Skubala’s content to take share of spoils
CITY NOT AT THEIR BEST AGAINST READING, ADMITS IMPS’ BOSS
MICHAEL Skubala admitted Lincoln City were “relieved” to come away with a draw at home against Reading having been second-best for most of the afternoon.
Harvey Knibbs’ second-half equaliser meant the points were shared at the LNER Stadium after an early own goal had given the Imps the lead.
City started the stronger of the two sides, and following some impressive work from Ted Bishop along the byline, the ball was bundled into the back of the net giving Skubala’s side an early lead.
However, after starting the second half well, Reading found themselves an equaliser. Jeriel Dorsett’s ball split the Imps open, allowing Knibbs to finish low past Jensen.
“The lads worked hard,” said Skubala.
“Reading are a good team, they’re in a league position that doesn’t tell you how good they are. They have some good individual players and we struggled to cope with them, especially in the wide areas.
“We’re relieved to get a point. We weren’t good today, let’s be honest.
“We neither affected their last line quick enough when we were trying to be direct nor kept it well enough when we needed to.
“If you can’t win it, don’t lose it. That’s the story of the day for us. They work hard, sometimes not in the brightest way. They’re not very clever about it sometimes.
“In the end, it was a big shift, a tough shift and it’s a point for us. I think [the disallowed goal] was offside from what I’ve seen.
“I think they’re fair to the referees even though they went in our favour. I am aware of that rule now so I won’t do it.
“I’m not interested in that, I just wanted to get our lads through that game.”
It was the visitors who dominated large spells of the game, ending up with 67 per cent possession and 14 shots to Lincoln’s six, with the Imps not managing a single effort on target in the 90 minutes.
The performance of the backline was key to securing a point, with Skubala singling the three centrebacks out for praise, admitting his team were too “passive” going forward to build on a solid defensive display.
He added: “Adam Jackson is an important player, he’s got that experience in defence that we need. I thought TJ Eyoma and Paudie O’Connor were good again, they stood up, I just think we need a bit more quality at times.
“When we did have little spells, we didn’t do much in the final third.
“We’re not having enough of the ball or being dangerous enough in the attacking phase when we do have it.
“We talked about starting fast, aggressive and getting on the front foot to put their backline under pressure which I thought we did well to begin with.
“It looked like when we scored that we went too passive and we came off it a little too much and in the end, we couldn’t get back to the pace we started with.”