day. God save the Queen.

I don't think you'd get away with playing Cowleyball in front of international referees.

 

[GodsGift]

Rhead obviously should have gone but Nsiala was lucky to stay on as well, he made four or five fouls - a couple of them pretty cynical.

Either way I thought we deserved it. We negated Shrewsbury for most of the game; other than a 10-minute spell at the start of the second half they offered very little. Although we're good at game management, I was surprised at the ease in which we held on at the end - I thought Shrewsbury would have thrown everything at us.

 

[GTFCfish]

The Cowleys certainly seem to have it sussed out how to play against Paul Hurst's teams, with thankfully the one exception being the play off semi second leg.

 

[The Jovial Forester]

In many ways the Checkatrade is the ideal showcase for the Cowley's style of football

 

[jacobncfc]

He got booked, so nothing can be done.

Couldn't see what happened from our end and I've still not seen it. Not seen this handball incident either. I can't recall a penalty shout during the match for one?

Always thought that rule is a bit silly for instances like this where you could easily argue that a longer ban than the standard three match one would be fair. Shrewsbury keeper was very lucky he didn’t do some serious damage.

Think Calvin Andrew got a twelve match ban for a very similar incident that the ref didn’t see, so Rhead is a very lucky boy.

https://twitter.com/horwell_91/status/982997529280294914

 

[Shrew_fan]

Couldn't see what happened from our end and I've still not seen it. Not seen this handball incident either. I can't recall a penalty shout during the match for one?

Not that it matters now but here they are.....

GBH attempt from Rhead > https://twitter.com/Jarvinhio/status/982986289422241792

Handball on the line >

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=410213589405933

 

[Forza Imps]

Absolutely delighted with yesterday. Was not expecting even coming close to winning but with our genius managers we can beat anyone and anywhere.

Promotion and FA Cup last year, Playoffs and EFL Trophy champions this year. Dreamland.

Thought we set up really well to stop Shrewsbury, Neal Eardley needs another mention for his defending and crosses. Ollie Palmer came on and did what he does best - run around so much the opposition gets confused. Elliot Whitehouse though, game of his career. Always there causing problems and was in the right place at the right time.

Only sad thing was that the winning goal was at the other end!

 

[mowgli]

Rhead should be punished severely for that assault on the Shrewsbury keeper,if he did that on the street he'd be lucky to stay out of prison.

 

[FishyMackem]

There's absolutely no argument that he didn't mean to do it. It was clearly intentional and it's a shame he won't be punished any further than the yellow card he received.

 

[dedwardp]

Think that handball looks worse in slow motion - he was leaning against the post and to me it looks as though he is pulling his arm away, but with the sheer speed the ball has hit it at the same time the slow motion makes it look as though he's punched it. Don't think it is intentional though, so no penalty.