Bristol Rovers substitute Ellis Harrison scored a last gasp winner at Sincil Bank to give the Pirates their first away win of the season.
After going two nil ahead within the first half an hour the visitors looked like they had earned three points, until a valiant Lincoln comeback came just before half-time. However their hard work wasn’t enough as Harrison’s strike dumped them to their third defeat in four games.
Lincoln started the brighter of the two teams creating many early chances through the formidable Hamza Benchrif, However, it was the visitors who struck first through Stuart Sinclair in the 13th minute. Matty Taylor’s tame cross rolled past two Lincoln defenders before falling to the feet of Sinclair, who fired past Townsend from close range.
The visitors second didn’t come long after. They broke quickly down the right hand side following a Lincoln free kick. Daniel Leadbitter fed off yet another defensive mistake and curled the ball into the bottom corner.
Bristol Rovers continued to pile on the pressure to the frustration of the Lincoln crowd and it looked like the game was won, until the 35th minute. Bencherif tried to take on Rovers defender Neal Trotman, who handled the ball. Newton scored the resulting penalty.
This spurred Lincoln on and they levelled just before half time through striker Jordan Burrow. He prodded home his fifth goal of the season from close range.
Lincoln came out the strongest again in the second half and piled on a lot of pressure. Chances fell to Benchrif, Tomlinson and Newton but all failed to find the net.
With the game seeing to end as a draw, Rovers were given a penalty. Once again Sinclair was involved, this time fouled in the area. Defender Lee Brown stepped up to take the penalty and fired it against the post.
With the Imps looking to have ran away with a point Ellis Harrison scored the winner. He wriggled past the Imps defence and fired the ball past Townsend into the net.
Attendance – 2933 (211 Visitors)
Ratings:
Nick Townsend: 6 – Made some good saves when he was called upon and couldn’t do a lot about the goals he conceded.
Jake Caprice: 6 – Was vulnerable at times defensively but his attacking play was fairly good
Tony Diagne: 5 – He was at fault for at least one of the goals and didn’t look comfortable all game.
Nat Brown: 5 – Once again he was at fault for at least one of the goals, however, he had a slightly better afternoon than his defensive partner
Sean Newton: 7 – Scored from the spot. Defensively he was solid and put in some dangerous set piece.
Jon Nolan: 6 – Some of his attacking play was good, although he made a lot of misplaced passes
Arnaud Mendy: 5 – He was at fault for the second goal although his tackling was good he could have done more.
Alan Power: 6 – He worked hard but never really got into the game. Looked better going forward.
Hamza Benchrif: 7 – He worked hard and created chances for himself and his teammates. Although, he was beaten in the air on numerous occasions.
Jordan Burrow: 8 – Man of the Match. He scored a good goal and was a physical threat. He could’ve taken more chances but will be happy to be on the score sheet.
Ben Tomlinson: 6 – He worked hard and put some good crosses into the area but never really got the beating of Leadbitter.
Subs:
Delano Sam-Yorke: 6 – Came on late in the second half and had a couple of chances but his shots were fired harmlessly wide or over.