Lincoln City goalkeeper, Jordan Wright, credited his man of the match performance against Barrow on Tuesday evening to the hard work put in on the training ground and by the backroom staff.
The Imps advanced to the third round of the Carabao Cup against the Bluebirds in dramatic fashion via a penalty shoot-out, which Wright says he had prepared for plenty in the build-up to the fixture.
He said: “Knowing it’s the cup, we go through the penalties before the game. Scott Fry and the analysts all have it there for us and luckily what we had been through paid off tonight and I managed to save three.
“I’ve been on the other end of them before, and that was my first win in a shoot-out. It’s a nice feeling but everyone is in it together and the lads who took the penalties had to deal with the stick from the home fans, so they played a big part too in doing their job.”
City left it late to equalise and force the tie to penalties through Jordon Garrick’s injury time strike, and Wright has praised the togetherness of the group which saw them battle back late on.
He added: “I’m buzzing with the result and glad we managed to get ourselves back into the game. We gave ourselves the opportunity to take it to penalties and got the outcome we wanted.
“In football there are 90 minutes plus and that’s why it’s important to stick together. If you stay in games it’s always possible to grab that late equaliser and the lads dug deep and we managed to get it.”