Michael Skubala was delighted to see his team make it three home wins in a row with a hard fought 1-0 victory over Port Vale.
The first half was largely controlled by the Imps with chances being plentiful throughout and the breakthrough came with 30 minutes on the clock, when Jack Moylan and Adam Reach set Reeco Hackett up for his third goal of the season.
The win marks three consecutive victories at the LNER Stadium and Skubala heaped praise on the City supporters for their role in the success.
Skubala said: “We love it at home because we’ve talked about it becoming a fortress and it is up to us to keep it going.
“I thought the fans were magnificent, especially towards the end of the game when they were really helping the team.
“It’s a wet day, hard to come out but I felt we packed the stadium brilliantly, it made it a tough place for them and we’re going to continue to need the fans.”
Reeco Hackett was also happy to see the Imps claim victory and was pleased to see the team’s work on the training ground paid off with the goal.
Hackett said: “Ultimately it is a good three points. In the first half we were really good and deserved to be in front.
“The goal came from something that we’d been working on all week. I was in the ‘cutback zone’ and I knew Reachy would find me.
“I’m looking forward to watching the goal back, the keeper got a hand to it but it ended up in the goal so I’m happy.
“If we’re going to get to where we want to be come the end of the season, we’re going to have to grind out results and we’ve done that.”
Focus now shifts to Tuesday evening where the Imps host Huddersfield Town in the Vertu Trophy round of 32, and Skubala spoke about how the importance of a good run in the competition in addition to the use of a large squad.
He added: “It certainly won’t be a developmental squad on Tuesday, it’ll be a team we believe can go out there and get through to the next round.
“We’ve got to keep working, this week the lads have been magnificent, in training Thursday and Friday - you can see how everyone is keen to get into the team against a tough opponent.”
