Teenager Freddie Draper offers hope as Lincoln crash to visiting Pompey

Lincoln City slumped to a humiliating 3-0 home defeat at the hands of former manager Danny Cowley as Portsmouth stretched their unbeaten run and recorded their third successive victory.

The returning boss couldn’t have wished for a better evening as Pompey ran out comprehensive winners in a game where Lincoln’s lack of potency across the pitch cost them once more.

Goals from Marcus Harness, George Hirst and Reeco Hackett did the damage for the visitors, and in truth, it could have been more if it wasn’t for some smart goalkeeping from Lincoln goalkeeper Josh Griffiths. 

Buoyed on by almost 800 fans making the 400-mile round trip from the South Coast, the visitors dominated play from the early moments as the Imps struggled to muster any real pressure on the Pompey goal throughout proceedings.

Portsmouth wing-back Reeco Hackett shone with his goal and direct running throughout the evening. He showed some tidy bits of skill carrying the ball from deep and was at the heart of everything good about the visitors as they started the game on the front foot, pressing Lincoln into several errors.

On a couple of occasions, Ronan Curtis had already threatened before Connor Ogilvie had a shot well saved by Griffiths as the ball broke through a number of bodies in the crowded box. Hirst nearly opened the scoring for Pompey with a marvellous solo run from halfway only to be denied by the Imps’ shot-stopper at the vital moment. 

As Pompey cranked up the pressure before the break, Harness latched onto Mahlon Romeo’s blocked effort to smash the ball past Griffiths from 12 yards. 

After the restart, Portsmouth weren’t finished and they were straight out of the traps, sensing a second goal would kill the game. Harness, Curtis and Hirst continued to cause the Lincoln defence problems and the trio combined beautifully for the second.

Harness found Curtis with an intricate pass to get him behind the defence and the striker had the presence of mind to roll the ball across goal for Hirst to tap home. It was a fine team goal that sent the away support into raptures.

Hackett rounded off his and Pompey’s evening with a well-struck effort from 25 yards, having seen his initial free-kick charged down by Lincoln’s wall. The full-back didn’t hesitate to smash the ball past Griffiths to compound the misery on Michael Appleton. 

A chorus of boos echoed around the stands at full-time in which the Imps boss described as a ‘car crash’ of a performance.

“When you come up against a side who get the ball forward early, jump on seconds, jump on firsts [balls], you’ve got to compete, and we didn’t compete. We were second best in most departments.”

“You need to give yourself a platform. The first goal is a great example of that.

“We were in control of the situation two or three times and let that control be taken away from us and found ourselves a goal behind.

“The second and third goals – we’ve just shown the players – there’s one or two really embarrassed players in the dressing room because they’ve been told.

“It’s a bad night, well and truly beaten, no excuses, we got beaten by a much better side.”

Only teenage league debutant Freddie Draper provided any real ray of hope as he made a nuisance of himself up top.

The 17-year-old suggested that he does possess the physicality and ability to hold the ball up, which Lincoln have desperately missed in the absence of Tom Hopper. The Imps’ best moments came from the young striker as ex-Lincoln centre-back Sean Raggett struggled to get to grips with him early in the game.

Raggett had been pulling Draper’s shirt from the early moments as a welcome to League One football, but he soon found himself in trouble, going into the book for a silly challenge on the striker.

Kieron Freeman and Ogilvie were guilty of foul play on Draper too as the youngster used his physicality to good effect. Starved of service, he turned provider on a couple of occasions which provided Lincoln with some good chances.

In the first half, Draper swept the ball out to Lasse Sorensen, but as he broke into the box, the midfielder was adjudged to have been fairly knocked off the ball by the impressive Hackett.

A headed flick on in the second period by Draper found Chris Maguire on the flank, and as the forward turned to run at the Pompey defence on its heels, his 25-yard effort whistled just past the upright.

With Lincoln struggling for goals, Draper will have provided some positivity for his manager, but relying on his teenage striker to get City firing again is not entirely viable despite Appleton being delighted with his showing.

“He was the only sort of bright point for me. When I’m asking people to be competitive and show personality on the pitch, he’s shown that.

“There were times obviously where he got outmuscled and all that type of stuff, but you’d expect that from a 17-year-old kid.

“Freddie’s going to be fine. He’s going to be with us a while now until we get him in a position where he just gets better and better, which he will do, so I am delighted with his performance.”

Accrington Stanley visit Lincoln at the weekend, and on the back of a heavy defeat themselves on Tuesday evening, the Imps have an opportunity to dust themselves down and brush off a performance that was very unlike a Michael Appleton side.

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