Danny Cowley fully focused on securing more League One football for Lincoln

Danny Cowley refused to budge from his initial 50-point target after watching Lincoln begin life in Sky Bet League One with victory over Accrington.

The Imps overcame John Coleman’s side 2-0 thanks Michael O’Connor’s header in the 35th minute and substitute John Akinde’s penalty in the 81st minute.

It was a satisfying start for the League Two champions, who are being tipped to challenge for the play-off places by bookmakers.

But Cowley knows there will be plenty of ups and downs as the Imps adjust to life in the third tier and insists securing their place in the division remains the club’s first objective.

“We’re pleased with the win,” said Cowley. “We’re pleased with some parts of our play and we had a nice spell at the beginning of the second half.

“Once we went 2-0 up I thought we could have managed it better and played in their half more. We overindulged at times and gave away too many fouls. That’s something we can work on.

“But we won the game and that means we need another 47 points to get to where we want to go.

“If we can get to 50 points we can look at redefining our objectives.

“We know how tough the challenges are going to be and what our shortcomings are.

“We’ll try to overcome some of those challenges, but we won’t be able to overcome all of them.

“I’m pleased with the win because I thought it was really important that we got off to a good start at home.”

Accrington had their moments in the game, with Sean McConville hitting the bar with a free-kick in the first half and Imps goalkeeper Josh Vickers making a couple of good saves in the second period.

Coleman was not too downcast after the game, but felt his side gave up too many chances early in the second half when Dimitar Evtimov made a couple of outstanding saves.

“We didn’t get the wide players on the ball and we didn’t make enough chances (in the first half),” he said.

“They scored from their only chance and then they were better than us in the second half, attacking-wise.

“I thought the game opened up and both teams played better in the second half.

“They made good chances and our keeper stood up to it. They were great saves. We know Dimi is a good keeper, that’s never been an issue, but we don’t want to be giving up those chances. But give Lincoln their due, they worked hard for them.

“We’ve got to work harder at creating chances and taking those chances.

“And we gave us up too many chances. That’s the most disappointing thing today.”