Lincoln City held at home by Macclesfield Town

A fine free kick from Neal Eardley couldn’t give Lincoln City three points as they drew 1-1 with relegation strugglers Macclesfield.

The full back equalised for the Imps in the 38th minute after the visitors took the lead ten minutes earlier.

The draw still sees Lincoln eight points clear at the top of League Two and extends their unbeaten run to 17 games in the league.

The Imps went into the game having not lost to Macclesfield since New Year’s Day 2007 and Sincil Bank was packed with fans hopeful for a win.

In the 12th minute, a great save from Kieran O’Hara stopped John Akinde from surely scoring as he volleyed the bouncing ball from several yards out.

Macclesfield’s first shot came with 14 minutes played when Scott Wilson found a way past Neal Eardley down Lincoln’s right side and crossed along the ground to Fitzpatrick whose shot just went over.

5 minutes later, Akinde saw another effort saved athletically as the ball came across from the left touchline.

In the 28th minute, the underdogs opened the scoring.

Andrade’s mistimed header on the halfway line found its way to Macclesfield’s Elliot Durrell down the right side, he cut the ball back across to Wilson, who calmly fired past Matt Gilks.

The Imps knew they had to respond to going behind and attempts from Andrade and Harry Anderson a few minutes later were almost the perfect reply, but both were denied.

With 9 minutes left to play of the first half, Lincoln City caught Macclesfield on the counter-attack and Andrade weaved through several of the Silkmen’s backline before being fouled on the edge of the box.

From the resulting free kick, Eardley sweetly curled the ball into top left corner and equalized for Lincoln, with the 9,397 Imps in Sincil Bank erupting in applause.

As the first half drew to a close, Pett was given a clear sight of goal just outside the box and his curling shot almost nestled in the top right corner, but the ball went wide.

So, Lincoln went into the break level at 1-1 having created quite a few chances, however they knew they would have to be more clinical in the second half to win the game.

Neal Eardley continued to look dangerous down the right going into the second half. A couple of minutes after the game restarted, the full back went through to where he crosses from so often, though this time he took a shot instead and forced a save out of O’Hara.

Then Akinde headed across goal from a corner in the 65th minute, but, again, O’Hara collected the ball into his gloves.

The goalie is on loan at Macclesfield from Manchester United and his quality was showing.

With 20 minutes left to play, Danny Cowley made a double change with Shay McCartan replacing Harry Anderson, and Michael O’Connor coming on for Mark O’Hara.

The visitors also swapped personnel, bringing off their goalscorer, Wilson, for Tyrone Marsh.

Lincoln were failing to create much, and it was Sol Campbell’s side that had the next big chance when a cross found James Pearson who hit a volley hard at goal, forcing a strong save out of Gilks.

The clock was ticking for Lincoln with only 5 minutes left to play, so on came Matt Rhead in place of Danny Rowe.

A couple of minutes later McCartan was on the end of a low cross and his placed shot went a few yards wide.

Five minutes were added on, but Lincoln City didn’t create much late drama and the ref blew the whistle for full time.

Attendance: 9,567 (170)