Fleetwood Town 1 Lincoln City 1: Dan Batty comeback goal cancelled out

Fresh from their morale-boosting 3-1 victory away at bottom side Crewe Alexandra on Saturday, the Cod Army were good value for a share of the spoils against the team directly above them in the table and made it five points from the last nine available.

Stephen Crainey’s side remain in 19th place, though the gap between Town and the bottom four is now only one point after Morecambe's back-to-back wins. But Fleetwood do have a game in hand on all the sides below them.

Crainey made one change to the side which won at Gresty Road, with Dan Batty back in the starting line-up for the first time in almost two months in place of Harrison Biggins.

Batty nearly made an immediate impact as he picked out Tom Clarke in the box in the opening minute but the captain’s header was cleared off the line.

At the other end, Callum Johnson produced a superb last-ditch tackle to thwart Lincoln’s Anthony Scully, who had brought the ball down brilliantly from Chris Maguire’s long, searching pass into the box.

Fleetwood continued to press hard for the opener and they had the ball in the net in the 23rd minute, when Cian Hayes reacted quickest when to Jordan Wright’s parry from Johnson’s drilled shot only to be ruled offside.

They didn’t have to wait much longer for the deadlock to be broken and it was Batty’s superb strike from 25 yards out that did the trick, finding the bottom corner on 31 minutes, with Wright helpless.

Paddy Lane went close to extending Fleetwood's lead soon after half-time, jinking his way down the left and firing the wrong side of the near post.

Minutes later, Johnson went close with a header from Batty’s cross as Fleetwood looked for breathing space.

Lincoln had a good chance to equalise in the 56th minute, when the ball fell to John Marquis in the box but the striker was unable to make clean contact on his shot.

The visitors went close again on the hour mark, with Fleetwood stopper Alex Cairns first thwarting substitute Ted Bishop’s attempt to go around him and then saving brilliantly from Scully’s header.

The equaliser looked like it was coming and did in the 64th minute as Lewis Fiorini drove low past Cairns after a well-worked move.

Fleetwood responded well and Zak Jules’ effort from a corner in the 72nd minute was somehow cleared off the line by Conor McGrandles.

Ged Garner fired just wide late on and Cairns had to be alert again to deny Fiorini from close range as the match ended all square.

With four of their remaining six games at Highbury, Town will be hoping to maintain this level of performance for Accrington Stanley's visit on Saturday.

Fleetwood: Cairns, Nsiala (Butterworth 79), Clarke, Jules, Johnson, Camps, Batty (Harrison 63), Lane, Macadam, G Garner, Hayes (Pilkington 68); Subs not used: Harrop, O'Hara, Baggley, Boyle

Lincoln: Wright, Poole, Jackson, Walsh, Robson, Maguire, Fiorini, McGrandles, Scully, Marquis (Bishop 58), Hopper (Cullen 57); Subs not used: Sanders, Adelakun, House, Sorensen

Referee: Peter Wright.