Mark Kennedy is proud of his players following their narrow 1-0 defeat to West Ham United in the Carabao Cup third round.
City fought bravely against the odds, but ultimately exited the competition after Tomas Soucek bundled the ball in for the current Europa Conference League champions.
Kennedy said: “I’m personally very proud of the players, and they should all be very proud of themselves.
“Unfortunately, we’ve been knocked out the cup, but there were a huge amount of positives to take out of the performance.”
The Imps were backed by a sold-out crowd at the LNER Stadium, and Kennedy was thankful to the fans for generating an atmosphere to match the occasion.
He added: “I thought the noise around the ground was incredible, so a huge thank you to the fans for that.
“Hopefully the atmosphere has a positive effect on the next generation of fans coming through.”
City are back on home soil on Saturday against Cheltenham Town - secure your seats HERE.