Never have I seen a match end so disappointingly. 15 seconds: that is all Reading had to hold out for. But no.
A ball played through our entire defence, which was out of place anyway, and straight to right-back Lasse Sorensen, who slotted it into the back of the net. It was so annoying to watch Andy Yiadom not track his man, Haydon Roberts not do anything to even try and intercept the cross, and then the shot go in the back of the net. Annoying.
Lincoln City are going really well. They are currently
top of the league and all praise needs to go to them for how they have been performing this season.
After consistent good displays all year round they now have an eight-point gap to Cardiff City so, with a draw, they could get promoted in this game as neither Stockport City or Bolton Wanderers will be able to catch them.
Goals have been shared among the Imps’ players this season. Their top scorer is Reeco Hackett with nine, compared to Reading’s injured striker Jack Marriott, who’s on 16.
The head-to-head between the sides is in Lincoln’s favour with them having 11 wins, compared to 11 draws and seven Reading victories. The last game was the first match of the season, in which Reading were dominating, but a Finley Burns own-goal and Hackett’s first of the season were enough for Lincoln to grab their first win of 2025/26.
In this preview I am going to mention the impact of substitutes and try to see why Leam Richardson keeps getting it wrong, and I will give my predictions.
What? League One matchday 42
Season? 2025/26
Who? Lincoln City
Where? Select Car Leasing Stadium
Time? 15:00
Opposition manager? Michael Skubala
Substitutions
Substitutions are what let us down on Friday. Taking off Daniel Kyerewaa made Reading lose all momentum in the attack. Paddy Lane barely touched the ball, similar to Matt Ritchie and Will Keane. Taking off Jeriel Dorsett and Charlie Savage were the two that annoyed me though.
Dorsett is in the form of his life and was defensively solid in that game. With how we were playing, a goal wasn’t going to be achieved, so the Royals needed to defend. So naturally you take off a defender, midfielder and striker and bring on a striker and two wingers, right?
But then the Royals brought off Savage. He’s known in the squad to be the legs, the guy who tracks back, popping up out of nowhere and dispossessing you or putting you off.
Richardson realised he needed to defend for his life so he brought on a defender, Yiadom, who came on in the 90th minute. It was then him who was blatantly ball-watching, not noticing the man coming in behind him, making no effort to get close to him, and then the right-back got the goal.
It’s not necessarily the people Richardson brought on that annoyed me, it’s where he brought them on. Roberts came on for Kyerewaa, a like-for-like positional change, the only difference being that Kyerewaa is a lot more attacking than Roberts. Brilliant.
So why was it, after other changes were made, Roberts ended up playing centre-back? For the goal he drifted a little too far out of position and allowed the ball to go through.
All of Huddersfield’s substitutions were made before Reading made one. In fact, Reading’s first non-forced change came in the same minute as the previous game, against Wigan Athletic, and it was Roberts for Kyerewaa. These things become predictable.
My predictions
Joel Pereira will be in goal. I didn’t really talk about him much but he made some cracking saves against Huddersfield, but also gave us a massive scare when he dropped a ball he should’ve easily caught.
The defence will be Paudie O’Connor, Derrick Williams and Dorsett.
In the pivot will be Lewis Wing and Liam Fraser.
The wing-backs will be Ryan Nyambe and Kyerewaa.
Finally, the attacking three will be Kamari Doyle, Kadan Young and Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan.
Score prediction: 4-3 Lincoln
If the Royals scrape a draw from this one I will be over the moon, but I really don’t think we stand a chance against the league-leaders.
I will be at the game so if you see me feel free to say hello.
Good luck to those joining me at the game.
Come on you Royals!
