City continued their strong home form with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Doncaster Rovers at the LNER Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Imps were ahead at the break thanks to Frankie Okoronkwo, who scored his second goal in as many games when he converted Tendayi Darikwa's cross.
City showed great spirit to find a winner when Brandan Hanlan briefly restored parity with 20 minutes remaining, going on to make it back-to-back wins through an own goal.
Michael Skubala made eight changes to the side who confirmed the top spot in their Vertu Trophy group with a 2-0 win in South Yorkshire over Barnsley. Okoronkwo made his first start in the league since September whilst Dom Jefferies returned to a league matchday squad for the first time since April.
The first chance of the game fell to the visitors after 12 minutes when Harry Clifton collected the ball on the halfway line and he then turned to play a ball for Billy Sharp who let it run through to skipper, Owen Bailey, he then played Jordan Gibson in on goal forcing a save from George Wickens.
Another chance for the visitors came after 19 minutes when Luke Molyneux played a corner across the floor to the near post where Matthew Pearson had made the run, a clever flick from him set up a shooting opportunity for Harry Clifton but the ball was soon smothered by George Wickens.
The Imps had the ball in the net via Rob Street after 21 minutes as a dangerous ball was fizzed across the box but trickled all the way to Adam Reach who retrieved it and looped a ball to the back post where Street rose highest and headed home but it was ruled out for a foul.
After 22 minutes Doncaster had a golden opportunity to take the lead when Sonny Bradley’s pass back to Wickens was intercepted by Owen Bailey who played Billy Sharp through with an open goal ahead of him, but Bradley got back to make a heroic goalline clearance to keep the score level.
After 28 minutes the Imps had another chance to open the scoring when Tom Bayliss and Tendayi Darikwa linked up very well down the City right-hand side before the latter played a channel ball to Rob Street who then crossed it into the danger area where it was met on the edge of the six-yard box by Frankie Okoronkwo but his headed effort fell wide of Thimothee Lo-Tutala’s goal.
The Imps found the breakthrough after 31 minutes in a game where the chances had been plentiful for both sides. A forward ball from Tom Hamer found Tendayi Darikwa down Rovers' left-hand side, the City skipper played a perfectly timed ball into the Rovers box and once again Okoronkwo was the player who met it with his head and this time, he made no mistake of finding the bottom right corner of the Doncaster shot-stoppers' net.
The final chance of the half fell once again to City in additional time as a Tom Hamer channel ball fell nicely for Street once again down the Doncaster Rovers left-hand side and Street played a ball along the floor into the box and the goalscorer Okoronkwo was denied only by a last-ditch tackle from Connor O’Riordan.
The first real chance of the second period fell to the visitors after an hour as Luke Molyneux picked up the ball just inside the City half before marauding through the Imps midfield and he eventually unleashed a shot from just outside the box and forced George Wickens into an acrobatic diving save.
City then had a chance five minutes later when a cleared Imps corner was recycled by Wickens and his lofted ball found a wide-open Bradley who cushioned a header across to Okoronkwo, but his effort was off target. It was his last involvement in the match as he was substituted for Obikwu and received a standing ovation from the Imps fans.
The Rovers equaliser came with 20 minutes remaining when second half substitute Hanlan found himself one-on-one with Wickens and he slotted it calmly past the City goalkeeper following a well-timed through ball from Luke Molyneux.
The response from the Imps was instant. After 71 minutes some good build up play from City led to Ben House finding himself with his back to goal shortly after returning from a brief injury, he turned and managed to get a shot off which was originally saved well by Lo-Tutala but his parry was met by the leg of Gotts who had no time to react and found the ball in the back of his own net.
The away side pushed for an equaliser in the dying stages and two minutes into added time they came close to finding it, when the substitute Tom Nixon put an inviting ball into the area and a sliding Bailey couldn’t quite get his shot on target. Just a minute later the ball was pinging around the City area before falling kindly to O’Riordan who lifted his effort over the crossbar.
City stood firm though and held on to claim another victory at the LNER Stadium and make it back-to-back wins in all competitions.
Imps: Wickens, Darikwa, Reach, Bayliss, Collins (House 68’), McGrandles, Bradley, Street (Jefferies 79’), Okoronkwo (Obikwu 68’), Hamer, Draper (Towler 75’)
Unused Subs: Jeacock, Jackson, Ring
Doncaster Rovers: Lo-Tutala, Sterry (Nixon 80’), Maxwell (Middleton 80’), Bailey, Pearson (McGrath 80’), Molyneux, Broadbent, Gibson, O’Riordan, Sharp (Hanlan 58’), Clifton (Gotts 66’)
Unused Subs: Lawlor, Close
Attendance: 9,812
