An Injury time equaliser from Macclesfield’s Sam Wedgbury prevented luckless Lincoln from taking all three points in front of a sparse crowd at Moss Road.
The Imps had lead the game right up until the final stages thanks to a fantastic strike from on loan Notts County man, Stephen Hunt, but were forced to settle for a point when Wedgbury struck the fatal blow late on.
The meeting with Macclesfield was the first time that the clubs had faced each other since the tragic death of former City midfielder, Richard Butcher, and with emotions running high it almost seemed that for one night only the result was far from being the most important thing.
As it was, Butcher’s former side’s played out a richly entertaining game that ‘Butch’ himself would have loved to have been a part of and the 1-1 final score was testament to his memory.
The Imps named an unchanged side for the visit to Cheshire, with on loan Celtic forward Ben Hutchinson continuing in attack following a number of important contributions in recent weeks. The game also saw Luke Howell return to the fold, all be it on the bench, after injury as he replaced fellow mid-fielder, Ali Fuseini who was ruled out of the clash.
After a relatively cagey start to proceedings, Lincoln began to settle the quicker and went close when captain Delroy Facey saw his fierce shot blocked by Town skipper, Paul Morgan.
This Imps pressure told on 19 minutes as Stephen Hunt delivered a wonderfully placed shot to put the away side ahead. Hunt exchanged passes with Ashley Grimes before unleashing an unstoppable 25 yard effort past Jose Veiga in the Macclesfield goal to send the City fans into raptures.
This seemed to wake Macclesfield up as Hamza Bencherif prodded agonisingly wide from just six yards almost straight away and then tested Imps keeper Trevor Carson again moments later as he tried his luck from range.
However, Town were unable to find a way through City’s defence and Lincoln went in at half time one nil up and relatively comfortable.
The second half began with the home side again pressing for an equaliser but struggling to penetrate the impressive Imps back-line and Carson had to be at this very best to keep out Draper as he brilliantly saved the mid-fielders’ close range effort.
On the hour mark, things took a turn for the worse for Lincoln however. City forward Ben Hutchinson was given his marching orders for petulantly kicking the ball away after been called up for a foul, leaving the away side to march on with only ten men.
This numerical deficit lead to a late Macclesfield onslaught as they hammered at the Imps door, trying to break it down.
The Imps must have thought that they would be leaving Moss Road with three precious points as time ticked on but it wasn’t to be as Wedgbury let fly from the edge of the box two minutes into added time to break City hearts.
To make matters worse, Delroy Facey was forced to leave the field for the closing stages clearly in some discomfort thanks to a suspected dislocated shoulder. Lincoln held out with nine men for the final two minutes and left Cheshire with a point, knowing that they were in touching distance of getting all three.
Attentions now turn to the visit to fellow mid-table side, Stevenage Town, on Saturday where the Imps will be hoping that they can get back to winning ways.
