Lincoln boss Mark Kennedy praised the character of his side as they extended their impressive home record with a 1-0 victory over 10-man Bristol Rovers in Sky Bet League One.
Midfielder Regan Poole’s first league goal of the season ensured the Imps’ maintained their unbeaten record at Sincil Bank this season.
Rovers forward Ryan Loft saw red for an apparent elbow on Imps’ stopper Carl Rushworth in the 42nd minute and the Imps made the man advantage count.
“I’m particularly pleased for the group they’ve got the rewards they deserve,” said Kennedy, whose side had drawn four of their last five league games before back-to-back victories.
“That was a really important win for us today.
“I don’t know what the draws looked like to other people on the outside, but as a head coach we want to win games and we want to get three points.
“But I’ve made it clear to the boys that we’ve picked up really good points (even though we didn’t win previously).
“I’ve said to the boys many times this year when you go on a bad run it’s not the two or three games you lose, it’s probably the two or three games before you’ve won before where to see it (defeats) coming.
“Similarly, when you go on a good run it’s not the games you win that stand out.”
“We’ve placed huge emphasis on starting well and getting on the front foot.
“There was a negative feel after our game against Cambridge, it was a dire game and low on quality.
“But I said to the lads it’s up to us to make the difference and get bums off seats and lift the crowd.
“Defensively we’re clearly one of the best teams in the league, but we’re working really hard and sometimes you don’t get to see the evidence of what we work on.
“We’re starting to see the evidence of our hard work.”
On the penalty decision, Kennedy said: “It looked like a penalty to me and it looked like a red card to me. I thought it spoilt it (the match).
“But I thought his sending off had a negative impact on us, it made the game fractured. They caused us a lot of problems in the second half.”
Rovers manager Joey Barton was livid with Loft’s sending-off and said after a fourth successive defeat: “It’s tough to take.
“Firstly, the goal we’ve conceded is a foul. Not that anyone will care because we’ve lost a game of football. It’s a rugby tackle in the box and the official misses (it).
“But then to compound that we go up the other end and Lofty says he’s just trying to protect himself with their keeper coming out.
“And then the linesman, who was as far away as anybody from where his (Loft’s) arm is raised, decides it was a swinging elbow and he’s sent off for what must be violent conduct.
“We’ve seen a few different angles that minimal contact was made, so we’ll appeal (against) that decision.
“It’s really frustrating and to make it worse we’ve also had two penalty appeals turned down as well.
“But again we were never going to get anything off the geezer (the referee) today.
“It’s soul-destroying, some of the decisions we’re getting. It’s four defeats on the spin and we’ve got nothing to show for it apart from the character and spirit showed by a really young group.”
