O’HARA’S AN INSPIRATION FOR COWLEY
MARK O’Hara was praised by Lincoln boss Danny Cowley as his first goal for the Imps earned them a hard-fought win over a tenacious Yeovil Town side.
In front of another 9,000plus crowd at a windswept and rain-lashed Sincil Bank, the on-loan Scottish midfielder headed home Harry Anderson’s cross in the 69th minute to keep Lincoln clear at the top of the table.
“I was pleased for Mark O’Hara to get a very important goal,” said Cowley. “It typifies him, he is an unbelievable kid. If you could bottle his work ethic and attitude you’d be a rich man.
“He was disappointed in his last home game and he really trained intensively the next day, that’s the type of kid he is and he deserves to do well.
“He showed great bravery to put his head in where it hurts and come up with an important goal.”
It was all about the result rather than the performance as the leaders struggled to see off the relegation-threatened Glovers, who barely posed an attacking threat all night.
They went close inside two minutes when Alex Pattison broke free only to shoot wildly over and that was the closest they came all evening.
As for the Imps, O’Hara and Matt Rhead both went close, before Anderson should have fired the hosts ahead midway through the half when he burst clear, only to see his tame effort saved by Baxter.
John Akinde wasted a good chance, Rhead shot straight at Baxter, who then denied Anderson, before blotting his copybook by being booked for continual timewasting.
But Lincoln finally made the breakthrough as Anderson dinked over a cross for the leaping O’Hara to head home.
Bruno Andrade almost added a late second, but Baxter made his best save of the night.
“I was pleased with the players and the qualities they showed, including endurance and durability,” added Cowley.
“In the second half, we came out into a really difficult wind and changed the system and style and the fact we have Plan B and Plan C if we need it is testament to their hard work.
“They were a threat on the counter, but they didn’t really work Matt Gilks.”
Yeovil manager Darren Way admits his young side can take heart from their display despite the defeat. He said: “The experience will stand them in good stead and I spoke to the players afterwards in a positive manner. “I am, though, disappointed we didn’t get anything out of that game. In the first half we had one or two good chances, but we got undone by a little bit of cleverness and experience. “They are giving everything and they showed no fear.”