Macauley Bonne has given the Blues a 1-0 half-time lead over his former loan club Lincoln City at Sincil Bank at half-time.
Bersant Celina was handed his second Town debut, Tom Carroll his first league start for the club and Vaclav Hladky, Janoi Donacien and Scott Fraser returned to the team.
Christian Walton was missing from the squad, presumably due to injury, with Hladky between with the sticks. Donacien was at right-back with Kane Vincent-Young also not included in the 18.
Carroll was in the centre of midfield alongside skipper Lee Evans with Rekeem Harper on the bench.
Celina made his first appearance of his second spell, having had his work visa confirmed, in the number 10 role behind lone striker Macauley Bonne with Fraser on the left. Sone Aluko was perhaps unlucky to drop to the subs, along with Conor Chaplin, having impressed in last week’s defeat to Bolton.
Kyle Edwards was again missing from the 18, as was Kayden Jackson, who suffered a knock in Tuesday’s Papa John’s Trophy defeat to West Ham’s U21s.
Former Blues midfielder Teddy Bishop was one of four players to come into the Lincoln side along with TJ Eyoma, Cohen Bramall and Lewis Fiorini.
Ahead of kick-off, the teams taking a knee was applauded by both sets of fans with the home support in good voice in the early stages.
Town were first to threaten in the fifth minute when a Celina and Fraser exchanged passes and the Scot looped in a cross which was only just in front of one-time Imps loanee Bonne.
Neither team was able to work another opportunity until just after the quarter hour when Cohen fed in Chris Maguire on the left of the box but his effort from a tight angle was blocked.
Town had spent their time prodding and probing down their left with Celina dropping deep and Fraser often coming inside, but without having been able to find their way into a dangerous area since the early cross towards Bonne.
On 21, Anthony Scully made a strong run into the Blues box before being halted by George Edmundson, illegally according to the home fans, before Town broke strongly through Wes Burns, who played inside to Bonne but the on-loan QPR man’s return pass failed to find the Welshman.
Lincoln were seeing most of the ball, also down their left flank, but like Town were struggling to create a serious chance.
But as the game moved towards the half-hour mark, the Blues began to take control, Fraser and Coulson interchanging neatly on the left to win a corner.
In the 29th minute, good work from Burns and Donacien on the right of the box led to another flag-kick from which Cameron Burgess headed on to the underside of the bar with the ball somehow being scrambled away ahead of Bonne’s outstretched leg.
But a minute later, the Blues took the lead. Coulson whipped over a superb cross from the left and Bonne powered a header past keeper Josh Griffiths to claim his fifth goal of the season. The Lincoln defence protested that the Town goalscorer had pushed Eyoma but referee Ben Speedie waved away their complaints.
Town went looking for a second and in the 33rd minute Bonne exchanged passes with Celina on the edge of the box but Lewis Montsma slid in to make a superb challenge on the Kosovan when he looked set for a debut goal.
With the Blues well on top and having been given a significant boost in confidence by the goal, Lincoln were forced to make a change on 36 when Maguire was swapped for Hakeeb Adelakun.
Following the change, Town continued to press for their second. Carroll’s clever flick fed Celina, who played a ball into the left of the box for Burns to chase. The pacy wideman reached it but shot over wit his left foot.
Some of the Imps crowd thought their side had levelled in the 40th minute when Fiorini struck a shot from just outside the area which flew not too far wide of Hladky’s right post and bounced off the hoarding and into the wrong side of the back of the net.
The home fans claimed a penalty in the final scheduled minute of the half when Scully went to ground as he tried to take the ball past Donacien but there looked to have been no contact and referee Speedie again waved away the protests.
Lincoln were finishing the half strongly with Edmundson and Coulson both forced to defend balls inside the box before referee Speedie ended proceedings.
Speedie was approached by Imps manager Michael Appleton as he made his way off at the whistle and the home boss was booked for his protests, either into the late penalty decision or the Town goal, or perhaps both.
While there hadn’t been an awful lot between the teams with both having had spells on top, the Blues’ goal was the one shot on target, Town had also come close when Burgess hit the woodwork and had worked one or two other opportunities.
Celina had added clever footwork to the Blues’ attack and had interchanged well with Fraser and Coulson down the left in particular, while Carroll had added assured confidence on the ball to the midfield.
Lincoln had had one or two chances although with Hladky yet to make a save and ex-Blue Bishop having had a quiet half.
Lincoln: Griffths, Poole, Eyoma, Montsma, Bramall, Bridcutt (c), Bishop, Fiorini, Maguire (Adelakun 36), Hopper, Scully. Subs: Long, Robson, Sanders, Sorensen, Longdon, Nlundulu.
Town: Hladky, Donacien, Edmundson, Burgess, Coulson, Carroll, Evans (c), Burns, Celina, Fraser, Bonne. Subs: Holy, Woolfenden, Harper, Chaplin, Aluko, Norwood, Pigott. Referee: Ben Speedie (Bootle).