By Nathan Jackson
May 15 2005

As usual we bring you reaction from several sources about yesterday's Semi Final First Leg win over Macclesfield Town. We offer you our own opinions, the opinions of Keith Alexander and Brian Horton as well as the opinion of a few fans of either side.

What an incredibly dire game, it seemed to lack any real substance although 1-0 did seem a fair scoreline based on quality of chances created. Is that really the same Mark Bailey we idolise? Without trying to offend him, at times he seemed uninterested and in the two games he's played against us, he hasn't created anything near the quality he used to make for City.

I can't recall ever winning a game and being so worried about the next game.I said before the game that if we go there with anything less than a 2 goal win, we'd struggle to go through. We hadn't kept a clean sheet on the road since the 2-0 win at Boston in mid February. It seems so odd that we've gone nearly 10 hours without conceeding a home goal but can't keep teams out away from home.

In my opinion, whoever scores first will win the tie. If it's Lincoln, it'll be a case of 10 men behind the ball. If it's Macclesfield, can anyone honestly see City winning the tie. I'm sorry to be pessemistic but our performances on the road have been dyer, even the 4-1 win at Rushden we didn't really deserve. I believe City's only hope is scoring first and 10 men behind the ball.

"You don't want to go into the second leg two or three down so I'm happy to be one goal up"

"We've got to go there and score and that's what we'll be trying to do. We're not the sort of team that just sits back on a lead. They've got to attack us a bit more than today and hopefully that'll leave spaces for us."

"We've got a strong side now and to concede a goal from a free kick is unacceptable really!"

"I would have taken a narrow defeat before the game. It's all to play for now. We've already beaten them already this season and now it's in our own hands." - Brian Horton -  Macclesfield Town manager 

   "I thought we played really well today and were unlucky not to come away with a draw. The fans were a credit to the club, although I did expect more there seeing as we took over twice that to a league game last year.

Only player off the place was JP, let's hope he's on form next Saturday but I really think we can win this if we play like yesterday. Lincoln won't be looking forward coming to ours with only a 1 goal lead." - "Bradders Macc" - thesilkweb.com