City head coach Michael Skubala praised the quality on show from his side, after they made it four home league wins in a row with a resounding 3-1 victory over Barnsley on Tuesday night.
The Imps deservedly led at the interval thanks to Reeco Hackett, but were pegged back midway through the second half after a goal from Sky Bet League One’s leading marksman, David Keillor-Dunn.
Parity didn’t last long though, as City showed great character to regain the lead instantly through Tom Bayliss, before Hackett made the points safe with his third goal in two league games moments later.
Skubala said: “I’m really happy with the goals, the performance and most importantly, the three points. It is the perfect start to the run of games we’ve got coming up over the festive period, so I’m very pleased.
“I thought in the first half we were so good, we were excellent with our press, our intensity and our desire to get the ball. They couldn’t live with us at times.
“We showed excellent character after conceding the equaliser, I’m just pleased with everyone’s contribution. Of course, the desire and the character was impressive, but I thought we had some real quality in there as well.”
The Imps had been dealt a blow ahead of kick off after it was revealed that James Collins and Ben House were set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines with injuries.
Collins will miss the rest of the season after rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament in last Tuesday's Vertu Trophy match against Huddersfield Town, with House ruled out for eight weeks after tearing a lateral collateral ligament against Port Vale.
The boss reiterated that while it is a blow to lose both players, that he has full belief in the attacking players he has at his disposal and this was strengthened by the goals City scored against the Tykes.
Skubala added: “We knew they would be a team who would want to dominate the ball and we set up in a way that allowed us to counter-press them and smother the game a little bit.
“We won the ball high and showed real quality in the goals that we scored. Reeco has got two which is excellent and Tom Bayliss deserved his goal for the way he played, he was brilliant.
“We’ve spoken about how everyone is going to have to chip in with goals. We’re obviously devastated about Collo’s injury, he is a great striker and a real leader for us.
“But as I've already said, we have great forward players here, who all offer something different. We said at half-time that we would get more goals, but we know we have that quality in the team.”
