On-loan Blues winger Danny Rowe struck a brilliant first goal for Lincoln City as the Imps beat Peterborough United 4-2 at Sincil Bank to reach the semi-finals of the Checkatrade Trophy last night.
Rowe smashed in his strike in the 43rd minute to make the score 1-1 with the League Two side eventually winning the tie with two goals in second-half injury time.
The 25-year-old joined Lincoln on loan for the rest of the season at the start of the month and has now made four starts for Danny Cowley’s side.
"A good response off the back of conceding and obviously Danny Rowe scoried a great goal,” Cowley said afterwards. "That’s just a taster of what he’s capable of because he’s a top, top player.
"It was great that we were able to get him through Saturday-Tuesday, that’s the first time because he hadn’t had a background of games before coming to us.
"That’s the first Saturday-Tuesday he has had to play and you have to get through that first one because it’s not easy and it was great that he was able to find a goal.”
Danny Rowe 🔴 the lad is different class ðŸ˜@LCFCBanterPage @LincolnCity_FC #imps #lcfc pic.twitter.com/KXpDlIgAIc– Brad (@Brad_N02) January 23, 2018
Speaking ahead of Rowe’s move to the Imps, Town boss Mick McCarthy hoped that the spell would give the wideman a greater chance of being involved with the Town first-team squad next season.
Since signing from Vanarama National League Macclesfield last January, Rowe has made only three starts and four sub appearances for Town.
"It’ll be good for us because I still think Danny’s got something to offer," McCarthy said.
"But he needs to play in a league side and if he has a really good second half of the season with Lincoln then that may push him further into the picture for us next season.”
Meanwhile, Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill has finally put pen to paper on his new contract keeping him in his job until 2020 and ending speculation that he could move on and Blues boss McCarthy might be in line to replace him.
McCarthy was recently installed as the favourite to return to the role which was previously his between 1996 and 2002 after O’Neill held discussions with Stoke about taking charge of the Potters before opting against the move.
Former Town manager Roy Keane, O’Neill’s assistant, has also signed a contract extension.