Tom Shaw hailed Lincoln City’s supporters for their incredible backing during Wednesday night’s defeat to West Ham United, insisting they will have a huge role to play throughout the remainder of the Championship campaign.
The Imps were reduced to nine men inside the opening 24 minutes at the ProAmpac Stadium, but the home supporters continued to get behind their team throughout a difficult evening, providing particularly vocal encouragement in the closing stages of the defeat.
Shaw said: “They were sensational, but it’s no surprise to me. They’re the best fans in the division.
“The way they tried to get the lads through that last little bit of what was a brutal experience was phenomenal. We’re very grateful, and we know that level and quality of support is going to help us with the tough challenge we’ve got this year.
“They were phenomenal and the players were very grateful. I thought they were one of the stars of the night for Lincoln City.
“We’re going to need them on this journey. We’ve got an amazing group of lads that we get to work with every day and, coupled with our terrific supporters, it gives us a really strong foundation.”
Shaw praised for the determination and character shown by his players, who continued to battle against a West Ham side boasting significant Premier League experience.
He said: “We’re incredibly proud of the players. That’s about as tough a situation as you could possibly find yourself in against the players West Ham have got.
“The way they kept their levels and standards, kept getting up to the ball and kept blocking shots was something we were super proud of.
“I didn’t see one player shy away from what was a very tough experience. They dug in, bit down on their gumshields and tried to do everything they could in that scenario.
“Even with two men down, the lads were still trying to score. Rob Street came on and tried to get us up the pitch. A lot of the lads showed massive character.”
Shaw admitted his overriding frustration was that City were denied the opportunity to test themselves properly against the Hammers, having felt they were more than competitive during the 20 minutes between the two dismissals.
He said: “After the first red card, I thought we responded pretty well with 10 men. We had 20 minutes where we showed we could compete with West Ham.
“That’s probably the overriding frustration of the evening. We didn’t get a proper game, and that 20 minutes makes us think we could have really troubled them.
“We got into good territory and they felt it a little bit. Once we went down to nine, it became a completely different situation.
“We wanted to stay in the game until half-time, which the lads did very well, but conceding from the corner just before the break was a killer blow.”
With City returning to action at Millwall on Saturday, Shaw stressed the importance of learning from the experience and quickly turning attention to the next challenge.
He added: “It’s a tough night for everybody, but the professionalism of the group is really important now. We have to take some learning from it because we can do better with some of those goals, even with nine men.
“We’ve got to recover well, be super professional and get the best game plan possible together ahead of a tough trip to Millwall."
