14 August 2021

Michael Appleton believes Lincoln are a team to be feared

14 August 2021

Michael Appleton believes Lincoln are getting plenty of respect from their League One rivals after watching his side battle back to beat Fleetwood 2-1.

Anthony Scully scored twice in the second half after Danny Andrew’s 32nd-minute free-kick had given the visitors the lead.

The Imps were second-best in the first half and failed to fashion a single clear-cut chance while, at the other end, Josh Griffiths had to make three good saves.

But City showed more urgency after half-time and Scully finished off a super move in the 69th minute with an equally good finish.

From that moment, the Imps were in control and the second goal arrived from the penalty spot three minutes from the end of normal time.

Following another good move, Tayo Edun was fouled in the box and Scully thumped home the spot-kick.

“It was great,” Appleton said. “It was difficult in the first half with them sitting in and making it hard for us to break them down.

“But the players’ attitude to come back from that was great and when they needed the fans to give us that little lift at the right time, they were there for us.

“There was (more urgency in the second half). We passed the ball quicker and switched the play a lot better than we did in the first half.

“We upped the tempo, which was obvious for everyone to see, and luckily we got the rewards for it.

“Clearly, we’re getting a lot of respect from teams. They don’t want to throw and press many bodies too soon.

“Today, Fleetwood have come here with a back five and said ‘come and break us down’. It took a while to do it but when we did we looked like we could do it quite often.”

Fleetwood boss Simon Grayson was left ruing errors after watching his side fail to build on their strong first-half display.

“After half-time, we needed to keep doing what we were doing, which was making it difficult for them with the shape of the team,” said Grayson, whose side have now lost their first three games in all competitions.

“Then, when we got a chance, we wanted to find the second one. In the first half, we passed it really well but in the second half we gave it away too much without any pressure.

“I could stand here and say how well we’ve played but we can’t keep making mistakes. We’re a young group but we’ve got to learn from the mistakes we’re making.

“I could say we didn’t deserve to lose but we did and we’ve lost three games at the start of the season.

“For 90 per cent of the game we’ve done well but that other 10 per cent has cost three points or a draw.

“We gave the ball away too easily, made some daft decisions and have lost the game.”

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