TEMPERS FRAY AS IMPS SHINE
LINCOLN City manager Danny Cowley declared there was no love lost between his side and Forest Green after the Imps recorded a league double over Mark Cooper’s men for the second season running.
Matt Rhead scored early in both halves to extend Lincoln’s unbeaten run to seven games and keep the club in the automatic promotion places, while Christian Doidge’s 17th goal of the season levelled matters in the first half.
A melee between players and coaches of both teams after the final whistle saw the game end on a sour note, while Forest Green Rovers are investigating reports their team coach and members of staff were attacked as they left the Sincil Bank Stadium.
“There’s obviously a lot of rivalry between the two teams and we were disappointed with some of their comments about our players during the week and with an incident that happened after the final whistle,” said Cowley.
“It felt personal for us and we will enjoy the win, but I don’t want the incident at the end to gloss over what was a real hardworking performance. We weren’t at our best, but you need to win games when you don’t play well if you want to be successful.
“Sometimes wins go beyond the win, draw and loss columns and that felt like one of those results.”
It took Lincoln just eight minutes to break the deadlock when Rhead headed home a pinpoint Neal Eardley cross.
Rovers were soon level against the run of play as Doidge latched onto a pass from Luke James and turned to fire past Josh Vickers.
A poor clearance by Rovers keeper Bradley Collins on 57 minutes fell to Harry Anderson and the winger played in Matt Green, but he allowed the ball to roll for Rhead, who coolly converted at the back post.
Substitute Ollie Palmer almost wrapped things up for Lincoln moments after replacing Rhead late on, but Collins redeemed himself and produced a fine one-handed save.
At the other end Vickers pulled off a fine save in the final minute to deny Doidge a second, while the referee disallowed a Rovers equaliser from the resulting corner after spotting an infringement. Rovers boss Mark Cooper was left frustrated by what he felt was an undeserved defeat.
“The referee couldn’t wait to disallow the goal at the end, which always happens here in Lincoln because the officials get intimidated,” he said.
“We didn’t deserve to lose, but you can’t win games if you make mistakes like that. This is why we have to do something about it and these players know that. There will be a lot of players going out and the ones that come in will be real quality and improve us no end.
“We have four players who have already agreed to sign for us, with at least two or three more to follow, and that will make us a much better side.”