After Lincoln City played out a goalless draw with Blackburn Rovers in the EFL Championship on Tuesday evening, Imps head coach Chris Cohen assessed his side’s performance amid the chaos that is transfer deadline day.
Despite creating the better of the attacking opportunities for large periods of the match, City were unable to find the breakthrough against Rovers who were able to keep the hosts at bay.
Cohen felt his side had done enough in the opening stages to deserve more from the game, particularly with the number of opportunities and set-piece situations they created.
He said: “In the first 65/70 minutes, I thought we were the better team in terms of the amount of chances we created, lots of set-pieces, lots of volume around their goal but just not quite the moment of quality that was needed to take down a really good team.
“There is a tiny bit of frustration that there wasn’t more in that.”
Tom Bayliss was handed a starting place in midfield against Blackburn ahead of Ivan Varfolomeev, highlighting the strength of options available to Cohen in the centre of the pitch.
With Ben House unavailable through injury, Lincoln’s number 8 was given the nod, with the Imps boss stressing the importance of utilising the depth within their squad throughout the season.
He said: “We have four midfielders that we’re incredibly happy with, Yunus Konak who played very well at Blackpool and was a real contender to play tonight as well.
“Losing Ben House, there were a lot of players who understand our game model and we went with Tom Bayliss.
“We know this season we will have to rotate; we are going to have to use all of them. Everyone is going to get opportunities to showcase themselves.”
One of Lincoln’s latest arrivals during the transfer window was club-record signing Mikkel Ladefoged, who joined the Imps from Swedish outfit Västerås SK after scoring nine goals in 14 matches in the 2026 Allsvenskan.
The 6’8 Danish striker made his Lincoln debut against Blackburn, coming off the bench with less than 15 minutes remaining as the Imps looked for a way to break down the visitors.
Despite his stature, Cohen believes Ladefoged offers considerably more than what would be typically thought.
He said: “When you say someone’s 6’8, you probably have a stereotype of him not being particularly mobile, but he’s athletically very good, able to run the channels, able to press hard and he’s technically very good as well.
“He’s got the capabilities to do absolutely everything. That doesn’t mean it’s going to come out perfectly each Saturday or Tuesday night.
“He’s got absolutely every club in the bag, it’s just about us helping him develop those tools over the course of the next few seasons.”
Ladefoged will now look to build on his first appearance in red and white stripes as Cohen continues to integrate their summer signings into a squad, preparing for the challenges of Championship football with Southampton up next on Saturday.