Michael Skubala hails Lincoln City's intensity after comfortable win over Mansfield Town
Delighted Lincoln City head coach Michael Skubala hailed his side’s all-round team display after their drubbing of Stags
It saw the Imps collect their first home points of the season as they look to go one stage better this season and claim a play-off place.
Three goals inside ten minutes either side of half-time did the damage during a defensive day to forget for the Stags.
Mansfield did their cause no favours after conceding through a free header and two goalkeeping blunders.
“We did really well today,” said Skubala. “The plan was to try and catch them in transition and use our intensity in the right moments.
“I really liked the look of us today, we blew them away in the second half of the first half.
“All in all it is just a really good team performance. Mansfield are a really good team, they have experienced coaches and got a result at Barnsley.
“We knew balls would come into the box and we had to deal with that. They are big and physical and get runners off the back of us.
“We knew we had to hurt them in transition because of the way they play. We looked a real threat today.
“Set-pieces are a big part of what we do and we work really hard on them. Our attacking set-pieces were good today, they are a big part of this league.
“We blew them away with our intensity. We have started fast in every game and an early goal probably killed the game for them.
“We had to manage the game from there effectively. It is a great result.”
Christy Pym saved well to keep out a Tom Bayliss shot inside the opening 15 minutes.
But the Stags keeper was at fault when he was beaten by Adam Jackson coming for a cross on 29 minutes.
Paudie O’Connor hit the bar after a good turn as Lincoln kept up the pressure.
And they doubled their lead when Pym made a mess of Sean Roughan’s inswinging free-kick in stoppage-time.
It was game over two minutes into the second half when an unmarked Jackson headed home.
The rampant Imps added a fourth on 51 minutes when Ben House tapped home after Pym had saved his initial shot.
Deji Oshilaja pulled a consolation goal back with a close range finish after a corner on 69 minutes.
Here’s Nigel Clough’s reaction to the defeat, here.