Lincoln’s Michael Skubala enjoys ‘monster’ Ben House performance against Luton

Lincoln boss Michael Skubala hailed a “monster performance” from two-goal Ben House as the Imps beat Luton 3-1 at the LNER Arena.

House struck in each half, his second in the 90th minute after substitute Justin Obikwu had fired the Imps back into an 85th-minute lead in response to Jordan Clark’s equaliser.

And Skubala heaped praise on House and the rest of his side.

“What you saw from Ben House today was a monster performance,” said Skubala. “And I thought the lads all stuck and fought together and it was one of the most selfless displays I have seen from them. Everybody worked solidly together. Our tactical plan was performed to near-perfection.

“And Conor McGrandles was unbelievable. He did the little things that go on in games that people don’t see. And then the finishers and subs coming on and doing the job at 1-1.”

It was Lincoln’s first home win over Luton since 1966 and Skubala added: “I am delighted with the three points as I thought we deserved them. Our performance today was fantastic, with and without the ball.

“For the first 20 minutes they didn’t know how to handle us, we scored and got on top. There was only one team that deserved to win that game and that was us.”

City took the lead when Freddie Draper dissected the home defence with a ball through to House, who stroked past Josh Keeley.

Clark levelled in the 77th minute from a well-worked Luton free-kick.

But Obikwu and House struck in the last five minutes to earn the hosts all three points.

Visiting boss Matt Bloomfield issued an apology to the near-1,500 travelling fans who witnessed a lamentable showing from the Hatters.

“First and foremost, apologies to our supporters for that display,” said Bloomfield, whose side have lost four of their eight league games this season.

“It wasn’t anywhere near good enough. We were second best on duels, second best on first contacts, second best on all the important parts of the game.

“As a result we ended up losing momentum. We got ourselves back in the game, but then we made more mistakes. It’s not good enough.

“We weren’t full of confidence and one mistake leads to a second. There were too many turnovers, we weren’t competing well enough for the ball and if you don’t do those things right you lose the game.

“It is unacceptable from us, me included – we’re all part of this group and I take full responsibility for that defeat.

“Lincoln are very organised, we knew what was coming, but we just didn’t compete. I can’t defend that from us today.”