Michael Skubala hails ‘threatening’ League One leaders Lincoln

Lincoln head coach Michael Skubala hailed his “threatening” League One table-topping side after they struck twice late on to sink Stockport 3-1 and set a new club record of 20 league games unbeaten.

Jack Moylan’s early goal at the LNER Stadium was cancelled out by former Imps loanee Jack Diamond and while County looked the more likely to secure the points, late goals from skipper Tendayi Darikwa and substitute Alfie Lloyd saw Lincoln secure another victory.

“It was a great afternoon and great result,” said Skubala. “It was a tough game, they are a very good team.

“I thought we started well and took our goal really well and we looked threatening, then I thought they got on top of us without really creating great chances.

“We had to show a lot of character today, to suffer a little bit, but we had moments where we hurt them and in the end, getting those late goals and points was great.

“We needed to freshen the team up a little bit, while our two centre-halves were magnificent and George Wickens made one outstanding save.”

Skubala had words of praise for Lloyd, who scored the first goal of his loan spell from QPR.

He added: “I’m really pleased for Alfie, with his first goal. The lads have wanted that for him for ages because he comes on and worked so hard, but everyone had to put a shift in today.”

Moylan’s stinging low drive brought a good save out of County goalkeeper Corey Addai and – from the corner – a goalmouth scramble ensued and the Irishman smashed home a shot from close range to put City ahead in the 11th minute.

Stockport equalised in the 68th minute when Ben Osborn’s perfect cross found Diamond, who headed past Wickens into the far corner of the net, the first time the Imps had conceded a goal in over 520 minutes.

In the 88th minute, though, Darikwa struck goalwards and a wicked deflection saw his effort beat the wrong-footed Addai and then in stoppage-time, strong play from Lloyd saw him beat two Hatters defenders before he drove his shot into the net to become the 18th Imps player to score in the league this season.

Frustrated Stockport boss Dave Challinor lamented some “poor defending” after seeing his side lose a third-straight league game.

“The game panned out exactly as we thought it would,” he said. “We didn’t start the game well enough and conceded a poor goal, but then we got a foothold and gained control without making enough opportunities.

“We got ourselves a deserved equaliser and we were then massively in the ascendancy, which you know can happen when you come here as they are not disappointed not to have the ball and they looked like a team who have had two long away trips.

“I probably would have been frustrated with a point with how the game panned out, but you could argue we didn’t deserve anything for the way we defended all three goals.

“It looked like only one team were going to win and that was us.”