Michael Appleton wanted more from Lincoln in draw with Shrewsbury

Lincoln boss Michael Appleton admitted his side “fell short” as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Shrewsbury.

The Imps, fresh from taking four points from away games at Sheffield Wednesday and Wigan, took the lead in the 43rd minute when captain Conor McGrandles headed home a cross from Regan Poole.

That came shortly after home defender Adam Jackson had been stretchered off with a head injury which led to him receiving lengthy treatment on the pitch.

Jackson was taken to hospital as a precaution with concussion.

The Shrews took the game to Lincoln in the 11 minutes of first-half added time and they took that momentum into the second half with Luke Leahy heading home after 50 minutes after a long throw had been flicked on.

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Appleton admitted his side struggled to deal with the visitors’ direct approach, particularly after Jackson went off.

“I think it was [a fair result],” said Appleton. &Ldquo;We had good spells in the game, but not enough. We made the keeper work a little bit more in the second half than we did in the first half.

“We fell short a little bit. We almost caused our own problems by not winning the first ball.

“I do think a big part of that was losing Jacko. That’s why he played today. We knew what to expect, so to lose that aerial dominance, our best header of the ball, as early as we did was tough for us.”

On Jackson, Appleton said: “Jacko’s gone to hospital as a precaution to have observations. He was in a bit of a bad way when he came off.”

City had to make another concussion substation at half-time with Teddy Bishop going off.

“Teddy’s was a delayed one,” said Appleton. &Ldquo;He felt dizzy and didn’t feel too clever when he came off the pitch at half-time. It [bringing him off] was the sensible and right thing to do.”

The draw was only Shrewsbury’s second point on the road this season but manager Steve Cotterill was not satisfied with the result.

Town had a goal chalked off for a foul on Lincoln keeper Josh Griffiths in the first half, which the Town boss was unhappy with.

“I’m disappointed with a point,” said Cotterill. &Ldquo;We scored a perfectly good goal in the first half. Matthew Pennington’s header in the first half for a foul on the keeper. Dan Udoh [who the foul was given against] is nowhere near him. If anything, he [Griffiths] falls over his own player.

“So we’re disappointed today, we think we should have won that game 2-1. We’ve had some great chances and we could have had one right at the death.

“But it’s good to come to a place like Lincoln and get plenty of chances. I thought we were strong.”

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