A late goal from Shrewsbury Town substitute Kris Bright secured three points for his side at a sunny Prostar Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

City will feel unlucky to have come away with nothing to show for their troubles in what was an evenly-matched game but in the end Bright's 83rd minute close-range effort was enough to separate the two teams.

Prior to this, both sides had hit the woodwork; Dave Hibbert for the Shrews with a spectacular overhead kick and Matt Saunders for the Imps and had Steven Lennon not fired straight at David Button when well placed shortly before the break the outcome could well have been different.

Grimsby's 3-0 home defeat to Torquay, however, means the Imps go into their final three games of the season eight points clear of their county neighbours at the wrong end of the table.

Match report by John Vickers at the Prostar Stadium:

With Moses Swaibu suspended and Joe Anderson absent through injury, manager Chris Sutton was forced into a defensive reshuffle for this Coca-Cola League 2 game against Shrewsbury Town at the Prostar Stadium.

The changearound saw Danny Hone and Shane Clarke return to the starting line-up at centre-back and right-back respectively, whilst Paul Green and Nathan Baker switched to the middle and left side of the defence. With Chris Herd ruled out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury, Brian Gilmour also returned for his first start for almost two months.

Bright sunshine greeted the two teams as they were led out of the tunnel by referee Jock Waugh and after the pre-match formalities, it was the hosts who got things underway.

The Imps were the first to press and after some good link-up play down the middle, Steven Lennon fed Davide Somma who took a couple of touches to create space for himself before drilling goalwards. Town 'keeper David Button got down well, though, as the ball came through a crowd of players and after he palmed it away, Terry Dunfield hammered it out for a throw-in.

It was City who enjoyed the majority of the early possession but they were forced on the defensive after Jake Simpson took on Nathan Baker before seeing his goalbound effort clip the Imps' defender before the ball hit the side netting. Although City dealt with the resultant corner, it wasn't long before the ball was played back into the box with an acrobatic effort from Dave Hibbert beating Rob Burch before crashing against the post and away to safety.

City's response saw Brian Gilmour drive a 25-yard effort wide after good work from Somma created a half-chance for the Scot whilst his former Rangers colleague Lennon curled at effort inches wide a minute later following another quick break forward.

Home 'keeper Button was then forced to sprint off his line to deny Somma after a clever 13th minute reverse ball from Lennon set the South African free. Somma was then grounded after Dunfield left a foot in on him but referee Waugh was happy to award just the free-kick.

At the other end Hibbert held off Hone before firing wide whilst City's response saw Button thwart Somma again after another though ball from Lennon split the home defence open. Somma then played in Gilmour only for the ball to bobble at the wrong time, giving Kelvin Langmead the chance to clear his lines.

In the 25th minute the hosts won their second corner of the game but skipper Scott Kerr was well positioned to head Steve Leslie's delivery clear from the near post. A couple of minutes later another flag-kick went the hosts' way and this time Baker rose well to head away.

City had Rob Burch to thank from Shrewsbury's next attack with the Imps' number one saving well at the near post from Jake Simpson and another Town break Leslie sliced a shot well over the bar.

A fourth Shrewsbury corner arrived seven minutes before the break which was duly claimed by Burch but with the Imps always looking dangerous on the break, Matt Saunders was unlucky to see his final ball into the box fail to find a team mate after he drifted across to the right hand side in a bid to grab a taste of the ball.

Four minutes before the break City had a great chance to open the scoring when good play from Gilmour saw him open up the Shrewsbury defence before spotting the run of Lennon down the middle. Lennon opted to strike the ball early, however, and his eventual effort whilst in space just inside the area, was easily claimed by Button.

The last action of the opening period came towards the end of one added minute when a City free-kick, taken by Saunders, was punched away by Button.

HT: SHREWSBURY 0 IMPS 0

With neither side making any changes during the break it was as you were as the teams emerged for the start of the second half.

A clever ball from Saunders 90 seconds after the restart saw him come close to picking out Somma with Town centre-back Shane Cansdell-Sherriff forced to intercept and head back to Button. At the other end four minutes later Burch punched away a corner before Kevin McIntyre dragged a poor effort wide.

City responded by piecing together a decent move which ended with Lennon being felled 25 yards out. Somma drilled the ball goalwards only for it to crash against the wall and as Town went on the counter-attack, Simpson saw his goalbound volley superbly kept out one-handed by Burch.

In the 57th minute Baker was left holding his shoulder following a meaty challenge on Simpson and shortly afterwards both Somma and Cansdell-Sherriff were spoken to by the referee following an altercation on the half-way line.

A seventh Shrewsbury corner ended with Langmead seeing his downward header trickle wide of the left-hand upright and on the hour mark Lenell John-Lewis replaced Brian Gilmour up front for the Imps.

John-Lewis' first taste of the action was to set up Saunders who fired over and shortly afterwards Saunders gained possession on the left before cutting inside and curled a shot goalwards. Button, however, flung himself full length to his left and after he got his fingertips to the ball watched it crash against the post and away to safety.

Town's first change saw youngster Tom Bradshaw come on for the experienced Jamie Cureton up front but it was the Imps' front line who were next in the action with Lennon and Somma both being involved before John-Lewis dragged a shot wide.

Shortly after a double substitution by the home side which saw Benjamin Van Den Broek and Kris Bright replace Terry Dunfield and Dave Hibbert, Somma drilled a shot wide of the target before Lennon was denied at a tight angle by Button. Saunders then curled a long-range effort over the bar as the Imps continued to search for the breakthrough.

With nine minutes remaining Leslie released Simpson down the right with the latter firing across Burch and a foot wide but just a couple of minutes later the City 'keeper was picking the ball out of the net when a cross from the left found substitute Bright eight yards out and after the striker stuck out a foot, he diverted the ball past Burch to give his side the lead.

A couple of minutes after this body blow, Paul Connor and Richard Butcher replaced Danny Hone and Scott Kerr as manager Chris Sutton went for broke in a bid to grab an equaliser.

Butcher's first touch saw him deflect a free-kick out for a corner, which was scrambled clear at the near post and shortly afterwards, a Van Den Broek cross led to another flag-kick which was headed away by Connor.

Time was running out for the Imps, however, with the Fourth Official indicating that a minimum of thre minutes were to be added on. Sixty seconds into these extra stages a foul on Lennon by Holden gave City a chance to create something from a free-kick but Button commanded his area well to punch clear Saunders' delivery.

Town subsequently took the ball forward with Burch tipping over a Simpson drive and this proved to be the last action of note so in the end it was substitute Bright's 83rd minute strike that condemned the Imps to defeat.

FT: SHREWSBURY 1 IMPS 0

TEAM SHEET

LINCOLN CITY
1 Rob BURCH
19 Shane CLARKE
2 Paul GREEN
6 Danny HONE
33 Nathan BAKER
11 Scott KERR
23 Clark KELTIE
39 Matthew SAUNDERS
16 Steven LENNON
35 Brian GILMOUR
18 Davide SOMMA

subs
14 Lenell JOHN-LEWIS (for GILMOUR 60)
9 Paul CONNOR (for HONE 85)
8 Richard BUTCHER (for KERR 85)
15 David STEPHENS
21 James REID
31 Michael GORDON
20 Paul MUSSELWHITE

SHREWSBURY TOWN
29 David BUTTON
2 Dean HOLDEN
3 Joe SKARZ
6 Terry DUNFIELD
8 Kelvin LANGMEAD
9 Dave HIBBERT
10 Jamie CURETON
18 Steve LESLIE
21 Jake SIMPSON
24 Shane CANSDELL-SHERRIFF
28 Kevin McINTYRE

subs
34 Tom BRADSHAW (for CURETON 65)
17 Benjamin VAN DEN BROEK (for DUNFIELD 73)
14 Kris BRIGHT (for HIBBERT 74)
15 Paul MURRAY
20 Andre GRAY
23 Lewis NEAL
32 Danny TAYLOR

GOAL: BRIGHT (83)

MATCH OFFICIALS

REFEREE: Jock Waugh
ASSISTANTS: Kevin Hayward & Carl Dunn
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Rob Merchant

ATTENDANCE: 4,932 (286 City supporters)