Head coach Tom Shaw hailed City’s most complete performance of the season so far after the Imps secured a convincing 4-1 victory at Blackpool in the Carabao Cup.
City made wholesale changes to the starting XI at Bloomfield Road, but were rewarded with an impressive display as the Imps booked their place in the third round of the competition.
Shaw said: “That’s our best performance so far this season. I thought we came out in the first half, stuck our chests out a little bit and showed some real confidence, definitely in possession.
“We solved what they were trying to do and got beyond their first line of pressure really well. Joe Gauci also spotted the moments where it was time to go in behind their back line.
“I thought the way we came out with real confidence set the tone for the evening.”
City were pegged back during the opening period after Tanto Olaofe's opener, but Shaw felt his side deserved plenty of encouragement from their performance heading into the interval.
He added: “Their goal was a bit of a sucker punch. All we said to the players at half-time was: don’t be too despondent, you’ve played really well so go and grow into the half again.
“I thought we set the tone. Obviously, it was made significantly easier with the red card, but the management of the game from that point was about as professional as you could get.
“We kept the ball really well but were still a threat around the goal. There were loads of little subplots in there for individuals - full debuts, players coming back from injury - so it was a very positive evening.”
Shaw was impressed with how his players managed their numerical advantage in the second period - after Zac Ashworth was sent off - rather than allowing the contest to become stretched.
He said: “Scoring straight from the free-kick after the red card was an amazing bit of quality from Tom Bayliss, but we just managed the game brilliantly.
“We said from the sideline to keep switching the ball. That was the only instruction we really gave, but the lads went and put more detail to it.
“The way they passed the ball, the information they were giving with each pass, when to step in and when to change the gear, I thought was brilliant.
“We looked like we could score loads of goals in that scenario and we smothered any counter-attack Blackpool were going to offer.”
The strength of City’s squad was also demonstrated by the number of changes Shaw was able to make while maintaining the level of performance.
He added: “It’s a lovely position to be in where you can make wholesale changes for a game, still have a group as strong as we did from the start, and come and get a result at a place like Blackpool away.
“It’s really promising and really pleasing how the squad is taking shape. We’ve still got lads who need to get up to full speed and it’s our job to help them through that process. But to make as many changes as we did and perform as well as we did is a really pleasing evening’s work.”
