Exeter moved into the top half of the Sky Bet League One table with a 1-0 win that dented Stevenage’s hopes of making the play-offs.

After a cagey opening, it was Boro that created the first chance with Alex MacDonald finding himself with only Viljami Sinisalo to beat, but Exeter’s Finnish goalkeeper was equal to a shot that was straight at him.

Exeter responded with Luke Harris sliding in at the near post to poke a Dion Rankine cross at Taye Ashby-Hammond, while Reece Cole was off target with a curling shot from 20 yards out.

However, the deadlock was broken in the 39th minute when – for the third time in the game – Sonny Cox charged down a clearance by Ashby-Hammond and Cole cleverly guided the ball into an empty net from 25 yards for his seventh goal of the season.

Former Grecian Jamie Reid almost equalised at the start of the second half, but Sinisalo made a brilliant double save, while Rankine smashed a good chance into the side netting from an acute angle for Exeter.

Reid was off target with a glancing header as Stevenage pushed for an equalising goal, but other than a cross that flashed across the face of goal, they rarely threatened Sinisalo in the Exeter goal.

Lincoln manager Michael Skubala wants his side to be more ruthless after the 1-0 sky Bet League One victory over Exeter at LNER Stadium.

Joe Taylor clipped in the winner with his first goal for the club since joining on loan from Luton. He calmly dinked the ball over Viljami Sinisalo midway through the second half.

In a game short of real clear-cut opportunities, Ben House was denied by a solid double save from the visiting goalkeeper Sinisalo.

“We needed to be a bit more clinical in front of goal in the first half,” Skubala said.

“I though tactically, Exeter caused some real troubles today. We knew they’d keep the ball well. We made some adjustments at half time to try and break through them a little bit more. The match plan the lads stuck to was fantastic and in the end our quality showed.

“We’re pleased again to get another win at home, but the players have done really well. Not only have we got competition for places at the moment, but the players also who are coming in are impacting the game as well.

“Joe Taylor loves scoring goals. He’s been snatching at chances the last couple of games. When he went through, I was just hoping and praying he’d score. I know now he’s started scoring, he’s going to get more and more at this level. That’s hopefully going to settle him down a bit.

“If we can’t win, we need to be hard to beat. If we’re hard to beat, we’ll go on and win more games. We were both today.”

Jack Aitchison hit the bar for Exeter with the Grecians only clear-cut opportunity.

Dion Rankine burst down the wing and picked out Aitchison inside the Lincoln area. The Scot’s side-footed effort was tipped onto the bar by the ever-alert Lukas Jensen.

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell was disappointed with his side’s performance.

“We got what we deserved today, and we need to be better than that.” Caldwell said.

“The result is what it is, we never got going at any point. We still created the best chance of the game at 0-0. We need to recognise when we come to stadiums like this we need to pass forward quicker. We have to be willing to fight more. Lincoln outbattled us today so we must take that on the chin.

“A good run can very quickly become a bad run, so we have to recognise standards in training have to go up. Too often we didn’t defend simple balls. We have to defend the ball better than we did. We risked the game in areas we shouldn’t have.

“There are so many mistakes we have to address.”