Lincoln manager Mark Kennedy says his players should be proud to be part of the squad which drew 1-1 at home to Town this afternoon.
Jack Diamond’s spot-kick just after the hour gave the 10-man Imps the lead against the run of play, Adam Jackson having been red-carded towards the end of the first half, with Cameron Humphreys levelling for the Blues nine minutes from time.
"They should be so proud of themselves, and we just said to them after the game, we’re really proud to be part of your team,” former Blues full-back and academy coach Kennedy told LincolnshireLive.
"I’m so, so pleased for them, and I have to make clear it’s not just the 10, 11 players that are on the pitch, it’s the whole group, it’s the collective squad that play a huge part in what you see here today. I’m really proud of the group.”
Regarding Jackson’s red card for pulling down Town namesake Kayden just outside the area, the former Irish international added: "There has to come a point where you talk about it, so just off the top of my head we’ve had Southampton away where the goal was offside and we should’ve had a penalty.
"Burton away their penalty was offside, today Adam [Jackson] shouldn’t have been sent off for that — I thought Paudie [O’Connor] had covered it really well and I was quite calm.
"The other night against Bolton in particular was appalling. One of their players has elbowed one of our players in the face, you’ve got the fourth official and the linesman stood on that side and when the ball's in play we’ve got one of our players lying flat out on the ground.
"Then for a goal to be allowed off the back of that and to be allowed to continue with 11 players, I understand how hard it is for officials, but we need some help sometimes.”
Kennedy was delighted with how his team coped with having 10 men with club captain Tom Hopper having been brought on at half-time.
"I think Tom Hopper in particular had a huge impact on the game, he came on and really affected the game,” he continued.
"Jack Diamond was outstanding, his work rate is phenomenal and he’s getting better at the out of possession stuff.
"I’ve yet to see anyone in the league that is tactically better out of possession than Ben House. We moved him to right wing and he absolutely nailed that position.”