Along with City, three of the top four registered wins yesterday, but Tranmere Rovers lost further ground after surrendering a two goal lead at home to Bromley.
The so-called Super White Army looked to be making it a clean sweep of wins for those chasing the title, two goals from Andy Cook had put them in the driving seat. Giant defender Steve McNulty had been risked after suffering from flu, but even him coming off after 32 minutes didn’t affect them too much.
Tranmere looked to be in complete control, but on 57 minutes new signing Adam Buxton was shown a straight red for a crunching challenge on former Imps defender Joe Anderson. Minutes later Bromley made it 2-1 before securing a point three minutes from the end through Jack Holland.
Manager Micky Mellon wasn’t happy with the outcome.
“I’m very very frustrated because in the first half, we could have been out of sight with the amount of clear cut chances that we had. Then the sending off changes everything, but it is still 8 v 8 in our half and we have to do better and be a bit more aggressive in that situation.”
Tranmere ended the game with Norwood, Mangan, and Cook on the pitch, but they couldn’t find the goal they needed to keep them in touch with the title chasers.
Our win merely served to maintain a status quo as both Forest Green and Dagenham landed maximum points. The Daggers made sure it was a miserable start for new Southport boss Andy Preece, and as much as I dislike him I wish his team had put up more of a fight. After Jamie Allen had given the Sandgrounders a surprise lead, Dagenham replied four times through Maguire-Drew, Okenabirhie, Corey Whitely and an own-goal. To compound Southport’s misery they had Robbie Cundy sent off.
Forest Green put their bad transfer window behind them to finally overcome a stubborn Boreham Wood side. Christian Doidge finally broke the visitors rear guard on 83 minutes, and debutant Omar Bugiel added a second just ten minutes into his debut.
With Tranmere now seven points away from the Imps, and Dover eleven points and having played a game more, the title race is beginning to morph into a three horse race. Despite our good form the impetus at present seems to be with Dagenham, and their run of fixtures looks to facilitate a really successful February. Whether the chasing pack can keep up remains to be seen, but with over a third of the season still to be played there are bound to be more twists and turns.