Appleton delighted to return to winning ways

Posted Sunday, December 08, 2019 by PA

Lincoln boss Michael Appleton was happy to see his side record a first win in six league games with a 2-0 victory at Burton.

Harry Anderson netted inside the opening two minutes from a well-rehearsed corner routine before Lincoln had to defend for long periods until substitute Tyler Walker finally sealed victory in stoppage time.

“It is always helpful if you can get an early goal,” said Appleton. “If you can get your nose in front early on, that is key and you have got something to keep hold of.

“We played against a good side who, certainly in the first half, put us under bits of pressure where you think, come on, be resolute.

“In the second half we had to defend desperately at times, but the way we counter-attacked was impressive.”

Appleton was delighted with the all-round performance midfielder Anderson.

“I thought ‘H’ was outstanding today” he said of his opening scorer. “There were three or four really good performances today, but Harry was outstanding.

“I thought with 10 minutes to go he had run out of gas, but he just kept going and it was a very mature performance from him.

“For the second goal we were all thinking just run it into the corner, but I think he knew he had the beating of Quinny [Stephen Quinn] and fair play to Ty as well.

“He was disappointed not to start today and for him to come on and get across that near post and get his goal was good.”

Burton boss Nigel Clough could not fault the effort of his players but bemoaned giving an early goal away and having to chase the game.

“Once you give a team a goal after two minutes, that decides the game today ultimately,” Clough said. “We couldn’t afford to do that.

“One thing I am not disappointed about is the effort of the players, which I thought was absolutely incredible on the back of what we have had in the last 10 days or two weeks. They gave every ounce of everything they had, which is the bottom line that we ask for from them more than anything.

“We huffed and we puffed but what we didn’t have was that somebody with that individual piece of skill just to unlock their defence or get us a goal.

“Scott Fraser produced it on Tuesday night (against Southend) with a wonderful free-kick, but we didn’t get anything like that today.

“Scott had a shout for a penalty. He thought he just got caught but it wasn’t a clear-cut one for the referee, who I thought today was excellent.”