Michael Skubala acknowledged his Lincoln side had to “dig deep” for their 1-0 victory at Wigan whichkeeps them in the Sky Bet League One automatic promotion hunt.
Jack Moylan scored the only goal at the Brick Community Stadium after 24 minutes with a neat finish following a clever run into the box.
Wigan threw everything at the Imps in the second half, with on-loan Stockport midfielder Owen Moxon firing just over the top and then seeing another effort cleared off the line by Adam Reach.
“Sometimes it’s about digging out performances, and I thought today was a very tough game,” the Lincoln boss said.
“I keep saying, but every single game in this league is tough and the lads had to dig really deep to get the three points.
“Credit to them, it was a tough three points, but we move on.
“We start fast, we’re aggressive, we want to score goals and I thought Jack took his goal brilliantly. What a great finish.
“I thought we were on top for the first half an hour, we were moving the ball well, in good territory, and we scored a good goal.
“Then we started to make passes that were not quite us, they started to have some good territory, and we knew they would make changes and risk things in the second half.
“We had a 20-minute spell where we had to really dig deep and defend well, but I can’t remember much threat apart from Reachy clearing off the line – and you have to have those moments sometimes.
“I’m just really proud of the lads to get that three points and we keep going.”
Wigan boss Ryan Lowe could not hide his disappointment, with his side now out of the relegation zone only on goal difference.
“The result was disappointing, of course, because no-one likes losing games of football,” Lowe said.
“But I thought the lads were excellent in that second half, and well worthy of coming away with a point.
“We were on the front foot more, we gave Lincoln some problems, had a shot cleared off the line from Mox.
“But we just didn’t have enough quality in the final third to finish it off, and get the ball in the back of the net.
“First half, I thought was a bit cagey, and we concede a goal we know we can do better with.
“Their lad’s done well, he’s dropped a shoulder and got his shot away, despite the best efforts of a couple of our lads to keep it out.
“Second half, I thought there was only one team that was going to score a goal and if we’d managed to get one, when we haven’t really been playing well, it would have given us a boost.
“But it wasn’t meant to be, and I’m disappointed because it’s another loss.”
