Adam Jackson says Lincoln City were “gutted” as they struggled to a draw against bottom side Cambridge United.
The Imps took the lead early on through Freddie Draper, but his goal was cancelled out by James Gibbons just before the hour mark before a stalemate second half left both sides with a point.
Lincoln missed several chances in the opening half an hour.
On the misfortune in front of goal, Jackson said: “It was disappointing I think, we definitely had the better chances, created a few more opportunities and we’re all a bit gutted in there that we didn’t put them away and maybe get two or three.
“I think probably first 35 we looked good, we were mixing it up, passing short and then a bit longer to get in behind. We created a couple of good chances and then conceding the goal was obviously a frustrating one.”
A deflected goal conceded:
James Gibbons’ left-footed strike took a cruel deflection off of Sean Roughan to divert it into the corner for the visitor’s equaliser.
Quizzed by BBC Radio Lincolnshire’s Michael Hortin about the defending for that moment, Jackson said: “He did [have too much space], but then if the deflection goes out for a corner no one really thinks twice about it, but because it’s nestled in the top corner it looks a bit of a bad one, but it’s just a bit unlucky.”
Michael Skubala’s team then huffed and puffed for the remainder of the afternoon, but were unable to find a winner.
Jackson added: “We didn‘t put them under pressure like we can do here with the crowd behind us at that end.
“It was a bit like we’ll have a little go then they have a spell, then we’ll gave a go and wasn’t what we wanted.”
Gardner red an “innocent tackle”:
Nottingham Forest loanee Joe Gardner was sent off just four minutes into his Imps debut after catching James Brophy with a late sliding challenge. It was a contentious decision amongst those inside the LNER Stadium and Jackson did not agree with it either.
He said: “I was a long way away, but I probably thought it was harsh, it doesn’t help when everyone makes a big hoo-ha about it… He’s [Joe Gardner] gutted in there but we’ll get round him, we’ve already said it was an innocent tackle.”
Jackson, who has now started Lincoln’s last six games, also emphasised the importance of now having a settled back three alongside Roughan and captain Paudie O’Connor as something to build on:
“Yeah and obviously, Zack has played well as well since he’s come back, so we’ve got a nice solid base now. Hopefully we can start to play from us a bit more to get us higher up the pitch and into better positions,” the centre-back said.