Scott Brown lauds Fleetwood character after dramatic draw at Lincoln

Posted Sunday, August 28, 2022 by PA

Fleetwood boss Scott Brown hailed his side’s belief after substitute Ged Garner pounced in stoppage time to earn them an unlikely 2-2 draw at Lincoln.

The visitors had trailed to two early Ted Bishop goals but reduced the arrears before half-time through Paddy Lane.

After both sides squandered chances, it was left to Garner to level at the death.

Brown said: “It wasn’t our team for those first 25 minutes. We seemed anxious on the ball and couldn’t defend crosses – we probably deserved to be two goals down.

“We sneaked a goal back, though, which gave us that belief and you could see which team was finishing the strongest at the end.

“We were very positive and our subs were huge for us but we needed to be more ruthless in front of the goal.

“Yes we found holes to pass through despite Lincoln going to a back five and that’s pleasing but we need to take our chances.

“We’re getting there and it shows the lads’ character that they can keep going for 97 minutes or whatever it was. Coming away with a point after that first-half performance is probably about right.”

The hosts began brightly and a neat sixth-minute move involving Sean Roughan and Tashan Oakley-Boothe saw the latter cross for Bishop to convert following Tom Hopper’s clever dummy.

Eight minutes later, Bishop converted from close range once more and again it was a ball played in from the left – this time from Roughan.

At the other end, Dan Batty’s perfect through ball found Lane, who calmly slotted under Carl Rushworth from 10 yards.

Lincoln started the second half in much the same fashion as the first with Bishop going close to completing his hat-trick but his 25-yard strike was beaten away by Jay Lynch.

Town substitute Promise Omochere then went close to bundling his side level during a scramble, before the same player was bravely denied by Rushworth with ten minutes to go.

Lincoln should have added a third late on but Hopper and Charley Kendall spurned the opportunity by waiting for the referee to whistle, who instead played the advantage after a foul on Ben House.

Brown’s side were given hope after the fourth official signalled nine minutes of stoppage time and that soon turned to reality as Garner arrived unmarked to head home Danny Andrew’s free-kick.

Lincoln boss Mark Kennedy was left with mixed emotions.

He said: “I thought we started outstanding in terms of our possession and movement.

“Then we just stopped doing the things that had got us into a two-goal lead, which was particularly disappointing.

“The (younger) players have to show bravery on the ball and recognise what got them into a good position.

“They need to have courage, which comes with experience. The only way to get experience is to play football – and the only way to learn is by making mistakes.

“I always say Rome wasn’t built in a day. We have a cracking group of players and a cracking group of young players.

“They leave everything on the pitch and give everything they have but I also think we sometimes get punished for the things we do well.

“We play so well and teams don’t want to play against us so they become incredibly direct. That’s something we need to get used to.”