Sleaford see off league leaders Lincoln United

​A sizeable Greens following witnessed the visitors put in a strong defensive showing at Ashby Avenue, with Ryan Lennon jumping on Sean Wright’s indecisiveness in the box to score the only goal of the contest.

The Greens had ridden their luck at times, particularly when Elliott Dye hit the crossbar early in the second half, but on the balance of play, the Greens deserved their gutsy three-point haul.

And joint player-managers Nathan Arnold and Tom Ward were delighted with the outcome.

Arnold told the club’s media channels after the game: “It’s a fantastic win. We knew it was going to be tough and the message was really clear before the game, to believe we could come here and get a victory.

"We’re really pleased with the togetherness of the whole squad and we needed that coming here as [Lincoln] have only lost one game all season at home.

"We’re hitting good form and came here with plenty of confidence off the back of the last win. I think quiet confidence was the main thing, to make sure we could back the last performance up and we did that.”

Ward added: “We’ve been pushing now for a month really, we’ve re-structured and adjusted what we do, brought in some new faces and are now getting the joys from the application and hard work.

"We’ve been building towards a performance like that and I’ve smelt blood and I felt like it was coming today.

"I genuinely think if we get things right we can beat anyone in this league as we’ve showed against the top two sides this season – we can win games and be competitive.

"We’ve got a difficult run now with a derby against Boston which is a derby we’ve traditionally done well in over the years, so we’ve got to go and back this game up with another three points.”

The Greens are back on the road next weekend with another local derby in the offing as they visit rivals Boston Town in United Counties League Premier Division North action.