‘There is work to do, but we’re not far away’ is the sentiment resonating out of the Lincoln City camp following their defeat to Barnsley.
Both head coach Michael Skubala and young striker Jovon Makama hit the same notes in their summary that the Imps were not exactly where they want to be, but were only marginally away from that goal.
The pair’s words came after Lincoln lost 2-1 to Barnsley, in a result that the City boss saw as “disappointing”. He made a distinction from the performance of his troops, though, as he instead saw that as mostly positive.
Speaking to The Linc, Skubala elaborated: “We’ve got work to do still. We’ve got to train hard, we’ve got to keep working, and we’ve got to keep improving. We are alright, but we’ve got to keep improving. You can see that we’ve got to sure things up at the back, but we are moving in the right direction.”
Lincoln City conceded from a cross, much like they did in their season opener against Burton Albion, when Marc Roberts added Barnsley’s second just after the break. It came following Sam Cosgrove’s opener in the first-half. Ben House got the Imps back into the game, but they could not find their way onto level before the full time whistle sounded at the LNER Stadium.
Makama believed the side were close to where they needed to be, agreeing with his gaffer.
He said: “I think first-half we showed our quality, we were moving the ball quickly. Obviously, we got a few chances [from that]. So, I don’t think we are far off, but there are definitely things we need to work on, and watch back, and take into the next game.”
Lincoln lined up for their first home game of the 2024/25 SkyBet League One season in front of close to 10,000 against Barnsley. They will hope to build on their performance and deliver a fitting result against Nigel Clough’s promoted Mansfield Town, on Saturday, 24 August.
Feature Image Credit: Graham Burrell