Gary Simpson got one over on his old club as his Lincoln side took a much-needed win against a below-par Macclesfield.

John Askey's squad was without the influential Luke Waterfall and it showed. Sincil Bank has not been a happy hunting ground for Macc on the whole and they shot themselves in the collective foot twice in the first half and never looked like getting back into it.

Macc did help their old boss Simpson's side as they were architects of their own downfall with two uncharacteristic howlers at the back.

Firstly Rhys Taylor failed to connect when he came charging into a crowd to punch clear Sean Newton's throw into the box. With their keeper stranded Macc couldn't get the ball to safety, Tom Miller drilling in the opener through the defenders on the goal line.

It got worse for the Silkmen 10 minutes later as Andy Halls, filling in at centre-back, completely misjudged his header back to Taylor. One of the Imps' former Macc players, Ben Tomlinson, nipped in ahead of Taylor and once he'd won the ball, was able to slot into an empty goal.

Andy Halls
 

Macc had barely made any impression on Nick Townsend's goal, Adriano Moke's fierce drive that just cleared the bar aside. But they were given a lifeline shortly before half-time as Jordan Burrow needlessly lunged at Moke and was shown a straight red card.

The extra man did little to help Macc after the break though, as it curtailed any attacking intent by Lincoln. With two disciplined banks of four and Delano Sam-Yorke a willing runner on his own up front Macc simply couldn't break through and were reduced to shots from distance.

Sam-Yorke did let fly with his only opening but was way over the bar and Hamza Bencherif drove one that Taylor got something in the way of.

But although Arthur Gnahoua came close on a couple of occasions Lincoln were always fairly comfortable in earning only their second clean sheet of the season.