Stanley boss John Coleman breathed a sigh of relief after Harvey Rodgers headed home a late equaliser to end a run of five straight league defeats with a 1-1 draw at Lincoln.

Jack Diamond’s penalty on the hour mark look to have set the Imps on their way to victory, before Rodgers popped up five minutes from time to pinch a dramatic point.

“The lads needed this – they needed to see some rewards for their efforts,” said Coleman.

“We are not out of the woods yet by a long, long chalk and we still need to score more goals. We are suffering by not having the strikers available every week we’ve got at the club, which is a problem.

“For the players’ own morale, they’ve worked really hard. They contained them really well in the first half and we got on top, but didn’t work their 'keeper enough.

“Second half, it was pretty much the same and they didn’t look like scoring, and then the game plan goes out the window. We were then susceptible to the counter-attack and Toby Savin pulled off a couple of really good saves. But we produced a couple of good promising attacks and it was a really good goal by Harvey.

“We had a long, four-hour meeting on Sunday and it was time well spent. There was a willingness and eagerness to right a few wrongs tonight.

"It would have been nice to win, but it was imperative not to lose."