I’m sure most of you have been looking forward to the day where I would "eat humble pie" and that day has finally arrived. Before we get onto that though, I have to say how delighted I am with the start to the season and although the 2 home draws were disappointing, our 3 wins from 3 league games on the road says it all and that makes it 5 straight wins on the road in the league which no-one can have any complaints about.

It was nice to see that the game against Scunthorpe was a blip and hopefully will be the only one we’ve had to quite a while. The way we played was completely opposed to that of Tuesday night and it showed that once we start getting the ball down on the ground, it all suddenly becomes very easy and yet again, we could/should have been at least 5 goals up at half time but getting a 3 goal lead won us the game as the pressure of possibly giving away another 2 goal lead is something that worries all Lincoln fans these days.

Now we get to my first bit of humble pie, Marriott was fantastic all game and capped it off with his first penalty save since the away game at Yeovil in November 2003. He was tested several times throughout the match and a clean sheet would have been completely deserved but due to the ref decided to award Mansfield free kicks for no apparent reason, Mansfield were able to create several chances and although it’s disappointing to yet again go without a clean sheet, it was an encouraging performance from Marriott.

Now for the second bit of humble pie, Mr Forrester. Over the last few weeks, I’ve said that he couldn’t score a lot of goals due to the change of system but today he not only proved me wrong, he did it in style, becoming the first player since Tony Lormer to score 4 goals in a match for the Imps. His 2 penalties were well taken and the finish for his second goal was simply fantastic. It’s always a good sign when the opposition fans applaud a player going off and it was also fully deserved. Now we’ve just got to wait for him and Stallard to both score in a match.

As for Mansfield, I was genuinely surprised at how bad they were, especially after the hype that I’ve seen from some of their fans over the last few days. They probably did deserve a goal due to the amount of chances they had but a 2^nd was certainly not deserved and I’d still be very surprised if they finished in the top half of the table.

Marriott- 9 - Excellent throughout the game and was unlucky to concede, I get the feeling Rayner won’t be getting another chance any time in the near future.

Paul Mayo - 6 - Much better from Mayo but you can tell the players don’t trust him with penalties anymore because the arguments that went on between himself and Forrester. Steady performance but still hoofs it at every given opportunity.

Lee Beevers - 7 - Quite a solid performance from the youngster, fell over a few times but played well overall.

Paul Morgan - 7 - Some good interceptions made by Morgan and an improvement in terms of marking on the defenders.

Adie Moses - 8 - Still one of the unsung heroes of the season so far, he was yet again calm under pressure and made some excellent clearances.

Jeff Hughes - 5 - Gave the ball away as much as he made a good pass, it was also shocking how many times the attackers got by him.

Ryan Amoo - 9 - Excellent performance from the former Northampton man, put in several excellent crosses and was unlucky to have failed to score. Improving all the time but definitely needs a rest, his suspension on Friday could potentially change the performance of the whole team.

Scott Kerr - 6 - With City’s play mainly going through the wings, it was a quiet day for the midfielder but he didn’t do anything wrong.

Lee Frecklington - 8 - Excellent performance from the youngster and commanded the midfield well and was unlucky not to score.

Jamie Forrester - 10 - Enough said.

Mark Stallard - 7 - Very quiet and still didn’t link up well with Forrester. It seems that when one has a good day, the other doesn’t.

Martin Gritton - 6 - 6 by default as he came on too late to make an impact.

Oliver Ryan - 6 - 6 by default as he came on too late to make an impact.

"Well a good three points - jus what as required ater Tuesday. But yet again 4-0 up and still a mini fightback was almost enough to have fingernails chewed. Is in complaceny creeping in or what. Take the penalty save and the one cleared of the line. No i darent think. Still a fanatastic three points and again fantastic support.oh and one oother thing , i thought i had seen the worse ref at macclesfield last season mr Singh . No saw the worst one today." Cheshire Imp

"Saves a penalty and several other good stops I think Mr Raynor is due a few more weeks on the bench if the radio commentary is anything to go by from Tuesday." James Imp