City head coach, Mark Kennedy, has expressed his excitement by the competition for places in his squad during a weekend where Jack Diamond and Matty Virtue made their league debuts for the Imps.
With Joe Walsh also making a return to league action after overcoming an extensive injury battle, and with more bodies potentially returning to fitness in the coming week, Kennedy is looking forward to the options which will be at his disposal.
He said: “We want competition for places, and we do have some really good players to come back in, which we should have in the next ten days.
“We’ve always made it clear to all the boys we will have plenty of options to change things around and play in different places. You saw that when Joe Walsh and Matty Virtue came into the team at half-time.
“Joe made us stronger in the back four, and Matty got us playing forward quickly with one or two touches. They’re good players to have and we have more in the background to come back as well.”
Kennedy continued to explore additional positives following Saturday’s result at the Abbey Stadium, including a much-improved second half backed by over 1,000 City supporters.
He added: “I thought three minutes decided the game. We started quite well and had two very good chances but gave away soft goals.
“I don’t think the game was dead and buried by any stretch of the imagination, because at half-time we felt one goal would get us back into the game, and we started the second half the way we should have done in the first.
“Ultimately, we’re really disappointed with the first half we offered our fans who were incredibly supportive and got behind the team. Their support was vociferous on the day and it does not go unnoticed, it means an awful lot to us.”