Cowley dedicates derby win to Lincoln fans

Posted Sunday, January 20, 2019 by PA

Lincoln boss Danny Cowley claimed victory was for the fans after masterminding a narrow 1-0 win over county rivals Grimsby at Sincil Bank.

Harry Toffolo’s early strike proved the difference between the two sides in the division’s early kick-off, as the Imps cemented their place at the top of the table.

Cowley was clearly delighted to come out on top in what was a relatively tame Lincolnshire derby, despite the eight cards dished out by man in the middle Mike Dean.

Cowley said: “We’re pleased with our performance and the result, but it isn’t games like this that win you leagues.

“These games are ones for the supporters and it was our chance to give something back to them because their love here is unconditional. We’ve been determined all week to give them something to shout about.

“We know what derbies mean to them so for us to take four points from Grimsby this season, as we did last season, is brilliant for us.

“Tuesday is a completely different game, though – it’s Yeovil away on a midweek January night.

“Coming back to today, though, I was proud of the way we played with experience and composure. We had really good control of the game, but just couldn’t quite find that decisive second goal.

“The most pleasing thing is the clean sheet because we have conceded one or two late goals lately.”

Michael O’Connor’s 12th minute corner was half-cleared and fell kindly for Toffolo, who lashed home a 20-yard volley to put the hosts ahead.

It could have been two nine minutes later, but Lee Frecklington’s strike was deflected behind after he latched onto a through ball from Neal Eardley, who-wrong footed the Grimsby defence with a disguised pass.

At the other end, meanwhile, a mistake by Lincoln debutant Cian Bolger allowed Jake Hessenthaler to capitalise and find Sebastian Ring in behind the home defence.

The full-back found Elliott Embleton inside the penalty area, but after neat footwork he scuffed his shot wide.

After the break Shay McCartan thought he had doubled the Imps’ lead, but referee Dean spotted John Akinde’s foul on Ring.

As Lincoln turned up the heat, Akinde outmuscled Ludvig Ohman, but was denied by James McKeown who hurried from his line to divert the ball behind.

Moments later Ohman made up for his mistake by making a brilliant last-ditch tackle to deny Akinde, who had been played in by Eardley.

Grimsby’s task was made harder 14 minutes from time when goalkeeper McKeown received his marching orders after fouling the on-rushing debutant Danny Rowe 35 yards from goal.

Mariners boss Michael Jolley was left to rue a fourth consecutive defeat since being named December’s manager of the month.

He said: “We knew Lincoln would like to start on the front foot and build momentum, which they did.

“It’s one thing to know about it, but another thing to try and stop it, though, and therefore I am disappointed we conceded the early goal in the manner that we did.

“Overall I thought our performance had a lot of positives. We changed our system of play somewhat and we showed good signs with that. We had made a number of entries into their box, but were just denied by the final pass.

“The players ran until the end and were always in the game against a team that have only lost one home game in 11 months.

“We have to understand that Lincoln are probably two years ahead of us in terms of the cycle of their development, their squad and so on.

“I don’t think there was a big gap between the two teams and we could perhaps argue that we deserved a draw.”