Superb result and we deserved it for that second half performance.
Mellon outfoxed Cowley tonight: Lincoln could not cope when we switched to a three-man midfield in the second half and from looking like a boxer on the ropes just waiting to be floored, we played some wonderful, slick football and dominated the half.
The game was almost a mirror image of the match at MK on Saturday, albeit against a much stronger team. We started incredibly sloppily, giving the ball away cheaply and failing to get tight enough to the opposition. We could easily have been three down after fifteen minutes, and only some defensive heroics from Davies and McNulty - who was awesome tonight - kept us in the game. Adam Buxton had his poorest game in a Rovers shirt and was roasted by Andrade and with Lincoln dominating us physically all over the pitch, we could not get a foothold in the game.
The half time substitution and change of shape to 451 transformed the performance. Harvey Gilmour was brilliant, as on Saturday, and our midfield suddenly came to life. Norwood and Smith were immense and tormented their back four with their pace and movement, and Zoum was great on the left hand side. Some of the attacking football was great to watch, and it made me wonder whether we should play two strikers aginst the better sides. A 433 / 451 suits our passing style more and gives us real control in games, and Norwood is still a major threat operating as a lone striker.
It was a fantastic team effort but I agreed with the sponsors' choice of Macca as man of the match. Saw off Akinde after sixty minutes.
The only negative was Nrowood's red card but for now I will just savour the victory.