City midfielder Conor McGrandles believes the Imps were rewarded for their work on the training ground after they began the new campaign with a 2-0 win over Reading on Saturday.
While acknowledging the Royals are a strong team, McGrandles said the belief in the camp was that the Imps could get a positive result if they performed to their maximum.
He said: “You always want to start the season with a win and a positive performance, so we’re all really happy that we got that.
“We went into it knowing that Reading are a good team, who can hurt you, but we were confident that if we played the way that we can, we could get the result.
“I think – especially with the first goal – we were rewarded for our work on the training ground throughout pre-season.
“We felt that if we performed to our best that we could get a positive outcome and we did that.”
Attacker Rob Street grabbed City’s first goal of the season with just 20 minutes on the clock and McGrandles believes there os more to come from his team-mate.
He said: “Rob has done brilliantly since he came back into the building, he had a great loan spell towards the end of last season and he’s carried that into today.
“I’m really pleased for him because he’s a brilliant person and works so hard every day, if anyone deserved that, it was him.
“We all know exactly what Rob can do, and I’m sure that there will be more to come from him.”
City wrapped up the points courtesy of Reeco Hackett’s composed finish in the 67th minute.
The winger latched onto a sublime pass from McGrandles before coolly firing the ball into the back of the net and the provider feels the goal came at a crucial time in the contest.
He added: “Reeco made a great run from deep and it was just about putting it in the space.
“It was a great finish from him and it felt like the goal came at a crucial stage in the game as well.
“When you see people like Sonny Bradley, Adam Jackson, Ryley Towler and Tendayi Darikwa in defence, you knowing it’s going to be really difficult to score.
“So that second goal I think deflated them a little bit and gave us a good foothold to go and see the game out.”