Lincoln boss Michael Skubala was proud of his side as they battled with 10 men for over an hour to grind out a 1-0 win over Burton.
Reeco Hackett grabbed the winner early in the second half but Lincoln had already seen Alex Mitchell sent off for two quick yellow cards midway through the first half.
“We knew it was going to be a battle, coming here, it’s a tough place to come to get a point, let alone three,” said Skubala as Lincoln ended Burton’s four-game unbeaten home run.
“The last few games against Burton they have turned us over, but I am just so proud of every single player, to play so long with 10 men and still not be passive and go after the game.”
Skubala, speaking about Mitchell’s first yellow card for a foul on Kyle Hudlin, added: “I have never seen two players go up for a header and one of them get booked for it.
“The second one is a yellow card, and we know he shouldn’t have pulled him back but it set a standard in the game where lots of yellows need to be given out.”
Victory was Lincoln’s first since the end of November and ended a nine-game winless run in Sky Bet League One with Skubala having full faith in his side throughout.
“I think we are a good team and sometimes it is about following a good process,” he said. “We knew the win would come and we have been competitive in all the games and now we just need to kick on and if we take today’s mentality with 10 men forwards, we will do OK.”
Burton boss Martin Paterson was left hugely disappointed by his side’s below-par performance.
“No excuses,” he said. “Collectively, for everyone involved it is a down day. Everything was off. I don’t look to blame anyone else but ourselves.
“They had 10 men for 60 minutes. I get sometimes that might be difficult, but we didn’t create enough moments, not enough creativity on the ball.
“I am not happy. We were poor and that is a massive opportunity missed. They started the game better than us. We reacted after 10, 15 minutes and got a foothold in the game.
“From the sending off they took over, let’s not lie about it. We were not good enough and it galvanised them.
“It looked so far away from what we are, in terms of the non-negotiables, ill-disciplined and unorganised. I threw on as many attackers as I could to create moments. I thought we would get one and get back into the game.”
