By Nathan Jackson
January 22 2006

It was a game that the Imps controlled but failed to get the win we needed and it's left us with an uphill battle. Although City have only lost 1 in 11, 7 draws in that time have meant that City are slipping away from the playoffs and the only chance we have, is if the defence starts defending.

Don't fool yourselves into thinking that we'll still make the playoffs because although we've only lost 1 in the last 11, drawing 12 of those games, the majority of which we've dominated, simply isn't good enough and yet again, the defence let us down again. Although it was a fantastic strike from Gain, the distinct lack of the defence closing him down and Marriott not trying to get a clear view of the ball, meant that, although it was a great goal, it could have easily been prevented but then again, how many times this season has the defence just stood and watched what was happening, rather than trying to prevent it?

There were however a few positives to come out of the game and it looks as though Jude Stirling could provide a few goals for the Imps with those throw ins. His throw ins are just as good as corners and with a bit of luck, we could easily score off some of them.

If we are to make a serious challenge for promotion, we need to beat Bristol Rovers on Saturday, if we don't and results don't go our way, we might as well start mapping out trips to Accrington next season.

"A point was no more than we deserved. We had the better of the play and if you look at the game, we had the better of the chances. We had great support and it was a very, very good point. They scored a wonder goal against the run of play and Gainy's probably hit his best shot in the last 20 years, never mind the last 20 games. It went into the top corner and knocked the stuffing out of us a little.

"Simon (Yeo), had a very good chance early on to put us 1-0 up which you expect him to score. He didn't but you know that he's going to get himself a couple of chances during the game. He kept going and got that chance late in the game."

"No one else has talked about much else but the sending off so I thought I'd talk about the other 89 minutes. Marriot had little to do but did it well, the defence for me look a bit shaky and exposed, the midfield including Brown for me did ok, Green ran his legs off and was MOM for me, Yeo did ok, Robinson went back to his old ways of being shaped liked a 50p piece with richoches going everywhere, Stirling did ok, Ryan did well, Frecklington had little possesion to prove himself but did ok and both look a good future prospect. Ref was strange for both sides and seemed to be watching a different game."

"I thought we were lucky to get a point overall, Lincoln were on top for most of the match and if their strikers hadn't wasted so many chances, they could have easily scored 3 or 4. The referee was also undoubtably a "homer" and it says it all about his performance that we'd make the foul and we'd get a free kick from it. I'm satisfied with an undeserved point but if Wright is serious about making the playoffs, we can't keep performing like this."