Michael Skubala hailed the determination of a “sensational group of players” after his Imps side fought to an impressive 4-1 win at in-form Plymouth Argyle.
City trailed thanks to an early effort from the impressive Aribim Pepple, whose Argyle side were fifth in the form table, but showed real resilience to go on and claim what in the end was a well deserved three points.
Skubala said: “We got punched on the nose in the first 20 minutes, but they found a way to get together and hang in there. We had to weather that early period, but we have a sensational group of players who were willing to work hard for each other and get through that.
“Then at half-time we made some tweaks because the pitch was looking too big at times, we had real discipline in our positioning in the second half and got all over them.
“We had about 30 minutes where they couldn’t get out of their half. We were landing on things, pressed well, and created the moments for good players like Reeco and Jack Moylan to make things happen.”
Hackett did claim two decisive goals in the second half - coupled with Freddie Draper’s equaliser and Ryan Oné's effort on the counter attack - to seal the win. Two of the Imps’ four goals came from set-pieces, with Draper heading home from Hackett’s corner delivery before the latter scored his second directly from a corner.
Skubala said: “We work had on them, through David Preece our set-piece coach and George Bush from the analyst team.
“Plymouth are very good at set pieces, they’ve caused teams problems and been very successful but we took the wind out of their sails.”
More than 600 Imps made the long journey down to the south coast for the fixture, and Skubala hailed the role they played in both this win and the run of form which has now seen the extended run stretch to 13 outings.
He added: “It's not an easy trip and hopefully they feel part of the result, rather than just coming and watching us.
“We needed them in the first half, and they're really part of us and helping the lads. They’re part of the performance and result every week.”
