Skubala hails nearly perfect performance
LINCOLN City continued their solid start to life under Michael Skubala with a resounding 3-0 victory away at Cambridge United, with the Imps boss expressing his delight with the efforts of his team over the last few weeks.
Daniel Mandroiu’s penalty and Dylan Duffy’s effort had the Imps in control at the break before Jack Vale completed the scoring late on at the Abbey Stadium to make it three league games unbeaten for the Imps.
The result ultimately cost Skubala’s opposite number Mark Bonner his job with the U’s, ending a nearly three-year spell as the club’s manager. Where one era was ending at Cambridge, another is beginning at Lincoln as they celebrated recording back-to-back away victories in the league.
Three different goalscorers helped the Imps pick up three more points, but it was the team’s drive that was most impressive for the City head coach following a busy fixture schedule.
He said: “It was a nearly perfect performance. We dug deep, sustained and dominated throughout, and there were some really good performances out there.
“Before the game, we talked a lot as a team about getting numbers in the box and finishing our attacks. I think the build-up to the penalty was a very good example of that as it was a move with sustained possession in their half.”
Skubala wanted to see attacking intent from his team and set them up in a way to allow them to do that freely, as he singled out Dylan Duffy, who was deployed at left wing-back, as one of the key parts of the team going up the pitch.
He added: “It’s important to come to these places and be able to hurt teams, not just come here and sit back. We knew we’d have to defend but then we had an outball with Dylan Duffy and I thought he was really good.
“I was pushing the lads at the end because I still believe in behaviours and I still believe in driving them hard. It was really good to see them still driving and pushing after the two weeks we’ve had and the backto-back games.
After an intense start to his reign as Lincoln boss, Skubala has a slightly extended period of time now to work with the team on the training pitch before their next league game away at Wigan Athletic on December 9.
On that, he said: “It’s crucial that I can work with the players now on the training pitch for a couple of days to work on the principles of play and then it will all be about preparing for the upcoming games.”