Ash Foyle felt his U18 side showed good character as they battled out a draw at Barnsley in the Premier League Cup.
Two goals from Russell Berko put the young Imps 2-1 up at the interval, but the hosts levelled through a penalty before taking the lead.
Julian Donnery converted a spot-kick to equalise for City, with a good save at the end denying him a late winner.
Foyle said: "We were excellent in the first half, we dominated the ball well and should have had more goals.
"Barnsley came out stronger in the second half and we struggled to find any rhythm as a result.
"I was pretty pleased with the performance against a good side, although games like this show how important it is to take advantage when we are in the ascendancy.
"We were disappointed with a couple of their goals, but we showed good character to come back into the game and could have snatched it at the death."