A battling performance from City saw them hold table-topping Rochdale to a draw at Spotland on Saturday afternoon.

The Imps took the lead in the 27th minute of the match when some excellent interchange play saw the Imps open up the Rochdale defence with nonchalant ease. One-touch stuff started things off and when the ball found Davide Somma he turned his man before laying the ball into Chris Herd who did the rest, curling a great effort past Frank Fielding for his fourth of the season.

The goal was nothing more than City deserved following an enterprising opening but for the remainder of the game the Imps were pushed back on the defensive; the shackles eventually broken in the 70th minute when Chris Dagnall saw his drive have enough power to go past both Rob Burch and Joe Anderson on the line.

TEAM SHEET

LINCOLN CITY
1 Rob BURCH
25 Cian HUGHTON
5 Moses SWAIBU
13 Ian PEARCE
38 Joe ANDERSON
39 Matthew SAUNDERS
11 Scott KERR
34 Chris HERD
16 Steven LENNON
15 Drewe BROUGHTON
18 Davide SOMMA

subs
19 Shane CLARKE (for HERD 45+2)
9 Paul CONNOR (for BROUGHTON 82)
6 Danny HONE
7 Stefan OAKES
31 Michael GORDON
35 Brian GILMOUR
20 Paul MUSSELWHITE

GOAL: HERD (27)

BOOKINGS: BROUGHTON (75), SOMMA (76), LENNON (89), BURCH (90+3)

ROCHDALE
34 Frank FIELDING
23 Rory McARDLE
3 Tom KENNEDY
4 Nathan STANTON
26 Craig DAWSON
7 Jason KENNEDY
8 Gary JONES
32 Will ATKINSON
6 Ciaran TONER
19 Chris O'GRADY
9 Chris DAGNALL

subs
18 Kallum HIGGINBOTHAM (for TONER 65)
15 Joe THOMPSON (for ATKINSON 82)
2 Scott WISEMAN
14 Temitope OBADEYI
28 Matt FLYNN
33 Jason TAYLOR
1 Kenny ARTHUR

GOAL: DAGNALL (70)

BOOKING: DAGNALL (76)

MATCH OFFICIALS

REFEREE: David Foster
ASSISTANTS: Mo Matadar & Andy Newell
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Danny Roberts

ATTENDANCE: 3,453 (234 City supporters)