Dramatic late victory brings massive boost for Exeter City

Travelling to a team flying high in Sky Bet League One and looking to break a sorry run of five straight defeats, all the ingredients were in place for a difficult afternoon for Exeter City.

Add into that mix a failure to secure an away point for far this season, the Grecians should have been up against it from the first minute, but they instead delivered a performance full of character and grit, topped off by a last-gasp winner from Kevin McDonald.

Lincoln City were a side playing with confidence and they piled on the early pressure, Josh Magennis clearing off the line to keep Exeter on level terms. Freddie Draper also struck the post for the Imps and Joe Whitworth made a brace of top saves on the hour.

Frustration was growing for the Imps and City seized their moment, McDonald finding space on the edge of the box to rifle home a jubilant winner.

City boss Gary Caldwell told the club website: “We’re the first League One team to win here this year, only the world champions have won here this season, so we knew the challenge ahead of us.

“What we saw today was a team that fought for everything all game. In the first half I thought we were excellent. We really controlled the game in the right areas.

“We could have created better moments, better opportunities when we got in the final third, but we kept a team, which was very dominate in the first half, at bay and we came up with a big moment near the end which wins us the game.”