A Rene Howe penalty and some excellent Rob Burch goalkeeping saw City emerge with the points against Macclesfield Town at Moss Rose.

After an evenly-matched opening half, City netted what turned out to be the winner in the 70th minute when Howe fired home from the spot after Moses Swaibu was dragged to the deck by Town goalkeeper Jon Brain after Richard Butcher had flicked a Stefan Oakes free-kick into the centre-back's path.

City were always a threat going forwards but it was thanks to some late heroics by Burch that the three points came the Imps' way. The Lincoln number one twice denied Macclesfield substitute Ricky Sappleton on two occasions whilst in the dying stages of added time he was there to block a powerful Hamza Bencherif drive.

Match report by John Vickers at Moss Rose:

With Janos Kovacs suspended and Cian Hughton away with the Republic of Ireland U21 squad, manager Chris Sutton was forced to make two changes for this Coca-Cola League 2 game against Keith Alexander's Macclesfield Town at Moss Rose.

Replacing Kovacs alongside loanee Adam Watts in the centre of defence was Moses Swaibu whilst new loan signing Anthony Pulis came in for Hughton for his Imps' debut. Amongst the substitutes were assistant manager Ian Pearce and Joe Heath, who was back in the squad for the first time in a while following injury.

Former City boss Alexander named three ex-Imps in his starting line-up with Nat Brown, Hamza Bencherif and Ben Wright all looking to put on over on their former employers.

The hosts kicked off but it was the Imps who started brightly, putting the Silkmen under pressure early on, piecing together a number of decent moves down the left-hand flank only for the home defence to stand firm; the best chance being when Richard Butcher found Anthony Pulis with his first touch in a City shirt seeing him fire in an effort which was blocked by Shaun Brisey.

At the other end a free-kick given against Danny Hone gave the home side a chance from a set-piece but Butcher was back there to help out and headed away the danger whilst City's response in ninth minute saw Pulis play Rene Howe through but he saw his low effort from a narrowing angle tipped behind by Jon Brain.

Macclesfield replied with John Rooney blazing two efforts well wide of the target before Colin Daniel came closer with his snap shot from 25 yards fizzing a couple of feet wide of Rob Burch's left hand upright.

In the 18th minute a backtracking Sergio Torres deflected an Izak Reid cross out for Town's first corner of the game which ended with Nat Brown heading well over and a couple of minutes later a cruching, yet fair, challenge on Shane Clarke by Lee Bell saw the City midfielder get back to his feet somewhat gingerly.

The hosts then enjoyed their best spell of the half, forcing two more corners as the half-hour mark approached before Rooney dragged an effort wide after Watts failed to clear his lines as a ball was played in from the left.

Eight minutes before the break a long-range effort from Rooney saw the Town front man clip the top of the crossbar whilst at the other end a surging run forward from Butcher saw him sprint through the middle only to be crowded out by the well-drilled home defence.

A Stefan Oakes free-kick was then flicked on to Butcher by Swaibu only for him to slice wide after cutting in on to his right foot whilst at the other end and in the closing stages of one added minute's play, a Town free-kick was curled well wide by Bell.

HT: MACCLESFIELD 0 IMPS 0

Neither side made any changes during the break so it was as you were as the Imps got the game underway again.

It was a fast and furious opening to the second period as both teams looked to stamp their authority on proceedings but both Burch and Brain remained relatively untroubled between their respective sticks.

A Macclesfield corner 10 minutes after the restart forced the Imps on the defensive but Clarke cleared before Reid blazed a long range effort over the roof of the stand and a couple of minutes later Ben Wright was spoken to by referee Karl Evans after going in hard in an aerial challenge with Watts.

On the hour mark a stinging Oakes drive saw Brain fling himself to his right before tipping the ball behind; the home stopper claiming the resultant corner before bowling the ball towards the left wing. Torres duly won a throw-in and after the the ball was kicked away from within the home dugout, Mr Evans was quickly on the scene and sent goalkeeping coach Steve Cherry to the stands.

Things hotted up all of a sudden with an Oakes challenge on Rooney being deemed worthy of a caution. Jamie Clarke was then brought on for debutant Pulis; the switch seeing Clarke go into a central striking role in front of Howe as Butcher moved to a midfield right role.

In the 68th minute a sliding challenge on Howe by Bell saw the Town man see yellow. The resultant free-kick by Oakes was won well in the air by Butcher and as Swaibu went to get on the end of his flick, he was sent sprawling by Brain. Referee Evans had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and up stepped Rene Howe to send Brain the wrong way by planting a firm effort into the roof of the net from 12 yards.

City could well have been awarded another spot-kick a couple of minutes later as Jamie Clarke was having his shirt pulled by Brisley, both outside and then inside the area but this time referee Evans waved play-on before Clarke's final ball into the area was cleared. When play stopped, Brisley was cautioned.

With a quarter of an hour remaining Scott Kerr came on for Stefan Oakes in the middle of the park and a minute later Ricky Sappleton replaced Emile Sinclair for the home side.

Ex-Imp Hamza Bencherif was the next player in trouble as he flattened Shane Clarke in an aerial challenge with the City midfielder. Bencherif was shown a yellow by referee Evans and a couple of minutes later and with 10 minutes remaining Sergio Torres was replaced by Joe Heath for his first appearance in almost two months.

A second Town switch saw Matthew Tipton come on for Ben Wright but it was the first home substitute Sappleton who came close to levelling matters with five minutes remaining. The big striker latched on to a loose ball in the City box but Burch got his angles right and brilliantly blocked his powerful drive. The ball was then hammered at Hone by Daniel before City cleared their lines.

Paul Bolland for Lee Bell was the home side's final change in the 86th minute before Rooney dragged a 25-yard shot wide and Burch superbly palmed clear a looping header from Sappleton.

Just as the Fourth Official indicated that a minimum of four minutes were to be added, Howe was felled by Brisley at the opposite end of the field and more seconds were eaten up when Butcher won a throw-in.

A City attack then ended with Howe curling a low effort just wide of the target whilst at the other end Burch easily claimed a weak Rooney effort. Burch was tested harder seconds later when he blocked a powerful Bencherif drive and as City broke forward Jamie Clarke fired wide after cutting in from the right.

The nerves were eventually calmed 34 seconds over the four added minutes when referee Evans brought things to a close. Two wins out of two then for new boss Chris Sutton, who was quick to lead the applause towards the 338-strong band of travelling City fans who faced a happy journey home.

FT: MACCLESFIELD 0 IMPS 1

MATCH FACTS

LINCOLN CITY
1 Rob BURCH
6 Danny HONE
5 Moses SWAIBU
22 Adam WATTS
3 Aaron BROWN
7 Stefan OAKES
8 Richard BUTCHER
19 Shane CLARKE
21 Sergio TORRES
23 Anthony PULIS
18 Rene HOWE

subs
15 Jamie CLARKE (for PULIS 64)
11 Scott KERR (for OAKES 75)
16 Joe HEATH (for TORRES 80)
10 Chris FAGAN
13 Ian PEARCE
14 Lenell JOHN-LEWIS
20 Paul MUSSELWHITE

GOAL: HOWE (70 pen)

BOOKING: OAKES (61)

MACCLESFIELD TOWN
1 Jon BRAIN
2 Izak REID
3 Carl TREMARCO
16 Shaun BRISLEY
5 Nat BROWN
20 Hamza BENCHERIF
7 Lee BELL
11 Ben WRIGHT
14 John ROONEY
9 Emile SINCLAIR
17 Colin DANIEL

subs
22 Ricky SAPPLETON (for SINCLAIR 76)
23 Matthew TIPTON (for WRIGHT 82)
15 Paul BOLLAND (for BELL 86)
8 Ross DRAPER
10 Stephen REED
19 Matthew LOWE
13 Jose VEIGA

BOOKINGS: BELL (68), BRISLEY (73), BENCHERIF (78)

MATCH OFFICIALS

REFEREE: Karl Evans
ASSISTANTS: Wayne Barratt & Paul Kettlewell
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Paul Norris

ATTENDANCE: 2,006 (338 City supporters)