Tyler Walker’s 37th minute goal has given Lincoln City a 1-0 half-time lead over the Blues in this afternoon’s FA Cup first-round tie at Portman Road.
Town boss Paul Lambert changed all 10 outfield players for with keeper Will Norris the only survivor from Tuesday’s 1-0 League One win at Rochdale.
Ex-Imp James Wilson and Toto Nsiala started at the centre of a four-man backline with Janoi Donacien at right-back and Myles Kenlock on the left.
Flynn Downes and stand-in skipper Emyr Huws were in the pair in central midfield with Andre Dozzell on the right and Blues full debutant Anthony Georgiou on the left. Will Keane was up front with Armando Dobra playing off him.
In contrast, Lincoln made one change from the team which drew 1-1 at AFC Wimbledon last week with Jake Hesketh taking over from Jorge Grant, who dropped to the bench.
Ex-Blues loanee Callum Connolly started, while former Norwich central defender Jason Shackell skippered.
Following the traditional Remembrance Day tributes, the game got under way in front of a now familiar low FA Cup crowd with the upper sections of some stands closed and Lincoln’s following given the whole of the Cobbold Stand.
The visitors hit the game’s first strike in the fifth minute but Jack Payne’s low effort failed to trouble Norris who pushed it away low to his left before claiming.
Lincoln appealed for a penalty after Hesketh went to ground inside the area but referee Kevin Johnson waved away his appeals with few of his team-mates joining in the protests.
Town threatened for the first time in the 11th minute when Downes won the ball inside the Imps’ half and brought it forward before feeding Keane to his right. The ex-Hull City man hit a shot from a tight angle which Lincoln keeper Josh Vickers batted away.
After a scruffy for 20 minutes, the Blues briefly took charge and put the visitors under some pressure.
On 24 Georgiou and Dobra exchanged passes on the left and the on-loan Tottenham man sent over a powerfully struck low ball which flew across the Lincoln six-yard box but without anyone being able to get the vital touch.
Five minutes later, Hesketh was booked for a late challenge on Kenlock as the Blues broke following a Lincoln corner. Play was waved on but Huws was eventually held up and then tripped, however, referee Johnson gave the decision the other way, not for the first time, much to the annoyance of the Welshman and the Town crowd.
Dobra joined Hesketh in the book on 33 for a foul on Bruno Andrade as he looked to win the ball back having lost it as he sought take it past Joe Morrell.
A minute later, the Albanian U19 international turned the ball against Connolly from the edge of the six-yard box after Georgiou had volleyed Donacien’s cross from the right back across goal.
Almost immediately at the other end, Andrade broke down the right and crossed low towards the unmarked Hesketh, the ball just going behind Wilson who was unable to check his stride. Fortunately for the Blues Hesketh rushed his effort and blazed into the stand.
But the visiting supporters didn’t have to wait too long for a goal. Andrade again broke away down the right, crossed low for Walker and the son of former England international Des turned into the net at the near post.
Town continued to be frustrated by referee Johnson’s decisions and, as half-time approached with the Blues still to be awarded a freekick for a foul, he official spoke to skipper Huws regarding some of those reactions. On 44 Downes was booked for a foul on Morrell.
The half-time whistle was greeted by boos, more towards referee Johnson than Town, although both had had poor halves.
Aside from a brief spell around the 20-minute mark and Dobra’s later effort against Connolly, the Blues had been poor.
The display was very similar to plenty of those over the course of the last near-decade in the FA Cup with a much-changed side looking disjointed against more settled opposition.
Town will need to be much better in the second half if the winless FA Cup run isn’t to stretch to 15 games and a full 10 years.
Town: Norris, Donacien, Wilson, Nsiala, Kenlock, Huws (c), Downes, Dozzell, Dobra, Georgiou, Keane. Subs: Holy, Edwards, Norwood, Rowe, Judge, El Mizouni, Woolfenden.
Lincoln City: Vickers, Toffolo, O’Connor, Shackell (c), Payne, Andrade, Walker, Morrell, Connolly, Eardley, Hesketh. Subs: Smith, Chapman, Grant, Lewis, Melbourne, Anderson, Akinde. Referee: Kevin Johnson (Weston-super-Mare).