Lincoln were themselves struggling in the lower reaches of the league table but it was them that drew first blood in this encounter. Slick passing between Nathan Modest and Sam Wilkinson opened up the Scholars defence and United skipper Andy Toyne hit a thunderbolt of a shot beyond Ryan Price to give the hosts the lead.

The lead was short-lived though. The Lincoln defence was at sixes and sevens trying to clear the danger and goalkeeper Nathan Burrows found himself in no man’s land. The first chance fell to Andy Westwood to fire beyond the retreating defenders on the line but the ball was cleared only as far as Tesfa Robinson who calmly made no mistake past the covering defenders.

A stop-start first half, littered with free kicks, remarkably stayed 1-1 at the break. Lincoln looked a threat with their aerial presence every time they went forward while Chasetown were exploiting noticeable weaknesses in the Lincoln back four.

Paul Sullivan, in his first start since returning from injury, tricked his way past Burrows on the half hour, only to be tripped outside the penalty area. Luckily for Burrows there was no card but Lee Butler’s free kick was over-hit.

Sullivan came closest to giving the Scholars the lead battling his way past defenders on the edge of the box, only to see his shot come back off the post in the dying seconds of the half.

The Scholars came out for the second half showing intent to capitalise on the opportunity to get their first away victory of the season and after early dominance of possession, Craig Harris introduced Simon Brown for the last half hour to try and kill the game off.

Brown’s impact was instant and a right foot shot was inches wide of the upright, followed by a through ball to Butler who side footed beyond Burrows but inches wide of the upright.

It seemed like there could only be one winner and the away support was crying out for Walsall loanee forward Danny Griffiths to make his debut.

After four or five minutes stood waiting to come on, Griffiths entered the fray in the 74th minute and he could not have wished for a greater introduction. Simon Brown’s cross into the box fell to the feet of Paul Sullivan who was crowded out. Sullivan took a touch to get himself down to the bye-line and chipped up an inch perfect cross that completely stranded Burrows at his near post and Griffiths put his head in where he could’ve got hurt to head Chasetown into the lead, probably not much than thirty seconds after coming on.

Sullivan went close to adding a third before Lincoln lost their self-discipline and were reduced to nine men. Firstly, Danny Brooks picked up a second yellow card for a foul in midfield and in the last minutes of the game, Sean Wright conceded a free kick on the edge of the box and received a straight red card for something he said to Referee Mr Wilson.

Lincoln United: Burrows, B Brown, Wilkins, Batchelor, Wright, McDaid (Firth, 67 mins), Modest, Brooks, Toyne, Cann (Mowbray, 74 mins), Wilkinson (Funnell, 67 mins)

Other subs: King, Turner (not used)

Chasetown: Ryan Price, Jack Farmer, Grant Beckett, Chris Slater, Tesfa Robinson, Andy Westwood, Lee Butler (Alex Forde, 83 mins), Danny Bragoli, Nick Wellecomme (Danny Griffiths, 74 mins), Paul Sullivan, Ramone Stephens (Simon Brown, 59 mins)

Other subs: Theo Robinson, Danny Watson (not used)