Lincoln City 1 Exeter City 0 which saw the head coach expresses sad moment to be forgotten after injury blow
Joe Taylor’s second half strike was enough to condemn Grecians to a 1-0 loss
Exeter City’s bid to make it four successive away wins in League One proved unsuccessful as they slipped to defeat at Lincoln City. A single goal in the second half was enough for the Imps to claim all three points in what was a fairly drab encounter.
A lackluster first half saw little in the way of chances or action at either end, but Jack Aitchison nearly broke the deadlock just before the hour when a thunderous strike rattled the crossbar. Seconds later, Ethan Hamilton missed a great chance to give Lincoln the lead.
Joe Taylor though did put Lincoln ahead midway through the second half as he pounced on a defensive error by Pierce Sweeney and coolly slotted his finish home. The Grecians tried to grab an equalizer, but it was in vain as they suffered back-to-back defeats.
Lincoln’s victory saw them rise to tenth in the League One table. City’s defeat saw them drop down to 14th, with the gap to the bottom four now at seven points, although everyone below Exeter has at least one game in hand, with five teams having two or three, and Port Vale four.
After the 3-0 defeat at home to Derby County on Tuesday night, Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell freshened up the side and made five changes. Sweeney returned into defence, and wore the captain’s armband, with Dion Rankine and Ben Purrington as the wing-backs, the latter back in action for the first time in three weeks.
Yanic Wildschut and Sonny Cox both came into the side in attacking roles, with Luke Harris dropping slightly deeper into midfield. Will Aimson, Ilmari Niskanen, Vincent Harper, Reece Cole and Mo Eisa were all on the bench.
The Imps had the first chance with six minutes on the clock when Hamilton saw a free-kick from just outside the area deflect inches wide of Vil Sinisalo’s post. But it was a scrappy opening to the game with little in the way of goalmouth action at either end in the first 20 minutes, Dylan Duffy scuffing a volley wide also for the hosts.
Paudie O’Connor made a vital clearance when Rankine swung in a cross which Cox surely would have tapped home, but the Grecians were not creating much, and defensively were giving the ball away too often, but Lincoln couldn’t capitalize. It took 40 minutes for City to have a shot on goal, Harris firing high, wide and handsome from 25 yards, as the half-time whistle went with the game goalless.
Neither side made a change at the break, and there was little on the pitch either with neither goalkeeper having much to do. Harris saw an effort from distance blocked, while Duffy drew a simple save from Sinisalo after his long-range strike.
But just before the hour, the Grecians really should have taken the lead. Rankine danced the right, he pulled the ball back to Aitchison, who let fly with a brilliant strike, but Lukas Jensen got a touch on it and pushed it onto the crossbar, and it bounced to safety. Michael Skubala’s men went straight up the other end and they nearly broke the deadlock. Hamilton and then Duffy forced Sinisalo into a vital save from close range as the game began to spring into life.
Cole and Harper replaced Wildschut and Purrington as Caldwell made his first changes. A half-shout for a penalty for handball following a corner was waved away by the officials as City were starting to create the better moments – only for them to gift a goal to Lincoln.
