Michael Skubala praised his side’s desire and endeavour despite defeat to Birmingham City at the LNER Stadium.
Although Bailey Cadamarteri's goal broke the deadlock after just 33 seconds, the Imps were undone by strikes from Keshi Anderson and Willum Willumsson.
Skubala said: “We knew it would be a tough game, so we set up to catch them in possession. We pressed them, we caught them really well at times and set up to be aggressive.
“We’re always pushing, if you lose a game you don’t want to lose it 2-1 or 1-0, if you get caught you get caught. The desire and effort of this team I never question.”
City’s head coach was also impressed with the amount of problems his side caused Birmingham in the final third.
He said: “They’re devastated in the changing room, it’s football and sometimes it hurts you but we kept going, kept trying to push, and we caused them a lot of problems.
“I’ve not watched many teams cause them the problems we did, so we can take belief from that. There’s no doubt though that they are a strong outfit, everyone knows what they’re doing this season, so I’m just proud of the performance.”
Once again, Skubala’s substitutes made an impact on the game with Erik Ring driving down the right on multiple occasions.
Skubala added: “The substitutes came on and impacted the game brilliantly. Erik and Freddie Draper were brilliant with their energy. We’re starting to get players back, so it’s getting really competitive.
“You want people to come on and impact the game, and when they put performances in like that it gives me a headache. It’s great starting, but when they get their chance you want to see them make an impact.”
