County travelled to Lincoln as the first of three away games beckoned, with the Magpies keen for a result away from home and especially to local rivals the Imps.  McParland's squad was unchanged from Saturday's winning team and a sold-out away crowd were eager to see a repeat performance.

Luke Rodgers, after peppering the goal at home on Saturday, took 14 seconds to put one up on the Imps.  Luke's first goal for County and what a goal - breaking from the retaken kick-off with speed, straight down the right with no one able to match his pace and slotting neatly home past Rob Burch.  Having opened his scoring for Notts, Rodgers took the defence by surprise as he was onside and again free to run in from the right - half an hour later - to put in his second.  A great game for Luke whose work rate as always was second to none.

New signing Danny Jones was already starting to settle on the left side, proving a key point in much of County's play in the first quarter of an hour and working well with Ritchie and Jackson to keep both the pressure on Lincoln and off County at the back.  The physical nature of the game was shown by the number of free kicks in the opening period - mainly given in the middle of the pitch rather than from danger areas but the threat of another set piece originating from Davies was never far off.  However towards the end of the first half Lee Hughes, Matt Ritchie and skipper John Thompson found themselves seeing the yellow card for relatively minor offences, but with a derby atmosphere and the home side 2-0 down as the half closed out the game was always going to have spirit.

The opening minutes of the second half were testing for County - requiring both the skills of Kasper Schmeichel and seeing Ricky Ravenhill have to leave the pitch after a heavy clash in the area - fortunately he was able to run back on minutes later.  Lee Hughes looked to increase his league leading goal tally shortly after with a cracking strike from the right while Lincoln were coming closer to goal - something County fans were eager to avoid after previous away results.  Craig Westcarr replaced Matt Ritchie as a pair of fresh legs as the last twenty minutes approached - making a difference coming back defending.  Rodgers however looked as though he'd still just run on and threatened again having slipped past the defence - just crashing one wide into the Stacey West stand behind the Imps goal.

County fans were left gasping as Shane Clarke came so so close to putting in a late goal that would have opened the game right back up - relief for the 2000 travelling fans as it rattled the post.  The clock ticked down with County coming in from both corners and the game was firmly finished off when Luke Rodgers decided that a hatrick would be the best way to celebrate the end of County's problems away.  Ian McParland's team had come and taken control of this derby game from start to finish.

Full Time: Lincoln City 0-3 Notts County

Notts County: Schmeichel, Moloney, Ritchie (Westcarr), Edwards, Thompson (C), Ravenhill, Hughes, Davies (Bishop), Rodgers (Hawley), Jackson, Jones

Subs Not Used: Pilkington, Hamshaw, Clapham, Facey

Booked: Hughes, Ritchie, Thompson, Jones

Sent Off: None

Goals: Rodgers (1, 25, 89)

Lincoln City: Burch, Hughton, Swaibu, Hone, Brown, Kerr (Oakes), Clarke (Hutchinson), Torres, John-Lewis (Fagan), Clarke, Howe

Subs Not Used: Kovacs, Clucas, Miller, Musselwhite

Booked: Swaibu, Howe

Sent Off: None

Goals: None

Match Referee: Mr C Pawson          Attendance: 5527