Lincoln started the game level on points with Accrington Stanley with the teams sat 16th and 17th in the league respectively before a viciously cold, wet and windy afternoon at the LNER stadium.
After the game kicked off 15 minutes late due to the adverse weather conditions that prevented the away side from arriving on time, it was the visitors that came close to grabbing the lead early on.
Four minutes into the game, Ethan Hamilton received a pass outside the box from a corner and curled an effort just inches wide of the post.
Lincoln then began to gain more of a foothold in the game and started looking the more dangerous of the two sides with half-chances falling to Chris Maguire, Lasse Sorensen and Freddie Draper.
Despite controlling the tempo, the home side were unable to produce anything truly threatening with the Stanley defence holding firm and dealing with any Lincoln attacks.
Imps goalkeeper Josh Griffiths was called into action with a minute remaining of the first half, as he did well to parry a low drive from Ethan Hamilton that looked to be creeping in the bottom corner.
HALF-TIME: LINCOLN CITY 0 – 0 ACCRRINGTON STANLEY
After five minutes, Lincoln were gifted their first chance of the second half when Lewis Fiorini latched onto a poor goalkeeping clearance to flash a ball across goal with no one able to get on the end of it for an easy finish.
Stanley quickly responded by taking the lead in the 55th minute. A driving run from Ethan Hamilton down the right, allowed the midfielder to fire a shot towards goal which was well blocked by Griffiths only for Colby Bishop to pounce on the rebound and slot home.
LINCOLN CITY 0 – 1 ACCRRINGTON STANLEY
Now searching for an equaliser, both Dan Nlundulu and Hakeeb Adelakun were introduced to help Michael Appleton’s side get back in the game.
It very nearly made an instant impact as Chris Maguire whipped in a fierce delivery from the right-hand side and Freddie Draper leapt to meet the ball, flicking a header narrowly over the bar.
With ten minutes remaining, Lincoln were still unable to force a breakthrough against the stubborn Stanley defence.
Freddie Draper almost came to scoring for the second time in ten minutes as he rose to nod an effort onto the roof of the net from a free-kick in what was the last chance of a frustrating 90 minutes for the hosts.
The result means the Michael Appleton’s men now only have one win in their last seven league games.
Lincoln now turn their heads to Tuesday night as they travel to Carlisle for the second round of the Football League Trophy where they will be desperate for a positive result.