Lee Mitchell’s Lincoln City Women side travelled down to Northampton Town on Sunday and earned a 1-1 draw.
A Lucy Farrow goal being enough for City to take a point back to Lincolnshire, continuing their recent good run of performances.
The Imps were made to ride their luck in the opening stages as Lana Timson was forced into a smart one-on-one save, after Northampton’s Jade Bell found herself through on goal in the opening couple of minutes.
But as the half grew older, City started to assert themselves onto the game and soon became the side in control. Leah Hardy tested goalkeeper Katie McLean on multiple occasions, while Jemima Footitt could only find the roof of the net in an attempt to lob the Cobblers’ keeper.
Lincoln’s best chance of the game up until that point came after a beautifully crafted counterattack. Farrow crossed from the left and forced a save from McLean before Hardy and Nicholson all had their rebound efforts from close range blocked on the line, as the hosts looked desperate to keep their clean sheet.
Bell had another effort from inside the penalty area whistle by the front post before the half an hour mark, while Faith Horner had a headed effort from a corner rise over the crossbar at the other end.
Farrow broke the deadlock a couple of minutes before the half-time whistle. After some beautiful footwork on the edge of the penalty area, the forward found the bottom corner with a sweetly struck shot to put Mitchell’s side deservedly into the lead at half-time.
Lincoln thought they had doubled their advantage in stoppage time as Leah Hardy found the back of the net, but she was judged to be offside.
The second 45 minutes saw a different side to the Imps. They had to dig in defensively for most of it.
Despite not having much possession, they still had an attacking threat as Horner produced an excellent run down the right-wing, almost the length of the whole pitch. She found Farrow in the middle with a cross. However, a deflection saw her goalwards effort roll wide and into the hands of McLean.
Northampton went close with less than 20 minutes remaining through a Mia Richards’ free-kick, but Timson produced a fine diving save.
The Imps held out for 80 minutes, but the hosts eventually clawed their way back into the tie as Noble equalised at the back post to complete the game’s scoring action.
The Imps went close at the death as substitute Holly Wilson had an effort cleared off the line, after Leah Hardy won back possession high in the Northampton half.
Post-match reaction:
The Imps manager was impressed with his sides’ performance as they dug in to collect the point.
He said: “For the players to roll their sleeves up and dig in and defend how they did just says everything about the team at the moment. We are used to battling right until the end. I couldn’t have asked for anymore from them today. We were under a lot of pressure.”
“The character and the attitude was phenomenal. They had a bit more time off which played a part,” he added.
Mitchell was also full of praise for the energetic performance of Lucy Farrow, who picked up another goal to add to her season’s tally.
He said: “Lucy impacts the game so to put her through the middle was a clever move. She is on fire at the minute with how she is playing, and she is a handful which is good to see.”
It’s fine margins but I’m as happy today as I was on Thursday. They threw everything at us but they couldn’t get past,” the City boss added.
The Imps return to action on Sunday, March 24, as they travel to Solihull Moors.
Feature Image Credit: Graham Burrell/Lincoln City FC