Vanarama Conference

Lincoln City 1

Forest Green 2

ADY Pennock cut an exuberant figure as Forest Green survived a late Lincoln rally to gain a vital three points in their pursuit of play-off glory.

Rovers’ chipper boss embraced his players straight after the whistle with his battling side  rooted to the final play-off place with five Vanarama Conference games to go.

Pennock beamed:“That’s a massive three points today and the character of the boys was unbelievable.

“Lincoln is a touch place to come and our rivals will be disappointed with our result today.”

Hamstrung by the loss of key midfield duo Rob Sinclair and Sam Wedgbury, Pennock opted to play defender David Pipe in an auxiliary midfield role alongside Clovis Kamdjo.

“It was a big decision to put Pipey in midfield,” added Pennock.

“I was going to play Corby Moore, but he had a virus, but I thought Pipey was magnificent - and he wears his heart on his sleeve.”

Pennock’s side posted a breathless start with two goals in 12 minutes. The fleet-footed Elliott Frear nodded in after just four minutes and the prolific Jon Parkin made it 20 league goals for the season four minutes later with a clinical finish from the spot.

Rovers looked to see the game out, but Alan Power’s spot-kick in the 79th minute made for a twitchy finish.

Earlier, the Imps got off to a wretched opening as Rovers took the lead on seven minutes.

Right-back Dale Bennett crossed from the left-hand side of the Imps box and the diminutive Frear timed his jump to perfection to head the ball in at the back post following a Parkin assist.

Rovers were flying and rocked City further. Nat Brown sold Hamza Bencherif short and Kurtis Guthrie stepped on the gas and his run was ended by keeper Paul Farman and referee Karl Evans pointed to the spot and dished out a yellow card to Farman. Parkin stepped up to take the penalty and sent the Imps stopper the wrong way.

It looked game over for Lincoln when Guthrie burst into the box and was eventually brought down by the challenge of Power. Parkin stepped up but this time his penalty was blocked by the legs of Farman.

Rovers looked to see the game out after the break, but with 12 minutes left Kamdjo’s challenge on Tomlinson handed Lincoln a spot-kick.

Power converted to give his side a glimmer of hope, but Rovers hung on at the death despite a flurry of five successive late corners.

Forest Green: S. Arnold; D. Bennett, C. Clough, A. Racine, M. Kelly; J. Norwood, D. Pipe, C. Kamdjo, E. Frear (T. Bender 90); J. Parkin, K. Guthrie.

Subs not used: D. Coles, J. Marwood, S. Fleetwood, S. Russell.

Referee: Karl Evans

Attendance: 1,938 (127 FGR fans).

Star Man:Charlie Clough.