SHACKELL’S LATE GOAL FIRES IMPS
TWO managers were put through the wringer by their teams, but it was Lincoln’s Danny Cowley who left Macclesfield smiling after their win took them three points clear at the top.
Dominant throughout, the Imps had been frustrated by Kieran O’Hara’s string of top-class saves. But, after Jamie Grimes forced a late equaliser, Lincoln still had time to snatch victory as Jason Shackell fired in through a crowd.
“The overriding positive is we actually played really well, other than us not being clinical enough,” said a relieved Cowley.
“You have to credit their goalkeeper – he made some unbelievable saves – but we need to be more clinical and more ruthless, I’ve been around long enough to know you miss that many chances they’re going to find a goal.
“You could see it coming and they scored with their first shot on target which is hard to take, but I have to credit the players for their response because a lot of the time you could lose that game after conceding.
“Normally you have an onslaught and lose focus, but we responded well and it was great to win right at the death.
“You have to win games in different ways and that will give us confidence that we have that resilience as a group, it gives us something to build on.”
The Imps had had an easy afternoon at Moss Rose and took the lead when James Wilson’s cross was cushion-headed down by John Akinde for Tom Pett to bury past O’Hara. On-loan Manchester United keeper O’Hara denied Akinde, Pett and Harry Anderson as his side were barely able to lay a glove on their high-flying guests.
Grimes, though, pounced during a goalmouth scramble to level the scores late on, but four minutes later, Shackell scored his first goal for the Imps to win the match, slamming home a half-volley from 15 yards.
Macc manager Mark Yates is still searching for their first win and he admitted they had been second best to the league leaders. He said: “Obviously it’s not the result we wanted. In the first half, for whatever reason, we didn’t work hard enough or attack the game hard enough and the goal summed us up, a hopeful ball into the box and a little knock-down to an unmarked man – it was poor to be honest and I’m so disappointed. We weren’t at the races. “We showed great character to get back in it, but we didn’t mark properly at a set piece, and that’s my fault I suppose. “I’m not a manager that will hang his players out to dry, we just have to as a group make sure we do our jobs properly, which we didn’t do. “We got a lesson in how to finish a game off.”
MACCLESFIELD: O’Hara 7, Pearson 6 (Wilson 76, 5), Kelleher 6, Grimes 6, Fitzpatrick 6, Lowe 6, Rose 6, Napa 6, Whitaker 6, Vincenti 5 (Blissett 57, 5), Smith 5 (Marsh 67, 5) Subs not used: Taylor, Welch-Hayes, Maycock, Arthur
LINCOLN: Smith 6, Wilson 7, Shackell 7, Bostwick 7, Toffolo 6, Anderson 6, O’Connor 6, Pett 7, Andrade 7 (Mensah 90), Akinde 7 (Rhead 89), McCartan 6 (Green 74, 6) Subs not used: Gordon, Chapman, Crookes, Slocombe