Oxford United kept the Imps at bay this Hallowe'en as they kept up the pressure on leaders Portsmouth with a 2-0 win at Lincoln City.
A first-half header from Ciaron Brown and a Stan Mills drive deflected into his own net by home keeper Lukas Jensen after the break saw United win 2-0 at the LNER Stadium as their excellent away form continued.
And yet the night couldn't have started much worse, with Sam Long forced off with an ankle injury after just two minutes and having to make his way round the pitch on crutches. However, this spirited United team responded superbly.
Long was still en route for the dressing room, but hobbling that little bit more happily when he saw his team take the lead in the 13th minute.
A lot of goals this season have pleased the purists but this will have pleased the coaching staff just as much, as United made their first corner of the evening count. Cameron Brannagan flighted the ball to the near post and Brown flicked home beyond the flat-footed Jensen.
Liam Manning's side have yet to lose a game in which they have scored the first goal this season and never looked back after that moment. They might have doubled their lead through Mark Harris, Mills - on for Long - or the brilliant Ruben Rodrigues as they took control of the first half. Jensen made a flying save from the irrepressible Tyler Goodrham after 36 one-sided minutes, and Rodrigues didn't get enough loft on a lob soon after, but even so, the 446 away fans were more than pleased with their team's performance after 45 minutes.
It took a good block to deny Mills soon after the interval as the Lincolnshire fog rolled into the LNER Stadium, but United were dominant and all that was missing was a second goal.
That arrived after 64 minutes and although Mills will claim it, Jensen was the man with the decisive touch. A perfectly weighted ball from Marcus McGuane inside the left-back set things up, and Mills rifled the ball across the face of goal. Jensen blocked, but in doing so merely diverted the ball behind him and saw it squirm inside the near post to make it 2-0 and end the game as a contest.
Lincoln came back into it for a while, and Mills got a vital touch at the other end to scoop a loose ball over the bar as it bounced towards the empty net, but the Yellows were still in control of the game and rarely troubled at the back, as Beadle and his back line took the sting out of the game.
Another terrific performance on the road from a team that is a pleasure to watch.
Att: 7,114 including 446 away
Report by Chris Williams, pictures Steve Edmunds and Rex Shutterstock, stats by OPTA