Richie Foran’s last minute equaliser gave the Cumbrians a deserved point, particularly as they made the better chances over the ninety minutes.

Roddy Collins use of 25 players in the nine games played so far points to the cause of the inconsistency but the forthright Irishman promises to bring further players in until he gets the mix right.

He said after the game: “I will be looking to bring in four or five players to put pressure on the one’s who are there, so they all have to perform. The players here know the script and if they don’t do it they can find alternative employment and I’m not going to wait around. When the pressure’s on fear can be a great motivator. Today it was a case of two points lost. We started off really well and we created a lot of chances in the first half. Unfortunately they didn’t go in but at least we are creating them. I was very disappointed with the goal we conceded from the free kick but we got on with the game and got back into it. On their second goal I felt for Lee Andrews, because he was absolutely brilliant today, but he just got caught the wrong side of his man. But we came storming back with a scrappy equaliser and I’ll take it.”

Carlisle dominated the early exchanges with Stuart Whitehead shooting wide and Foran seeing a shot cleared off the line by Jason Barnett.

The Cumbrians then fell to a sucker punch with 15 minutes gone when Lee Andrews fouled Tony Battersby on the edge of the box. Veteran midfielder Kingsley Black stepped up to curl the resulting free kick into the top left hand corner of Luke Weavers goal to give the Imps an undeserved lead.

Carlisle were back on terms 14 minutes later when Foran headed Steve Halliday clear but the front man needed two attempts to score after his first shot hit a post.

Weaver then proved equal to another stunning Black free kick before saving at full length to turn away a Battersby shot.

In the final minute of the first half Foran’s aerial dominance again put Halliday clear only for the striker to pull his shot wide.

Lincoln regained the lead 5 minutes into the second half when Battersby left Birch in his wake down the left before crossing for Black to force home from close range.

On the hour John Hore came on for the ineffective Chay Hews and the youngster soon stamped his mark on the game volleying over from a Morley layoff and then heading over a Birch cross.

Hore again went close with a header from Peter Murphy’s cross and Foran should have done better than head over a Birch cross.

With a minute of normal time remaining the equaliser came. Imps defender Steve Holmes only managed to head on a Birch cross and the lively Foran proved the most alert to head home the loose ball for his third goal in five games.

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