Lincoln City head coach Michael Skubala and defender Lewis Montsma spoke to the media following the Imps’ 1-2 Carabao Cup defeat.
Lincoln fell to defeat against SkyBet League Two side Harrogate Town, as they failed to replicate their cup successes of last season.
For Lewis Montsma, it was considered a big moment. Tuesday night’s game was the first competitive start for the Dutchman since March 2023, when he needed surgery on his ACL.
“It’s always a bit different for a game like this, it’s different to a pre-season game,” Montsma said.
It was a positive night for the defender too, with no issues to report on. He said: “I’m not surprised with my gametime, I could have played the full 90. I had a little bit of cramp in my calf but it was nothing major.”
He saw where the game went wrong on the pitch, saying: “Our decision making wasn’t the best tonight, so there are a few bits to work on.
“It’s recognising the space and what the opposition do. It’s making use of the space, but I don’t think our decision making was there.” Montsma added.
Skubala had a similar reaction when asked about the game, saying: “(I’m) frustrated, it was a difficult night because we wanted to go through and win the game and I thought we had enough. We started the game really brightly and then it turned a bit destructive.
“It’s a frustrating night, I wanted to win the game, as we all did, but we move on to Saturday.
Lincoln played a different system to how many are used to, playing more direct with longer balls, compared to the fluid play that fans have been used to.
Skubala said this is something they tried, adding: “We need to be better at managing that (direct play), knowing when to do it and when to play a bit more. I think part of our challenge as we keep moving is how do we get better at beating teams with a low block.
“Sometimes when you put so many young players on at once it shows and I think it did tonight.”
The cup tie can be seen as a learning curve for City, with Skubala having to find the negatives from the match and turning those into positives.
He said: “The learning is a positive, the losing is a negative, so that’s the reality. It’s about managing the moments against different teams – I thought they were really resilient and played well with a low block and I think we need to be more creative whilst taking less touches.
“I think players took too many touches because they wanted to force the game when we could have played better as a team.”
Next, the Imps turn their attention to Barnsley on Saturday, in what is expected to be a near-capacity turnout.
On that clash, Skubala said: “It’s a really tough test, we know Barnsley are good, they’ll bring a big crowd, hopefully they’ll be rocking, and we will have to be at our best. We’ll have to work hard on the training pitch this week to make sure for what’s coming.”
Feature Image Credit: Graham Burrell