Lincoln City reach play-off final after nervy second leg at Sunderland

Tom Hopper’s second-half header was enough for Lincoln City to get over the line and reach the play-off final despite having thrown away their two-goal lead in the first-half against Sunderland.

Not many would have tipped Michael Appleton’s side to challenge for promotion this season but the Imps now find themselves 90 minutes away from playing Championship football next season.

Lincoln were in the National League as recently as 2016/17, yet just five years on, they could be in the second tier of English football.

A journey started by Danny Cowley, who took the club up from the National League and League Two and that was taken over by Appleton who replaced Cowley in September 2019 when he moved on to Huddersfield.

The 45-year-old’s reign did not get off to the best of starts. He inherited a squad that did not play his style of football, the results showed and Lincoln fell away before the season was curtailed.

This season, having recruited his own side, Appleton’s side have never looked back. The Imps have been challenging near the top of the league all season, and despite a slight blip that saw them fall out of the automatic fight, they regained their form towards the end of the campaign heading into the play-offs.

Lincoln were impressive in the first-leg, keeping Sunderland at bay while taking the few chances they created, but now they had to travel to the Stadium of Light, where Lee Johnson’s side would be backed by their own supporters. Supporters who are desperate for success and ones that do not want their club spending a fourth consecutive season in League One.

The Black Cats were roared on by 9,973 fans, and the atmosphere they created was electric. Lee Johnson’s side came flying out of the blocks and completely dominated the opening 45 minutes of the game.

Ross Stewart pulled one goal back just 13 minutes into the game, and Sunderland had a great chance to equalise on aggregate after that through Charlie Wyke, who rounded Alex Palmer, but the Sunderland forward failed to beat the covering defender.

Wyke would score with his next effort though, a cross from the left-hand side from Aiden McGeady who found the tall striker at the far post who bundled the ball home.

Sunderland had come into the game with a mountain to climb, and after 33 minutes they had the game level. The tempo and high pressing was causing Lincoln all manner of problems and Johnson’s side should have probably scored more given the number of openings they created.

The Black Cats felt they should have had a penalty before the break when Palmer brought down Stewart in the box, but the referee was not interested. Had that decision gone the other way, this game could have panned out very differently.

The crowd felt like it was having a major impact on the game, Sunderland had momentum, the atmosphere was lifted because of it, and it felt like that lift was lifting the team even further too.

At the break, Appleton made two substitutions, and there was also a noticeable difference in how high up Lincoln’s full-backs were starting up the pitch in comparison to the first-half.

The Imps started to create more and started to pin Sunderland back. Something which didn’t happen at all before the break.

In the first 10 minutes after the break, the Imps hit the bar through a Regan Poole header from a corner, and also had a penalty shout of their own after Brennan Johnson went down inside the box, but the referee didn’t buy it and Johnson was booked.

Sunderland didn’t learn their lesson about Lincoln and corners, and in the 55th minute, an unmarked Tom Hopper headed in from close range to put the visitors back ahead on aggregate.

Shortly after, the Imps had the chance to make their lead more comfortable from the spot after Conor McGrandles was fouled in the box.

Jorge Grant hit the penalty to Lee Burge’s left-hand side but the Sunderland keeper guessed right to keep the ball out.

The atmosphere, while certainly not flat, was nowhere near the levels of the first-half, and neither was Sunderland’s performance, perhaps having tired themselves out before the break.

The hosts kept throwing everything forward in search of a goal that would bring the game level again and take the match to extra time, but unlike the first-half, Lincoln were now proving more difficult to break down.

The visitors were successfully running down the clock through goalkeeper Palmer, on his return from injury having missed the first leg with a concussion, taking as much time as he could whenever he had the ball. This started in from the first minute and continued for the entire game, with the West Bromwich Albion loanee fortunate not to have been booked.

In the final 10 minutes, both sides came incredibly close to altering the scoreline, Sunderland through McGeady who hit the post, and then Wyke who hit the side netting, and then Aiden O’Brien who forced a good save from Palmer at the near post.

For Lincoln, Palmer picked out Morgan Rogers in acres of space who broke away and forced a save out of Burge from close range.

Neither team managed to score again with Sunderland winning the match 2-1, but Lincoln City’s two-goal advantage from the first-leg meant that they won the tie 3-2 on aggregate to set up a meeting with Blackpool at Wembley next weekend.

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