Some you win (apparently).

I trudged away from the Rotherham defeat feeling quite chipper, subscribing to the notion that once this game was out of the way some rather more winnable fixtures would come along.

Leaving aside a supposed away banker, Southend, City could surely mop up a few more points to assure safety and leave Michael Appleton the summer recess to plot and scheme, hopefully, a more productive second season in league one.

That may well be the case but on last nights evidence it’s not going to be a particularly easy watch as City stuttered and failed to get to grips with one of the sides who came up with us last year and have had an even greater struggle than ourselves.

Yet, looking at the other results, things mainly went our way. I’ve often thought, now that we’ve got a bit more experience of it, how many games a team has to win to achieve a championship. Similarly a relegated team usually takes a fair bit of punishment. Fortunately the Imps banked a good few points in the early part of the season and I remain convinced that, even now, hopefully, City will be safe despite the alarming slump in form.

We all know how that slump came about and I can’t in all honesty say I disagree with the policy, I just wonder if the current football business model will hold up next season.

Anyway, we haven’t got there yet. Alan Hansen once famously said you can’t win anything with kids. Can you however survive with a mainly youthful team? You need some wise old heads to steady the ship surely? Well on last nights evidence it was a couple (at least) of experienced pro’s who were the worst offenders. I don’t normally single anyone out for making mistakes but Shackell has made a habit of it lately, either that or unwise passes that went wrong from the one player who, in terms of experience and ability ought to be most comfortable with playing out from the back. For me it was his inadvisable or badly executed pass that led to the free kick whereby MK Dons took a very early lead, a lead that City found, as usual, extremely difficult to turn around. Maybe it was as well it came so early the Imps had almost all the game to put right. Having conceded the kick could Vickers made more of a job of saving it? Plenty around me thought so.

Other than that I suppose we should be generous and say the weather had a bearing on the game, it was the same for both sides though. Talking of generous the manager said he thought the ball might have taken a bobble just as Hesketh’s foot made contact with it when it only needed side footing into the goal, he couldn’t suppress an inadvertent laugh when he said it though. That and John-Jules’ attempt hitting the bar. He, in mitigation I’d say had an energetic game and he’s not the only player to miss a sitter in the last couple of games is he Harry?

On we go, another winnable game against Stanley to come. Another struggling side who have had a bit of a renaissance recently. Lucky? You can’t accuse us of that lately for sure.