SUPER SHAY SEALS MORE IMPS GLORY
DANNY Cowley has vowed that his Lincoln City side will work relentlessly to stay top of the table as they consolidated their lofty position with victory at Cheltenham Town.
The Imps had to be patient and could not break down a stubborn Robins side until the 74th minute, when Craig Alcock’s own-goal gave them a deserved lead, before Shay McCartan added the second with 10 minutes left.
“It was a really important win,” Cowley said. “With a new manager in, Cheltenham were resolute and determined and we had to remain really patient.
“We played really well, dominated the ball and created lots of chances.
“We managed to find the goals in the end.
“We’ve had a good start and given ourselves a good platform to push on from and now we are in this position we’ll work relentlessly hard to stay in it.”
John Akinde missed a glorious chance to open the scoring in the 18th minute.
Bruno Andrade did well on the left and sent a low ball to the far post, where the big striker was all alone, but he miskicked wide and neither goalkeeper was tested during an uneventful opening period, with record Imps signing Akinde also dragging another effort wide.
Lincoln started the second half strongly, with Scott Flinders pushing away a shot from Michael Bostwick.
An effort from McCartan then hit team-mate Akinde in the six-yard box when it appeared to be on its way in.
But the deadlock was broken when a ball in from Harry Toffolo on the left was smashed into his own net by full-back Alcock, under pressure from McCartan.
And McCartan followed up to make it 2-0 after Flinders could only parry Andrade’s long-range effort.
The Robins were seldom seen as an attacking force and that didn’t change even with the introduction of new signing Luke Varney, signed on a free this week after being released by Burton Albion in the summer.
Cheltenham manager Michael Duff admitted his side are currently a long way behind Lincoln, who he has tipped for the title as the Robins were left still waiting for their first home league win of the season and their first under his leadership.
“They were better than us and there was a gulf between the teams,” he said. “We are disappointed we didn’t get going. “We invited them on and they showed why they are a good team because they were clinical and spent most of the game in our half. “Nobody has died and it’s a game of football against a team top of the league and they’ll win the league.”