Griffiths to the rescue as Lincoln City claim a point against plucky Rotherham United

Young Lincoln City goalkeeper, Josh Griffiths, was the hero at the LNER Stadium with an inspired goalkeeping performance to earn his side a well-fought point against frustrated Rotherham United.

Griffiths made a string of vital saves throughout the 90 minutes as Lincoln managed to weather large periods of sustained pressure from the visitors to somehow salvage a 1-1 draw which could be pivotal come the end of the season. It was the sort of evening that goalkeepers dream about as the loanee was almost unbeatable on a memorable evening.

Irishman Chiedozie Ogbene will have wondered what more he needed to do to get an assist for his side in a second half where Rotherham applied intense pressure on the Lincoln goal but couldn’t break through their stubborn resistance.

Delivering the quintessential wingman performance, Ogbene gave home debutant Jamie Robson a torrid time along the Lincoln left-hand side with his pace and trickery that began in the opening moments of the game.

Unfortunately for Ogbene, his teammates didn’t have their shooting boots on as they missed a number of guilt-edged chances. Griffiths twice came to the rescue in two second half minutes, firstly denying the visitors with a superb close-range save which appeared to come off the head of his own man Regan Poole following good work from Ogbene.

Just a minute later, Griffiths went one better with another fantastic save, this time denying substitute Will Grigg. The striker’s downward header looked destined for the back of the net before the youngster showed great agility to touch the ball around the post for a corner.

Lincoln struggled for large periods of the game against the high press of Rotherham, and with Freddie Ladapo a constant thorn in the Imps side, it was a difficult evening for Michael Appleton’s men.

Skipper Liam Bridcutt, who was doing his best to offer protection to his centre-halves, struggled to break up Ladapo’s hold up play and was guilty of conceding a number of free-kicks. His failure to get to grips with Ladapo ultimately cost them the first goal on 22 minutes.

As a long throw came into the box, Ladapo got away from a couple of challenges before rolling a ball across goal that Michael Smith wasn’t going to squander given his earlier miss in the game.

Bridcutt who usually is such a reliable cog in the Imps’ engine room was guilty of conceding possession but Griffiths again came to the rescue as at full stretch he denied Oliver Rathbone’s strike from 18 yards.

It could have been worse for Lincoln before the break not for the form of Griffiths. The West Brom loanee had already denied Michael Smith from close range before another block thwarted a certain goal from Jamie Lindsay.

I’m about to hit my 14th year watching Lincoln, I genuinely don’t think I remember a goalkeeping performance as good as that in all that time.

Unreal performance.

— Ally ? (@LincolnCity1884) September 14, 2021

Lincoln, who couldn’t quite get into their usual slick passing game, got themselves level from out of the blue on 55 minutes through Manchester City loanee midfielder, Lewis Fiorini. Neat build-up play between him and the quiet Chris Maguire got him through on goal before he slotted the ball emphatically past Viktor Johansson from just inside the area.

Despite the surge in noise from a packed Sincil Bank, Lincoln couldn’t sustain any real periods of possession and it was quickly Rotherham that got them on the back foot once more and should have finished a host of chances that went begging.

Despite the heroics of Griffiths, Paul Warne was a frustrated figure at full-time and could barely believe his side’s luck. On another evening, the Millers could have run out easy winners but a combination of great goalkeeping and some poor finishing left him rueing his side’s chances to kill the game off.

“I thought our performance was bordering on outstanding – it was one of the most enjoyable games I have seen since becoming manager of this club.

“Their goalkeeper got man of the match, he made some great saves, but we just needed that second goal and unfortunately we didn’t get it.

“We played at the sort of level that, if I was a football fan, I would want us to be playing at. We had 20 shots away from home against a very good side, with a lively crowd, but no one misses on purpose, although it is frustrating we didn’t take our chances.”

As for Griffiths, he has not had an easy time since joining the club in the summer and has inevitably made a few errors early on as he learns his trade. What was evident last night in abundance, was the type of character he sowed to bounce back and learn from some harsh lessons.

Very early on in the game, Griffiths opted for safety first to kick the ball into touch when it appeared he had time to find a better alternative. However, with the mindset of not risking getting things wrong, which ultimately led to their recent 1-0 home defeat against Bolton Wanderers, his focus to concentrate on getting the basics right was the foundation of his evening.

Despite the direct approach from Rotherham, Griffiths showed the confidence to come and claim crosses amongst a number of bodies, either opting to punch or using a pair of safe hands. As the pressure intensified at the death, Griffiths seemed to relish the challenge, as he hung onto to earn his side a good home point.

“It’s been a difficult start to his campaign, he’s had a couple of difficult moments in games.

“For him come through that type of game, with crosses and set-pieces raining in on him, shows the type of character he’s got and what sort of goalkeeper he is going to be.” – Michael Appleton

Appleton admitted at full-time that there aren’t many fixtures where he would be satisfied with a point but given the quality and dominance that Rotherham showed against his sub-par Lincoln side, he was delighted to come away with something from the game.

For Paul Warne, Rotherham looked every ounce a Championship outfit and with a more ruthless streak, they would have been well out of sight against one of the fancied sides for promotion in the division.

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