Lincoln City last night edged closer to safety in the Conference with a narrow and rather fortuitous 2-1 victory over relegation rivals Hayes and Yeading United at the Kingsfield stadium in Woking in front of only 327 fans. Credit must be given to our away support this season who have followed the Imps across the country regardless of results or performance.
The Imps came into this game full of confidence after an impressive 2-0 win on Saturday against Newport County. Manager David Holdsworth elected to change the starting line up slightly with Francis Laurent coming into the side in place of the injured Peter Bore. Former Hayes and Yeading striker Richard Pacquette failed to make the bench, he scored four goals for them in a spell at the start of the season. The Imps lined up in the same 4-4-2 formation that was successful in the previous match. I do feel that our improvement has come form a more consistent approach to both team selection and tactics, I hope this will continue.
It was Laurent who started brightly, after only three minutes his effort went narrowly wide from the edge of the box. Laurent is a player with undoubted ability but sadly he has barely played this season due to persistent injury problems. If we had him playing just half the games this season I feel we would be a few points better off. following this early effort the Imps looked to push on and get that first goal, Laurent seemed to be involved heavily in the opening exchanges, helping to set up Power for a shot and then volleying an effort over the bar himself shortly afterwards. The first half was a fairly uneventful affair thoguh, the first corner of the game not arriving until the 37th minute of the match for Hayes and Yeading.
The second half had all of the action in this match. The sides were unchanged when they came out from the changing rooms, Hayes started the half brighter. five minutes into the half Anyon pulled off the first of many saves to deny Hayes getting in front, this time denying Luke Williams with his legs before then pulling off a quick double save to keep the score at 0-0. The Imps made the first change of the match in the 54th minute with Nicolau replacing the ineffective McCammon, this moved Laurent upfront alongside Louis. Laurents spell as striker lasted only minutes as he was replaced by Jamie Taylor in the 58th minute.
The opening goal of the game was one of the luckiest we will score. A simple back pass to Hayes ‘keeper Steve Arnold was sliced forward and straight into the path of Jefferson Louis who proceeded to run forward and slot the ball into the back of the net to give the Imps the lead. Sadly, only three minutes later the scores were level again with centre back Pele (not that one) heading home from a set piece.
For once this goal didn’t make the Imps self implode, in fact it had the opposite effect as only three minutes later a corner won by Taylor was taken by substitute Nicolau who picked out central defender Tom Miller in the box who scored his first goal for the Imps in only his second appearance since signing on Friday. Following this goal Hayes seemed determined to get back level, firstly Power cleared an effort off the line followed shortly after by Anyon once again pulling off a great save, this time denying Owusu.
The Imps defended well and Anyon once more kept out Hayes, this time a double save firstly from a header in stoppage time meant that for the first time this season Lincoln City recorded successive league victories. Unsurprisingly Anyon was the man of the match, his heroics were the main reason the Imps gained these valuable three points.
This result has given the Imps a five point lead over Hayes and Yeading who lay in 21st place and we also have a game in hand. I am now much more confident that we will be able to get over the line and remain a conference premier side for next season. Next up for the Imps is a home match against Tamoworth on Saturday, can we do the unthinkable and get three wins in a row?
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