Sam Tillen was pleased for his players after his side progressed into the U17 PDL Shield quarter finals with a 6-5 penalty shootout victory at Stevenage.
Tillen highlighted the performance of Kian Sagoo, who scored all three of the young Imps' goals before calming slotting away his effort in the shootout.
He said: "Kian Sagoo capped a wonderful allround performance with a hat-trick and converted his penalty successfully in the shootout. Donald Inyama, returning from injury along with Kian gave us a real impetus in the last hour of the game and Lynden Huggins took on great leadership of the back line."
Tillen praised the character of his squad to fight back from behind and highlighted the intensity throughout the 120 minutes.
He added: "We showed fantastic character to come back from 2-0 down and force the game into extra time. We started extra time very well but were undone against the run of play but the boys showed exceptional fortitude to push back and deservedly equalise with ten minutes to go which was testament to both the players and our lead strength and conditioning coach Jack Parker as we got stronger as the game went on.
"Isaac Shaw was ultimately the hero, saving Stevenage’s seventh penalty to take us through. The players had to deal with two substitutions in the first thirty minutes and we adapted our shape well.
"Ollie Eyres did well in his first appearance for the group and Gael Mande was a constant threat. It was a very pleasing night for the group which I hope we can build on as we look to finish the year off on a high."