Sincil Bank may not carry the same aura as the Allianz Arena or Old Trafford, but for a good while, it looked like this soulful ground might be the latest to swallow up Chelsea after their weary week.
They lost at Bayern Munich then at Manchester United, but Lincoln City? This trip to face the League One side was supposed to represent a relatively easy ending to this mini tour of theirs; shooting practice for the Premier League visitors who proudly carry a shiny ‘world champions’ badge on their fronts.
Instead, Chelsea were the ones played off the park in the first half, well and truly. Lincoln fought hard, launched ball after ball into their box, and were unfortunate to have only scored the once through Rob Street.
With some stern encouragement from Enzo Maresca at half-time, Chelsea woke up for the second half as they scored through Tyrique George then Facundo Buonanotte, but still, what happened before all that was concerning.
Lincoln’s record signing is Ivan Varfolomeyev, the 21-year-old Ukrainian who cost them £350,000. Chelsea’s line-up added up to £367.3million, not including a fair few add-ons, while their bench was worth £247.6m.
‘Absolutely,’ Maresca said when asked if he showed his anger at half-time. ‘We expected long balls, duels, throw-ins and free-kicks into the box.
‘I asked today them how many of them had played against a League One team, because you need to play a different kind of game. It’s not the same game, because the desire is double from them. We struggled in the first half.’
Credit to Lincoln for the way they tormented the visitors initially. Chelsea have shown a naivety in their defending this season, including at set-pieces in their last two Premier League outings.
In their 2-2 draw at Brentford, they conceded the equaliser to a long throw. In the 2-1 defeat at Manchester United, Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen appeared allergic to coming to try to punch clear the danger.
Lincoln, managed by a former PE teacher in Michael Skubala, took note of those weaknesses and tested their opponents under the lights of Sincil Bank. Whenever they won a throw-in within range of the Chelsea box, they had Tom Hamer wind up his arms. One such scenario after the opening minute saw the ball worked to Lewis Montsma, whose powerful strike came back off the inside of the post.
Alejandro Garnacho, who cost £40m, was fouled three times within the opening 15 minutes with the Argentinian handed his first start here. However, he and Jamie Gittens struggled to impose themselves so much that Maresca eventually had them swap wings.
In the 32nd minute, Jorgensen flapped at an attempted punch, prompting an almighty scramble. Lincoln’s opener did arrive in the 42nd after a mistake by Enzo Fernandez, however.
It was Fernandez’s risky ball across his own box which saw Trevoh Chalobah beaten to it with Street scoring for a half-time lead which was entirely deserved. Chelsea had not even managed a single shot on target.
Chelsea finally had their first proper attempt in the 48th minute and it saw George, the academy winger being used as a striker, score a 20-yard cracker which swerved beyond Zach Jeacock.
In the 50th, Buonanotte exchanged a one-two with George before showing some twinkletoes in order to make it 2-1. Signed as a deputy to Cole Palmer, who is being given time to overcome his groin injury issues, the Brighton loanee practically walked it in.
Suddenly, Chelsea’s supporters had a reason to sing ‘champions of the world’. They had been too embarrassed to do so prior to taking the lead.
