Tom Shaw was full of praise for his players after Lincoln City came from behind to beat Burnley 4-1 and secure our first home Championship win of the season.
Burnley took the lead from a set-piece, but Ben House brought us level before the break, setting up a second half in which we took the game away from the visitors. In difficult conditions, we showed the character to recover from going behind and then the quality to make the most of an opportunity that Tom and Chris clearly felt was there for us.
Speaking to the written press afterwards, Tom’s thoughts went back to the supporters who had stuck with the team through the painful closing stages against West Ham. That had been a difficult evening for everyone connected with the club, and he was delighted the players could give those same fans something to enjoy this afternoon.
“Very proud,” he said.
“We’ve spoken a few times about the privilege we feel, myself and Chris, to lead the football side of this amazing club. I just feel we owe the supporters for how they were at West Ham in that last 20 minutes. I think that will live long in the memory, how the fans got the boys and us through that tough experience.”
There was clearly a belief within the camp that we could cause Burnley problems, despite the quality they have in their squad. Their difficult start presented an opportunity, but we still had to play well enough to take it, and Tom felt we did exactly that.
“We spoke about an opportunity today. Burnley aren’t in an amazing place, and we still knew they’d be a dangerous opponent, but we just thought if we could get to our levels in certain parts of our game plan and our way of playing, we could be a little bit too much, and I thought that came out.
“To have that moment at full-time with the supporters was amazing, but I thought the players were fantastic today.”
Of course, having that belief before kick-off is one thing, but keeping it after conceding first is another, particularly in those conditions. We could have let that goal knock us, but the response was excellent, with House’s equaliser giving us something to build on before a half-time discussion in which the coaches made it clear they felt the game was there to be won.
“Yes, it was a tough moment, especially from a set-piece, which we normally do so well on. It was going to be interesting to see how we responded as a group. There was no real drama, we went straight up the other end.
“We knew our long throw would cause some carnage. We put the weather forecast up on the screen on Thursday morning just to prepare the lads and say how that could be interesting with our set-pieces. Delighted for Ben House, he read it really well around the back stick to get his goal, and we went in at half-time with a bit of relief, I think, from the lads.
“We were still well in the game, but we were probably a little bit more front-foot with the players than we have been so far. We felt from the dugout that they were there for the taking if we got going.
“The lads were physically super strong, moved the ball really well and carried a big threat in the second half. That second-half performance is what we want to be as a football team. I thought in every facet of the game we were superior.
“Some of the individual performances were incredible today, but as a collective we smothered our opponent, we carried a threat, we kept the back door shut for the majority of the second half. It was a big performance and we got away from Burnley.”
This was a huge day for us, we’ve been waiting for that first home league win, and to get it by coming from behind against Burnley, then playing as we did in the second half, made it all the sweeter.
After what everyone went through against West Ham, it was lovely to leave Sincil Bank with a performance like that to talk about, and both Chris and Tom had every reason to be delighted.
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