Lincoln manager Michael Skubala was left more than satisfied after the Imps ended a seven-game winless League One run with a dominant 2-0 victory over 10-man Reading.
An early goal from Bailey Cadamarteri got City off to a flier, before Louie Holzman was sent off for the visitors after 37 minutes. Reeco Hackett then secured the win after 72 minutes.
“We wanted to start fast and aggressive and take the game to them as always and I think we did that really well,” said Skubala.
“Our press was great and we got 1-0 up and then they couldn’t cope with us once we got after them.
“The sending off changed the game – when you’re playing against 10 men, it may sound easy, but you’ve got to do a real professional job and wait for the right moments. I felt in the second half we did that really well.
“You can start to indulge yourselves, but we kept moving the ball well and there were some superb performances in there. We didn’t let them have any [threatening] moments – the back line was really good today and there were some brilliant displays from the likes of Ethan [Erhahon] and Jovon [Makama].”
Lincoln took the lead when Sean Roughan’s cross from the left was met by Conor McGrandles. His drilled effort was superbly saved by Joel Pereira, but the rebound fell to Cadamarteri, who smashed the ball home.
Reading were reduced to 10 men when young defender Holzman was shown a straight red for bringing down Ben House on the edge of his own box.
After House hit both posts with two second-half shots, Hackett sealed the win when he met Lewis Montsma’s terrific delivery into the box with a first-time side-footed effort into the bottom corner.
Noel Hunt has now gone four games without a win after taking over from Ruben Selles and he was left frustrated with potential game-changing decisions that he felt didn’t go his side’s way.
“Some of the younger players didn’t get to the pace of the game quick enough and we’re then a goal down early on,” he said.
“After that we started to get a bit of a foothold in the game, but big decisions like a handball and the penalty shout [when Sam Smith went down under a collision with Sean Roughan in the box] – I don’t understand how he’s not given that.
“That’s the second one in two weeks and those things are not going for us at the minute. I can’t understand how they keep getting these decisions wrong – everybody sees it, but not them. You’ve got to stay with it, though, and keep on working hard.
“It was tough when we went down to 10 men, but I can’t praise the players enough for their second-half performance and workrate. But then came the second goal and we had warned the lads about runs in behind us.”
