Mark Kennedy delighted after Lincoln beat Derby

Posted Wednesday, September 14, 2022 by PA

Mark Kennedy was the proudest man in Lincoln after his City side finally ended their home drought with a 2-0 win over Derby.

A first-half Jack Diamond penalty was added to by Ben House after the break – the first goals for both players this season – as an energetic Imps team ensured Derby’s 5,000th game in the Football League ended in defeat.

“The lads gave us everything they got and I was so, so pleased for them because they got what they deserved and sometimes you don’t get that,” said head coach Kennedy, whose side won for the first time at home since the last game of last season.

“We felt we had to be more compact and have no shame in giving up possession.

“Every player ran at least 11km tonight, which was extraordinary. We had an in-house game on Saturday and the players ran more in that than they have done in a league game.

“I am really pleased for the group as I knew it was going to be a full house and what an amazing occasion it was. I wanted the lads to embrace it and they did.”

Despite the victory, Kennedy says patience is required as he strives to make the Imps a force in League One.

“It is just about finding the balance for the squad, it won’t take just one transfer window,” he said after making several additions in the past few weeks, including midfielder Jacob Davenport on the day of the match.

“It will take two or three to do that, but it’s started the ball rolling.”

City took the lead after 12 minutes when Jason Knight was adjudged to have brought Diamond down as he burst into the box and the same player duly stepped up to crack his penalty into the bottom corner.

After Nathaniel Mendez-Laing had a goal chalked off for offside for Derby, City rubbed salt into County’s wounds by doubling their lead seconds later.

Diamond’s superb run ended with a blocked shot, but the rebound fell to House, who took his time before rolling the ball into the corner of the net.

Derby interim manager Liam Rosenior could not hide his disappointment after seeing his side once more fail to pick up their first away league win of the campaign.

“It was littered with individual errors – I thought the previous Saturday was a wake-up call, but we came here and gave a cheap penalty away and then cheap errors contribute to the second,” said Rosenior.

“We still made chances and failed to take them and when you do that while chasing the game, you’re going to get punished. It is a bitter pill to swallow, but we will have to take our medicine and come back on Saturday with a much better performance.

“We made numerous chances, box entries and penalty-area opportunities and we just weren’t clinical enough and we have to address that.

“As poor as we were by our standards, we should still have come away with at least a point.”