Shane Duff saw City climb back on the bike at Chesterfield – now he wants them to pedal for all its worth.

The draw with the leaders proved a welcome respite after four successive defeats, although the skipper admitted it should have been more.

Chesterfield’s last-gasp leveller left Duff deflated and still in no doubt about the importance of beating Lincoln tonight.

But the experienced centre half feels the belief restored by the weekend point could turn out to be the most significant reward.

He said: “When you’re confident, you feel you can do anything. Obviously when that’s not the case, the thought process changes a little bit.

“If you get on a bike and you’re worrying about falling off, that’s the only thing in your mind. But if you’re feeling confident, there are no doubts in your brain.

“When you’ve got confidence, things seem to happen without even thinking about it.

“Confidence comes from winning and good performances. Once the disappointment goes down from conceding so late, hopefully the boys will look at the positives from that game and take that into tonight.”

City need their first victory in a month to ease themselves away from the relegation dogfight. With fellow strugglers Macclesfield to follow on Saturday, it is no time for allowing standards to tail off again.

Duff wants his team-mates to play with the same mentality they displayed against the Spireites.

“The performance was good and we played with fantastic energy. It was just a momentary lapse which cost us when the ball fell to their guy in the box.

“But Saturday showed that we’ve got the ability to open teams up and create chances. We just haven’t done that enough so far this year.

“Ian Breckin is very good in the air but James Hanson dominated him. Evo (Gareth Evans) has got great legs and energy and ability-wise can be as good as any.

“Play to our strengths and we’ll score more. Then we’ve just got to concentrate on keeping a clean sheet.

“If we can start the game well and get our great crowd behind us, it will be a good place to play.

“If we can perform like that again, we’ll back ourselves to get the three points at home.

“Coming away with a point from the team top of the table has given us something to build on. But that’s just the first brick.”