Ian Sharps and Ian Ross returned to the starting line up as the Millers looked for their first win in six games but it was Lincoln who made the brighter start and in the fifth minute a Beevers free kick was headed out by Sharps.
Then Green delivered a cross that saw Dodds fire over the bar to end a good move before City had a great chance to take an eighth minute lead when Forrester was left in the clear. However, Andy Warrington saved the day with a fine save before a Rotherham corner brought no reward.
Stallard then fired over the bar from 20 yards and United replied with the impressive Ross delivering a fine ball to Holmes who headed on to Danny Harrison only for him to be blocked off.
City had another good effort on 14 minutes when John-Lewis had another shot well saved by Warrington and when the Millers replied a corner was dealt with before a Ryan Taylor shot was saved.
But it was the Imps who broke the deadlock on 25 minutes when the ball fell to Dodds who fired home a fine low shot from 25 yards. Holmes, who was injured in the build up to that goal had to be replaced by Marc Newsham as the home side took up the attack.
Then on 34 minutes it was all square again when an excellent free kick by Ross found Marc Joseph who levelled matters with a crashing volley that gave the keeper no chance.
That spurred the Millers into more attacking and a sweeping move ended with Newsham firing wide before Mark Hudson had a volley saved. Sharps headed wide from a corner and in first half added time Harrison shot just wide.
City won a 47th minute corner but United were soon on the attack again and Chris O'Grady wasn't far off the target with a shot on the turn from 18 yards. Taylor saw another header saved before Lincoln were reduced to ten men when Stallard was shown the red card for kicking out at Joseph. Rotherham took the lead in the 65th minute when a corner wasn't fully cleared and the ball fell to Hudson who drilled home a fine shot.
That spurred the Millers into even more fluid attacking and they almost added another goal when Newsham crossed for O'Grady to have a shot cleared off the line.
The pressure paid off on 74 minutes when Taylor hit a long ball through clear of the defence and Newsham showed his pace to race on to it and slip the ball past the out coming keeper in confident style.
There should have been another goal three minutes later when a brilliant move led to a corner from which Taylor hit the post and the pressure on the City goal was maintained relentlessly.
Taylor and Newsham linked well again but the low cross from Newsham was just intercepted before Sharps headed just wide from another corner, one of six in the second half for the home side.
Following another corner Sharps had a header inadvertently cleared off the line by Joseph before a rare City attack saw them break away to reduce the arrears with Wright finishing off the move.
A shot from O'Grady landed on top of the net and the last few minutes saw City trying to push forward in search of an equaliser but they couldn't make anything of four minutes of added time as the much need win came Rotherham's way.
Rotherham: Warrington; Joseph, Sharps, Coughlan, Pettigrew (Tonge 69); Harrison, Ross, Hudson (Mills 88); O'Grady, D. Holmes (Newsham 28), Taylor. Subs: O'Donnell, Green.
Lincoln: Marriott; Green, Beevers, Hone, Ridley; John-Lewis, Kerr, Clarke (N'Guessan 78), Dodds; Forrester (Wright 65), Stallard. Subs: Moses, Brown, Duffy.
Referee: Nigel Miller (Durham).
Attendance: 4,321 (907 away).
