Lincoln City 3, Stockport County 1

Lincoln City earned its sixth successive victory after a hard-fought game against Stockport County at the LNER Stadium on Saturday, which extended its unbeaten league run to a club record 20 games.

The Imps led at the break through Jack Moylan’s eighth goal of the campaign but were pegged back in the second half by Jack Diamond. City once again showed incredible resolve to strike late, with Tendayi Darikwa and Alfie Lloyd scoring late to seal a memorable win.  

Michael Skubala made three changes to the side that defeated Exeter City in midweek, with Ivan Varfolomeev, Ryley Towler and Jack Moylan coming into the side, meanwhile Conor McGrandles retained his place, for his 150th league start for the club. 

Moylan continued his rich run of form with the opening goal after 10 minutes. The Irishman had seen his volley saved moments before, but he wouldn’t be denied a second time when he converted from close range to make it 1-0 from the corner.  

Stockport caused a few problems for the Imps at the start of the second half and Skubala made his first changes after 61 minutes, with Ryan Oné and Moylan off for Ben House and Dom Jefferies.  

The visitors equalised after 68 minutes when Ben Osborn crossed the ball from outside the area, where it found Diamond, who converted his header past Wickens. They followed this with a few close opportunities from headers, but Wickens caught all attempts. 

The Imps made two more changes as Tom Bayliss, Adam Reach and Lloyd replaced Ivan Varfolomeev, Hackett and Street after 73 minutes. The Imps regained their lead again after 87 minutes and it was through captain Darikwa, who saw his shot from the edge of the box beat the keeper, who was beaten again by Lloyd a few minutes later who sealed the win with his first City goal. 

Skubala praised his team for digging in after a demanding week with victories against Cardiff and Exeter: “The character of these players is unbelievable, they have put so much into those two games and showed what they are about again.

“It was a tough game against a good opposition, who are physical and strong. We had to suffer a bit at times but for all the territory they had we didn’t allow them to create many chances, and we created some big ones of our own.