THE ACCRINGTON Stanley players must have been relishing a memorable Friday night when they saw Lincoln's perfect pitch, the impressive stadium and 5,000 fans expecting to be entertained.
But the thoughts which will remain of their trip to Sincil Bank will be largely subdued following two sendings off and a lesson in finishing by promotion-chasing City's formidable strike force.
Despite a committed display, the Imps over-powered the Reds early on and inflicted what is Stanley's third defeat of the League Two season and leaves them in the bottom six.
One win and all that could change but manager John Coleman admits there is work to be done to get his side back into the winning habit.
Stanley started with Paul Mullin as the lone striker in the absence of Rommy Boco, on international duty, and were caught out on six minutes by Martin Gritton's neat finish.
Then Mark Stallard punished the defence with goals either side of the break as the league's top scorers kept their form going.
Stanley's misery continued when Michael Welch saw red for a second bookable offence although there was something for the 154 visiting fans to cheer when Gary Roberts grabbed a goal back from 18 yards out.
Sub Andy Mangan could have added more respectability to the scoreline against a suspect defence but had his late strike saved while it was a devastating finish for Stanley as captain Peter Cavanagh was back in the dressing room almost on the whistle for a second yellow card.
Unhappy memories indeed for the Reds camp but Coleman knows what went wrong - and is eager to start getting it right as soon as possible.
"Give Lincoln their due, they were clinical in front of goal," he said. "They had four chances and buried three of them. They have two good forwards - but we have good forwards. The problem was when we got into great areas we didn't apply the finishing touch. We wanted too many touches, picked the wrong pass or snatched at things.
"It was also bad defending - as a team - and we let the goals in cheaply.
"Having said that, I couldn't fault the lads for their effort, or for their spirit, and it would have been interesting if Andy Mangan had scored at 3-1 when we had 10 men - I think we might have gone on and got an equaliser.
"We have honest lads and some of them have held their hands up and they will learn and are prepared to learn. I am too, as I am not perfect.
"I think we showed we can compete in this league as for long periods we dominated but we couldn't turn domination into goals."
And he admitted he thought long and hard as he they debated with whether to start with one or two up front.
"It was touch and go whether to play Andy Mangan from the start but you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket as, if you start with that and then are chasing the game, you aren't putting a forward on with a bit of pace to change it.
"We tried to get our wide players into attacking areas with 4-5-1/4-3-3 but the best laid plans of mice and men go out of the window on five minutes if you concede a daft goal like we did.
"In this league we have found that after 20 minutes we come into our own so we have got to be in a position where we are competing. Five out of our first six games, we have conceded in the first 20 minutes and last season that was our strength - we didn't concede early on and then, once we settled, we would invariably go on and win it.
"This season we are getting punished especially as the finishing is better in this league."
And this was certainly shown in the early stages. The experienced Jamie Forrester hooked the ball forward to beanpole striker Gritton who raced onto it and slotted the ball under the outrushing Ian Dunbavin.
It could have been two minutes later when Nicky Eaden got the ball unmarked but this time he could only find the side-netting with Stanley's hearts in their mouths.
Next up was Forrester whose overhead kick which was straight into Dunbavin's hands as Stanley seemed to suffer stage fright.
Cavanagh then picked up what seemed a harsh booking as Lee Frecklington tripped over his foot on the edge of the area on 18 minutes - and it was to prove costly.
The Reds didn't carve out their first opening until the 23rd minute when Andy Todd did well to set up the inrushing Roberts who looped the ball over the crossbar while an Ian Craney volley was not far off the top corner of the net.
The Reds were enjoying a decent spell of pressure without testing keeper Alan Marriott but then a Craney free kick was cleared quickly and the Imps broke at pace. With the help of a ricochet, Forrester raced down the right wing and found Stallard. The striker's initial shot was stopped by Dunbavin but he pounced on the rebound to slot the ball home and go a big way to keeping Lincoln's unbeaten run going.
Coleman had to change it around by bringing Mangan on after the break but the home side had a good early chance when Stallard took the ball past Robbie Williams but tried to place it and Dunbavin denied him.
Stanley were passing the ball around but were trying to do too much and every time they got around the area, the Imps had bodies back to block the shots or take the ball off their feet.
And, when they did find the way through, Mangan played a ball across the face of goal but Mullin and Todd couldn't get there.
And, straight from that, Lincoln went down the other end and punished them again with Forrester playing a great ball through to Stallard who, with quick feet, turned Williams and slotted home the third on 69 minutes.
Welch then brought down Frecklington and off he went after being booked just after the interval and it seemed mission impossible.
However, Lincoln relaxed and 10-man Stanley upped the tempo with Mullin swivelling round and setting up Mangan but Marriott saved with his legs while a Roberts corner was punched clear by the goalie on 81 minutes.
Then, from the resulting flag kick, the winger's ball was cleared back to him and he fired the ball low and hard into the bottom of the net.
And, but for the heroics of Marriott, it could have been 3-2 when Mangan was set up by a neat pass from sub Julien N'da but the keeper once again saved with his legs.
However, any hopes of what would have been a stunning revival were halted when Cavanagh brought down Stallard on the wing and, after the earlier booking, the red card was held up again and the points stayed in Lincoln.
"I don't want to get drawn on the bookings but saying that, the lads who are on yellow cards are experienced enough to know if a player goes to ground, they run the risk of another yellow," said Coleman.
"I know there will be a few eyebrows raised, but hand on my heart, I thought we were the best team over 90 minutes. But the best team don't always win games and this was proven by the fact that they were clinical in front of goal and we weren't."
