200118 michael appleton

Michael Appleton was delighted to pick up two wins on the bounce at LNER Stadium following City’s 1-0 win over Blackpool in SkyBet League One this afternoon.

The Imps boss spoke highly of his side and how they managed the game well in order to secure the win at LNER Stadium.

“We have now got seven points out of nine so I am delighted, we will now look after the lads this week because we have games coming against three big clubs,” explained Michael.

“I knew they would be dangerous; it was a challenge for us, but we played well for the majority of the time.

“They went direct in the second half with Nuttall and Madine, they are both experienced direct characters who can cause a real threat. I thought we managed them very well, we recognised when to get the ball in the corner and what to do. I was happy to see that it was our young players doing that as well as our experienced ones you’d expect to do it anyway.”

City made three changes to the side that beat Bolton 5-1 earlier in the week. Max Melbourne made his home league debut playing in left-back. Appleton praised the youngster saying: “All the young lads grew into the game, especially in the second half on what is a difficult surface.

“I thought Max did great under the circumstances, he has big shoes to fill and he did that very well. You have probably only seen 40% of his ability today, once the shackles are off, we will see what talent he has. He had a solid full league debut and will continue to grow from that.

“He is a tough lad who can deal with a tackle, we saw that in his 50/50. He is athletic and quick, but we gave him a bit of stick in the dressing room because he said he had some cramp. He was quick to give us all a pop back and joked he’d not played for a few weeks.”

Appleton continued by discussing new arrival Tayo Edun who made his debut for the Imps today: “Tayo is a Rolls Royce and he just glides across the pitch.

“He hasn’t played in a while so that will do him the world of good for him. He can play a few positions, but we have signed him as a midfielder and he is at his best there, we both agree on that.”

The Imps boss finished by turning his attention to Tyreece John-Jules’ performance and how he linked up well with Tyler Walker.

“His finish was well taken and composed but it was his first touch which set it up for him," explained Appleton.

"The combination we saw between Tyler and him was good and we saw parts of that at Shrewsbury last Saturday.

“Their partnership is starting to grow and the elements at Shrewsbury got in the way to one degree. Tyreece had a slight groin problem but he has done a full game today, so I am pleased with him. He’s done well alongside Tyler so they will only get better with time and we will see how much talent they have.”