Lincoln City maintained their three-point lead at the top of the National League, after beating a spirited Woking side 3-2 at Sincil Bank.
City’s Matt Rhead opened the scoring of this entertaining clash, but it was cancelled out minutes later by a Gozie Ugwu header.
Another Rhead goal and an own goal from Terrell Thomas was too much for Woking to come back from, despite Fabio Saraiva scoring a penalty 15 minutes from time.
More than 5000 fans erupted when Rhead headed the Imps 1-0 up in the 9th minute, after a great cross from Bradley Wood on the right hand side.
However the celebrations were short lived with Woking scoring an equaliser two minutes later; Ugwu heading the ball into the net after a free kick was swung into the box from 25 yards out.
Macauley Bonne had an opportunity to score against his former club and put Woking in front four minutes later, a low cross made it to the back post leaving only Paul Farman to beat, but Bonne’s shot went wide from six yards.
The Imps were given a penalty in the 22nd minute. Rhead was dragged down by Ismail Yakubu in the box, but new signing Dayle Southwell missed the spot-kick as the Cards keeper pulled off a superb save.
Lincoln started the second half perfectly. Substitute Josh Ginelley’s shot deflected off Woking defender Thomas into the back of the net in the 51st minute to give the Imps the lead again.
The Cards thought they had an equaliser eight minutes later. A header from Ugwu hit the back of the net, but was chalked off by referee Sam Allison for a foul.
Lincoln went straight down the other end and extended their lead. Rhead calmly guided the ball past Michael Poke and into the bottom left corner after being picked out by Billy Knott.
Woking didn’t give up and were awarded a penalty in the 75th minute after a trip in the penalty area. Saraiva converted it confidently sending Farman the wrong way.
But Danny Cowley’s Lincoln side held on to close the game 3-2, remaining top of the League.
After the match, Cowley said: “You have to get used to games like this, if you’re going to be successful you won’t always have it your own way.
“The key is to get on the right side of it and we did that today.”
Lincoln will now start preparing for next week’s clash against Premier League side Burnley in the FA Cup fifth round.