Lee Mitchell was pleased to see his side pose more of an attacking threat in the final third as the Imps lost 3-2 to Peterborough United at the LNER Stadium.

Goals from Maddi Green and Leah Hardy had given City a half-time advantage, but Emily Brett’s header and an unfortunate own goal ultimately turned the tide in favour of the visitors.

Mitchell said: “If you were a neutral watching you would’ve enjoyed it. It was a good battle between two teams going at it, and it came down to fine margins in the end.

“It was nice to get two goals and look more of a threat in the attack, so that was a big difference moving forward and there’s a lot of positives we can take from that.

“It’s another team who will probably finish top 3 that we’ve pushed right to the end, so we’re one of those teams who can give any team a game when we’re on it and that was certainly the case against Peterborough.”

Mitchell also praised the character of his side throughout the contest as the Imps fought until the final whistle to salvage something from the match.

He added: “Scoring twice after the early goal sums our character up, nothing phases us at 1-0 down. It was so early on in the game, and there was plenty of time.

“We knew we had to come out at 2-1 and get a third goal, and that would’ve changed the game, we knew that. 

“You can’t just sit back at 2-1 because they’re too good a side to do that. We kept playing until the end, even at 3-2 Lucy Farrow had a chance from Ella Thompson-Moulding’s diagonal. 

“The players never give up, and they don’t quit.”