City head coach Michael Skubala was proud of his team’s display, as they were narrowly beaten by runaway league leaders Birmingham City at St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park.
The Imps defended resolutely throughout the contest and stood firm for 71 minutes before Blues eventually broke the deadlock through a Kieran Dowell penalty.
He said: “I’m really proud of the lads, there were some really big performances out there against a quality side.
“Obviously I’m frustrated that we’ve lost the game, but we can take plenty of heart from how we performed.
“I thought the lads were excellent and the fans were fantastic. They got right behind the team because they could see how hard they worked.
“This is a tough place to come, they are probably a better team now than what they were in the Championship last season.
“They have some quality players but I thought for large spells we matched them. You could see that the lads were working really hard out there and didn’t give much away.”
Skubala heaped praised on his players, who he felt deserved a share of the spoils for their performance.
He added: “I think a draw would have been a fair result, I’m not sure they would have had enough to break us down without the penalty.
“The backline was excellent, and you have to defend well against these teams and I was also really pleased with the work rate in front of them.
“To a man, we put everything on the line and I’m disappointed for them that their efforts weren’t rewarded with a result that I think they deserved.
“It was disappointing to lose in the way we did, you don’t want to be undone by a penalty but the reaction from the team was fantastic.
“We really pushed for an equaliser and on another day, we could have nicked something.”
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