Mark Kennedy hails Lincoln for helping to make ‘kids love the game’

Lincoln boss Mark Kennedy hailed his side for helping make “kids love the game” as they edged a narrow 3-2 League One win in a five-goal thriller with Port Vale that saw three players sent off.

Adam Jackson’s late header stole the spoils for the hosts who initially led after Lasse Sorensen’s opener.

Kennedy said: “I’m really proud of the group. Football’s about making people fall in love with football.

“A lot of coaches at our level care too much about winning games, but it’s also about making kids love the game and hopefully we can make an impact with them.

“We’re all on a positive journey, but there’s still a big five games to go.”

City goalkeeper Carl Rushworth was the first to be shown a red card as he brought down Matty Taylor, who stepped up to convert the resulting penalty.

Daniel Butterworth quickly fired the visitors in front before Tom Conlon saw red for an off-the-ball incident in the build up.

Ben House ended a frantic first-half with an equaliser, his 13th of the season, before Sammy Robinson was sent for an early bath with 10 minutes to go.

And Jackson popped up with a vital winner, his first goal since September 2020, at the death, much to the joy of the Imps’ faithful.

Kennedy added: “I just thought Carl’s sending off changed the dynamics of the game. We were in control and doing what we wanted to do.

“I felt comfortable and felt we could get another goal. On top of the red card, you concede the goal from the penalty.

“Hand on my heart, I didn’t see anything for their first sending off. I asked the Port Vale guys. I was more peed off with the set up for the goal, which was unacceptable.

“I honestly didn’t see what happened. It would be disrespectful to come out and say what the Port Vale guys have said to me.”

It was a bitter pill to swallow for Port Vale boss Darrell Clarke with his side now seven games without victory.

He said: “I’m speechless. I’m absolutely devastated.

“We have to pick ourselves up very quickly because we’ve still got work to do.

“We’ve got one of the best teams in the league on Tuesday night (Ipswich) so we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.

“A lot of the decisions I can’t even explain, but I’ll go and see the ref to see what he says about it.

“We shot ourselves in the foot. Sammy’s a young lad, but he’s got to be more professional than that. He’s apologised to the lads and he’s got to learn from that very quickly because it left us with a mountain to climb.

“We can’t expect anybody to help us. We’ve got to get ourselves out of this rut.

“We’ve got work to do to stay in this division. We’re well aware of that and have been for a few weeks.

“We have to come out fighting. The boys have given everything for the shirt. We have to keep that belief.”