Bolton Wanderers went down to a 5-1 defeat against Lincoln City for their first visit to LNER Stadium in 27 years.
Although Ronan Darcy’s second-half strike cancelled out Harry Anderson’s first-half opener, further goals from Tyler Walker, Joe Morell and John Akinde (2) ensured the points stayed in Lincolnshire.
Wanderers fielded two changes from the side that lost to neighbours Rochdale on Saturday with Luke Murphy and Dennis Politic coming in for Sonny Graham and Adam Chicksen.
Joe Dodoo had an early chance on goal after Ronan Darcy latched onto the ball deep in midfield, but the attacker’s left footed low drive lacked the power to trouble Josh Vickers in the Imps’ goal.
The hosts took the lead with their first foray into the Wanderers’ box through Harry Anderson who got on the end of Harry Roffolo’s left sided cross.
Remi Matthews fingertipped a whipped in free-kick from Jorge Grant over his bar as the Imps looked to increase their lead.
James Hesketh saw hopeful effort canon off the Wanderers defence for a corner.
Luke Murphy was caught in possession and the ball fell to Tyler Walker whose instant thunderous volley was parried to safety by Matthews.
Manager Keith Hill made a change during the interval with Chris O’Grady coming on to replace Yoan Zouma.
This meant a switch in the back four with Edwards moving from left-back to partner Toto Nsiala in central defence with Ethan Hamilton dropping to left-back.
And Wanderers were back on terms within a minute of the restart thanks to Darcy’s powerful half volley from the edge of the box after some good work from Josh Emmanuel and Daryl Murphy.
The Imps thought they had retaken the lead just before the half hour mark when Walker thrashed the ball past Matthews. However, the former Wanderers loanee’s effort was ruled out for an offside infringement in the build up.
Politic went close immediately afterwards when his curling effort flew just over the bar, but the hosts got their noses back in front with a sublime finish from Walker who bent his effort around Matthews from outside the box.
In response, Wanderers earned a corner when Luke Murphy’s dangerous ball into the box was cleared behind with both Daryl Murphy and Chris O’Grady lurking at the far post.
Wanderers earned a series of corners as they looked to restore parity in tricky weather conditions at LNER Stadium.
Politic showed some great control and a fine touch before carving out a chance from long range, but his effort was always going just over the bar.
A wicked cross from Politic and a glanced header off Dodoo almost caught out Josh Vickers but the Imps ‘keeper managed to control the ball.
With just under ten minutes remaining Harry Brockbank came on for Darcy. The Wanderers sub slotted into left-back with Hamilton moving back to centre-midfield.
A goal from Morrell and two strikes from John Akinde put the game out of Wanderers’ reach.