Steve Evans labelled his Rotherham side “outstanding” after they picked up just their second away win of the season with a 1-0 League One success at Lincoln.
Joe Powell picked the perfect time to score his first goal for the club, taking advantage of a goalkeeping error to secure the points in the 85th minute and end a three-game winless run.
“I thought the performance was outstanding from start to finish,” said Evans. “The one goal just doesn’t do the performance justice. Michael Skubala is a good coach, but he was perplexed today – they couldn’t get near us for long, long spells.
“It was a thoroughly deserved win against a decent side. We played plenty of good football, especially in the second half, but we were starting to think a goal wasn’t going to come.
“We left some big players out and brought some in who have been crying out for an opportunity – the staff were falling off their chairs when I told them what the side was going to be.
“I’m not going to get carried away because we’ve won one game, but I think the supporters will be happy tonight.”
On Powell, who struck the decisive goal, he added: “He must get frustrated with me every week as I keep shouting at him because he is such a talented boy and I keep demanding more from him and you can see why.”
Imps keeper George Wickens kept the Millers at bay with several saves throughout, including four in a two-minute second-half spell, but his sloppy clearance was pounced on with just five minutes to go, with Powell stabbing a shot into the net from 10 yards out.
Lincoln have now won just once in 11 games and this was their third defeat on the spin, without a goal being scored, and Skubala has now started to come under a little bit of pressure.
“It was a tough and disappointing afternoon,” he admitted. “There is no doubt we are in a tough spot and we have to get through it together.
“Things aren’t dropping for us, but we have to be better. We are being stifled and we are not creating enough. We didn’t settle in the second half and we were starting to play their game, we fell into it and we played too direct.
“We couldn’t get a foothold in the match and we just eventually got ground down. We are being hurt by little things at the moment.”
The full-time whistle was met by a chorus of boss from the home support, as were a couple of Skubala substitutions and he added: “I think there are frustrations there, which is only natural. They are upset that we are not winning games, but the crowd needs to keep supporting the players.
“I’m not feeling under any pressure, I know the club supports me and we are sticking together, there is no doubt about that.”
