Jamie McCombe said he was proud of the effort of the players on Tuesday night, as the Imps came from behind to draw at Rochdale.
Jamie McCombe said he was proud of the effort of the players on Tuesday night, as the Imps came from behind to draw at Rochdale.
Tyler Walker’s fifth of the season, in the 86thminute, levelled the scores after Stephen Dooley’s first half opener for Dale.
The Imps looked the better of the two sides in the second half progressed, and McCombe believed City were unlucky not to gain all three points.
“The players are fighters. We ask whether they’re victims or fighters, and they’re definitely fighters,” the 36-year-old said.
“They kept going right until the end. You don’t change characters overnight, and I couldn’t be prouder of them and we deserved all three points.”
Toffolo was awarded the Mundys UK Man of the Match award via social media, and it was his cross which presented Walker with the opportunity to score the leveller.
“It was an excellent cross in by Toff and a great finish by Tyler,” McCombe added.
“Maybe if we had got it a few minutes earlier it would have given us more of a surge to get another one, but I was really pleased with our second half performance.”
It was a tale of two halves, with the home side dominating the first half, but McCombe was pleased with the response of the City players after the interval.
“There were some good bits in the first half, but Rochdale executed their game plan really well and we’ve seen them do that to a few teams and they dominated possession.
“We made a few tweaks at half time, which worked. We managed to get more turnovers and kept possession and unfortunate that we didn’t get three points.
“Our lads were all magnificent. The energy of the boys was there to see the whole way through the team.
“They really fought for one another. When you work hard and you execute, you’re able to put on a display like that.”
McCombe reserved special praise for the 451 Imps supporters who made the Tuesday night trip to the Crown Oil Arena.
“We are proud of the players tonight, but we’re also proud of the fans. They come in their numbers on nights like this and they stuck with us until the end.”
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