Lincoln boss Cowley ignoring League Two table

Posted Sunday, March 24, 2019 by PA

Lincoln manager Danny Cowley praised his side’s work ethic and ruthlessness after they strengthened their bid for automatic promotion with a comfortable 3-0 victory at Crawley.

The Imps moved eight points clear at the top of the table, and 13 points clear of fourth placed Mansfield, by extending their unbeaten league run to 16 games.

Bruno Andrade fired Lincoln ahead in the 37th minutes and late goals from substitute Shay McCarten and Cian Bolger gave the Imps their fourth win in five games.

Lincoln will guarantee a return to league one for the first time in 21 years by taking 10 points from their final seven games.

But Cowley insists he will not be looking at the table until the end of the season.

He said: “At 5pm on May 4 we will have a look at the table.

“We have had two away games in the space of five days and we have shown a great work ethic and ruthlessness all season.

“We are clear on what we want to achieve. It will take a lot of hard work to get us promoted.

“It was a great performance at Crawley and an excellent outcome.”

Cowley felt his team’s finishing could have been better in the first half, and added: “We got in lots of good areas but didn’t execute.

“In the second half, we had good control and created a lot but the game was not dead by 60 minutes.

“But then Shay McCartan came off the bench to score and Cian Bolger got his first for the club late on.”

City, boasting the best away record in the English Football League, had the backing of 1,059 travelling fans and Cowley said:” The support was unbelievable.

“It is an eight hour round trip, but 300 paid on the gate and we needed their backing.”

Crawley head coach Gabriele Cioffi admitted that despite the result he was satisfied with the manner of the performance following a 6-1 thrashing at Crewe the previous week.

The Reds were left smarting at Gresty Road by conceding four goals in the space of seven minutes before half-time, but Cioffi felt the reaction was good.

The Italian said: “It was about a reaction after Crewe and we reacted well and came to fight.”

Cioffi has set a target of 50 points to be safe and he added: “We need some wins now.

“We need points to be safe, and next Saturday’s game at Morecambe is more important.

“I can’t blame the boys. They worked hard on what they did wrong (at Crewe) and we were in the game in the first half.

“The important thing was to get the mentality right after Crewe.”