Michael Skubala hailed his ‘incredible’ group of players after Lincoln City grabbed a deserved point at Huddersfield Town this evening.
The home side led after Ryan Hardie and Ryan Ledson bagged early goals, but heads didn’t drop. Josh Feeney directed a long throw past his own keeper in the first half, before Ryley Towler stabbed home from close range deep in stoppage time to earn City a point.
With Cardiff losing and Bolton drawing, it meant City extended their lead at the top of the table, and kept the unbeaten run going, a run that now stands at 21 games.
“Yeah, this group’s incredible, you know, incredible group to get that point,” said Michael in his post-match interview on Hope and Glory. “It’s not like us going 2-0 down, it wasn’t like us conceding those goals early.
“We started a bit slow but then when we started to get going we got on top of them. It was great to get the goal back and then we thought second half we could really dominate the game if we were being more like us.”
City didn’t have it all their own way, but after the two early goals, Huddersfield’s threat seemed to fade. It was still a big challenge for the Imps, only the third time this season we’ve been 2-0 down, and the second time we have fought back to get level.
“You’re going to have moments where it’s tough and I keep saying to everybody these games are tough,” Michael added. “We’re never going to have everything our own way, especially at clubs and stadiums that have good players and a well-coached team. They came very differently, with a lot of respect, and sat off us, and we didn’t expect that.
“To come here to Huddersfield and have a team sit off you is huge respect to the lads, but then we have to be better about that. We probably expect that at home sometimes but we didn’t expect that here.”
It’s also a testament to the players and staff that things they wanted to do in the first half didn’t work, but they showed the character and application to put it right, and then fight back and get the vital point.
“Lots of things didn’t work in the first half, lots of the things we’d planned for didn’t work,” admitted Michael. “We looked too open at times, but then in the second half I thought we were getting on top of them and we felt like we were going to score that second.”
City dominated the second period and always looked more likely to score. There were changes aplenty, starting with Tom Bayliss, and finishing with Deji Elerewe making his second appearance for the Imps.
“We solved that at half-time and made a couple of tweaks,” Michale said. “Obviously when they’re chasing the game, it was great to see the lads pushing forward and creating chances, putting them under a lot of pressure. C
“Could have had one or two more big opportunities. I thought if we’d have scored a bit earlier, I think we would have gone on to win the game as well.
“I’m really proud of the lads and the way they dug in and kept pushing for the goal. I think that might be a massive point for us come the end of the season.”
The result means we still lead Bolton by 15 points, but with just eight games left to play. That means, to guarantee Championship football, we must match three of their results, or three of Bradford’s. Alternatively, three wins will see us playing the likes of Wolves, Blackburn and QPR next season.
The gap between Cardiff and us in second is now five points, with the Bluebirds suffering a crisis of confidence, going down 2-0 to Wycombe, who have had a poor away record. Maybe, just maybe, this point will be crucial not in the promotion hunt, but the title race, come the end of the season.
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