Michael Skubala says he was proud of his side’s efforts despite slipping to defeat in the Vertu Trophy round of 32 tie against Huddersfield Town.
City had won all three of their group games to set up a home tie against the Terriers, but goals from Joe Taylor and Murray Wallace secured victory for the away side and ended the Imps’ involvement in the competition in 2025/26.
Whilst admitting he was disappointed to exit the competition, Skubala highlighted the importance of getting some much needed minutes into a number of players.
He said: “Overall we’re disappointed because we wanted to get through to the next round, but we haven’t done and now we have to focus on the league.
“Even though the result didn’t go our way, I was proud of how our players kept going right until the end.
“They were still pushing to get back into it until the final whistle and we know we have a team that will go right until the end. The fans know that too.
“We’re in a good place in the league and it was important to get some players on the pitch who needed minutes.
“It was a very competitive game and while we’re disappointed to be going out, I can’t fault the lads’ efforts.”
Attentions now turn to next Tuesday’s hosting of Barnsley in Sky Bet League One and Skubala is looking forward to welcoming the Tykes under the LNER Stadium lights.
He added: “We’ll pick ourselves up and go again against Barnsley. We’re heading into a busy run of games so we need to be ready for that and I’m sure we will be.
“I think not having a game on Saturday will be good for us and we learnt a lot from Tuesday night.
“We’re looking forward to attacking this run of games that we have coming up and that starts with a game in front of our own fans against Barnsley.”
