Lincoln boss Mark Kennedy fed up sharing the points after yet another draw

Posted Wednesday, March 01, 2023 by PA

Frustrated Lincoln City boss Mark Kennedy is desperate to ditch the tag of draw specialists after Paris Maghoma’s dramatic equaliser rescued a point for struggling MK Dons.

The Imps have gone all season without a league defeat at Sincil Bank.

But they were once again forced to settle for a share of the spoils after Danny Mandroiu’s early effort was cancelled out by Brentford loanee Maghoma’s late, late leveller.

The hosts had earlier squandered chances to go two up, most notably when Mandroiu’s long-range strike rattled the post.

And after a fourth draw on the bounce, Kennedy reflected: “We’re bitterly disappointed with that ending, especially after being so close to a good victory at home.

“We want to win as many games as we can, it’s frustrating for sure.

“Football’s fine margins. We’re a minute or two away from going 11th in the league and we’re all bouncing.

“It’s an emotional time, I get it. I’m bitterly disappointed, I was incredibly angry after the game.

“We’re the best team in the league at defending set pieces, that’s a fact. The difficulty is they’ve got seven in the box and it’s a complete freak goal, it takes a deflection which is unfortunate.

“There are situations you can’t recreate on the training ground. I played in a game when we were 1-0 up in the 96th minute and the keeper scored an overhead kick.

“You have to see the game out, by hook or by crook. I’m not criticising the lads, they are great learning experiences. I’m not having a go at them, I thought they were great and deserved the win.

“We’ve got to try and not get emotionally attached to the disappointment of the result.

“Danny’s hit the post, Harry’s had a great chance to score. We’ve missed another couple of really good chances. I thought we did enough to score another.

“I just can’t compliment the players enough for their efforts or their attitudes, week in and week out.”

The relegation-threatened Dons secured a gutsy point as they stopped the rot after three successive defeats.

Head coach Mark Jackson said: “I think we deserved a point out of that game from our second-half performance.

“We didn’t cause them any problems in the first half. It was a team I didn’t recognise in the first half.

“They scored a great goal and it deflated us. It showed because we didn’t have any attacking impetus about us, which is unlike us from where we’ve been recently.

“We had words at half-time, we had to have honest words at half-time because it wasn’t good enough and we knew that.

“I challenged them to come out in the second half and they did that.

“Looking at it all in all, coming to Lincoln who haven’t been beat here all season, to go 1-0 down and get an equaliser, it’s a point gained.

“I’d like to give credit to the lads for their second-half performance and the reaction.”