Lincoln City’s Sean Roughan was full of praise for the 10,000 plus crowd that watched Bolton steal all three points at the LNER Stadium on Boxing Day.
The defender was apologetic to the City faithful, but grateful for their support.
He said: “The crowd was unbelievable. I’ve played in some very good crowds here for nearly five years and I’ve seen some very good crowds too but that was up there.”
The Irishman added: “It’s a good one on Boxing Day, obviously Christmas was only yesterday as well, so for the fans the turnout today was excellent. I can’t thank them enough for that and they kept us going and going. Sorry that we couldn’t get something out of the game.”
The Imps fell to their third defeat in their last four games, thanks to an 89th minute Eoin Toal header in front of the travelling Bolton fans.
Roughan said it was a tough one to stomach: “I thought the lads gave everything. They are up the table for a reason and we knew they would have a lot of the ball, and we would have to nullify it. It was just one of those ones where we are defending for that long and it is one lapse of concentration. It’s a tough one to take.”
Imps forward Danny Mandroiu was sent off for the second time this season after a rash challenge on Bolton’s Aaron Morley. Roughan was pleased with his sides’ reaction to going down to ten men.
He said: “Of course, it increased the pressure. They have one more man to dominate us with and to overload us with. I thought for the majority of it we nullified it, and we stopped them from doing much with it. All credit goes to the lads we put it all in and they gave it their all and it was just one of those days.”
On a more personal note for Sean, the Boxing Day game saw his return to the Imps starting 11 in the league for the first time since Halloween due to injury. The defender explained the difficult time he has had.
He said: “I was hard on myself. I got injured coming back from international duty. I came back and didn’t want to play as well as I wanted to against Accrington. I knew I was going to be left out of the team.
“It’s about putting the graft in training and not letting my head slip. Once I do get my opportunity and I did today, hopefully I can stay in the team, but the lads have been excellent when I haven’t been in the team as well, so all credit goes to them.”
Next up for Lincoln is another home tie against Northampton Town on Friday night (December 29th), and Roughan is looking for the side to bounce back at the LNER Stadium.
He said: “That’s the best thing about football. Games come thick and fast in this period as well. We have to pick ourselves up after this, come back in two days’ time and hit the ground running again. This game is forgotten about tomorrow and when look back at it and see what we can do better before going into Northampton and hopefully getting three points then.”