Lincoln City 3 v Charlton Athletic 1

I dared to allow myself a little positivity pre-match yesterday and wondered if this side could be in the frame come January. Fair to say that question was answered emphatically last night at Lincoln and the answer was 'no chance.'

I followed a stream with home team commentary and was clear early on that they didn't fancy their chances. Five missing attacking players and the consensus seemed to be that they could only really expect to score from a set-piece - they had already rumbled that we are vulnerable to them - and that they were unlikely to score more than once, so would need to keep it tight if they were to have a chance of winning.

Their confidence hardly grew in the opening ten minutes when we piled forward and when Alfie May bundled Tyreece Campbell's cross in from close range, things looked very promising for us. We continued to play in their half and were committing players but couldn't get a second and eventually Lincoln began to find their out balls. Adelakun got nearly everything on the left and Sorensen everything on the right. The began to create those set pieces and you could see our players wilting under the pressure. 

It didn't help that Terrell Thomas had been given leave-of-absence and was usually in their half when Sorensen was tearing into our defence behind him. Cue their equaliser. Sorensen raced to the edge of the box and played the ball in for Adelakun to challenge Lloyd Jones. Adelakun spun Jones and was left six yards out with just Maynard-Brewer to beat.

The equaliser lit the blue touch paper and we fell apart. Sorensen was unfortunate not to score from one of a series of shots from distance as we struggled to clear our lines. Maynard-Brewer had already done very well to beat one out but the others brought players down and caused general chaos in an already panicky back line.

We survived until half-time but they came straight back at us after the break and continued the torment. Michael Hector keeps telling us that his regular howlers are just one of those things and that they even themselves out over a season. Well I really hope we don't have to maintain a count much longer because he was woeful. It's not as if he doesn't look capable, rather more that he doesn't look that bothered. He gives a fine cameo of an aging pro milking his last contract. Sadly, that goes for his mate Terrell Thomas. Replacing these two is the urgent business we need done in January.

Adelakun made it 2-1 after 57 minutes and I was suddenly overcome by tiredness and fell asleep. I envisaged a third as I drifted off and have woken this morning to see it.