Danny Cowley hails “incredible” Lincoln following battling Swindon draw

Lincoln manager Danny Cowley hailed his “incredible” battling Imps as the League Two leaders drew 2-2 at Swindon – with nine men.

Substitute Michael Doughty scored twice to rescue a point for Swindon after the visitors had seen Jason Shackell and Bruno Andrade sent off.

Cowley said: “I am not bothered about the result. All I care about is the players and their efforts and I thought they were incredible.

“They fought. To play with 10 men at 30 minutes at 0-0 and then with nine men from 50 minutes onward was a heroic effort from the group.

“They have a refuse-to-lose attitude. It was desire and commitment personified.

“It was a monumental effort from everyone and anyone supporting Lincoln City can be proud.”

The game sparked into life in the 33rd minute when Andrade raked his foot down the Achilles of Kyle Knoyle after the Swindon right-back won the ball.

Andrade was swiftly shown a straight red card but Swindon struggled to make their numerical advantage pay and Lincoln took the lead six minutes before half-time.

Shackell’s shot deflected off Matt Taylor and wrong-footed home goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux at his near post.

Shay McCartan scored a powerful volley in first-half stoppage-time to double Lincoln’s lead.

Doughty gave Swindon hope with a 54th-minute penalty after Keshi Anderson was fouled.

Shackell went from hero to villain by becoming the second Lincoln man to be sent off for a second yellow card due to dissent.

The nine men held out until two minutes from time when Doughty levelled from long range.

Swindon manager Richie Wellens was pleased with how his side acquitted themselves against the table-toppers.

Wellens said: “I thought we were brilliant until the sending off. We came in at half-time 2-0 down because we made a mistake.

“Then they go down to nine and it becomes a farcical game because it’s attack versus defence and it’s about us trying to get in the right areas and we had umpteen opportunities.”

Wellens also hailed the impact of super-substitute Doughty.

He said: “There are loads and loads of positives. Michael Doughty’s come on and scored two which is one of the most pleasing things.

“But I’ll only analyse it in the first 30 minutes where they’re top of the league and we looked like a really good team.

“Hopefully we can build on this moving forward.”