Three Lincoln goals - courtesy of Jodie Michalska, Megan Harris and Stacey Aisthorpe - without reply from Manchester City, were enough for the Lady Imps to bag all three points this weekend.
The Lady Imps overwhelmed the Blues during the first five minutes, and could have killed the game off if they had capitalised on all their three chances. Michalska came close when she lunged for the ball in front of an open goal, but her flying boot missed the ball by an inch.
A minute later Barr found herself unmarked in front of goal and fired at the near post, however City's goalie brought off a spectacular reaction save low to the ground to deny the hosts the lead.
In the end the pressure was too much for Manchester City and they conceded with just three minutes of the game gone, when a pin-point accurate through ball from Sophie Wallis found Michalska in space - she drove forward past the City right-back towards the goal-line and fired a powerful shot which crashed in at the far post to give Lincoln the early lead they deserved.
Manchester City, though, should have equalised with 26 minutes on the clock when their striker burst through the Lady Imps defence to go one-on-one with England international keeper Kay Hawke, but Hawke somehow managed to block the resulting shot with her legs to keep her team in front.
Just before half time Sophie Barker did well to beat all but one defender but her curling chip hit the far post to bounce back into play - her side nevertheless went in at half time 1-0 up.
The second half was hotly contested, but overall Lincoln won most of the possession in midfield and defended solidly.
With 69 minutes on the clock Sophie Barker headed into the back of the net from a Lincoln corner, but her effort was ruled offside.
But just five minutes later, Barker was brought down from behind during a powerful run in the City box, allowing OOH Lincoln's captain Megan Harris to gratefully double the home side's lead.
Kay Hawke's services were once again called upon when City delivered a dangerous through-ball to their striker which bypassed the two Lincoln centre-half's - her hard shot from just five yards would surely have squeezed in at the far post had Hawke not reacted instantly to palm the ball wide of the woodwork and deny Manchester City their best chance of the game.
Immediately after, the ball was hoofed towards the other end by Hawke, to be received by Michalska - she drove towards the by-line and delivered a killer ball in behind the City defence towards Stacey Aisthorpe, who slotted easily passed the stranded Blue's keeper to make the final score 3-0 to Lincoln.
"I'm delighted with today's result," said OOH Lincoln's manager Rod Wilson. "It wasn't a vintage performance from us, we allowed City to dominate us for periods of the match, but when we pressed them we looked impressive. We nevertheless played some good football today and beat what I thought was a good young side. There is still much more in the tank, and it is imperative that we play the good football we are capable of over the whole 90 minutes, and not just for various segments of a match. If we can do this we will be hard to live with for any team in the Northern Division. Next week we take on Watford at home in the Women's Premier League Cup - this will be a good opportunity for us to see what we can do against a good National Division side" he said.
Match report courtesy - Geoff Adams
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