By Nathan Jackson
February 9 2008

Lincoln City have Danny Hone to thank for a vital 2-1 victory over a Rochdale side that you could argue would be more suited to a boxing arena than a football stadium. A physical Rochdale side had equalised in the second half following Forrester's first half opener, but then Danny Hone scored his first professional goal for the Imps. City remain 18th though.

Rochdale could have opened the score after just 15 seconds when they found themselves 2 on 1 against Marriott, thankfully shooting was wayward and the score remained 0-0. Two former Scunthorpe players tussled as Stanton blocked Forrester getting a shot in on goal. Stanton was again involved as he gave City a free kick 20 yards out, Dodds stepped up and hit the outside of the post.

The first of a strange run of decisions came a few minutes later. McArdle went down with a head injury but the referee allowed play to go on with City on the ball, but after 20 seconds the referee mysteriously decided that the injury was worth seeing to and stopped play. That happened 4 or 5 times in a 10 minute spell.

Holness came on for McArdle who had failed to recover sufficiently. A typical Nat Brown mistake almost gifted Dale an opener when he past the ball straight to Howe, he found himself one-on-one with Marriott, his targeting was wayward though and he missed the target by some distance.

City were awarded another free kick when Holness barged into Stallard from behind. Dodds' effort from the free kick went straight at the wall before Howe wasted another chance for Dale. Forrester was again denied by Stanton from 6 yards out.

As a less than exciting half was coming to a close yet another barge in the back of Stallard saw City win another free kick. Frecklington took the kick and Russell spilled it, Jamie Forrester raced forward and smashed it goalwards from close range to make him City's top goalscorer this season.

Another barge on Stallard saw City win a free kick that eventually turned into a corner. The corner was played in and Lee Beevers headed the ball across the goal and wide. N'Guessan wasted a great chance for City before Howe found a way behind the Imps defence, lifting the ball over Marriott and giving Rochdale an equaliser.

Forrester failed to get to a Beevers ball before Le Fondre went off for Higginbotham for the visitors. Then came a moment that was lucky to see Rochdale stay at 11 men. Higginbotham fouled Beevers before the Rochdale man started pushing Beevers, Kerr came in and pulled him away only for Higginbotham to throw a punch at Kerr. Much to the crowd's disbelief only a yellow card was given as the referee continued an inept showing.

Ben Wright came on for Stallard and City restored the lead within a minute. A Nat Brown throw in saw the ball bounce free and Hone toe-poked it into the net and City had a valuable lead. Stanton was boked for a blatent foul on Dodds before Thorpe came on for Rundle.

N'Guessan frustrated City fans yet again as he refused to pass and he was promptly replaced by Ollie Ryan. Dodds was shown a yellow card after being kicked in the chest by Doolan.

The game petered out without any other chances being created and City held on for a 5th win in 7.