Lincoln City manager Michael Appleton hailed Town as “comfortably the best side in this division by a distance” on the evidence of last night’s game in which his team were beaten 2-0 at Portman Road.

First-half goals from Wes Burns and Kayden Jackson saw the Blues to the win which moved them to within three points of the play-offs.

“I think we just got beat by a really good team, and that’s a fact,” Appleton told LincolnshireLive.

“We played good side who are in a good moment. You can see why they’d only conceded one in seven going into the game. You can see why they’ve scored goals.

“For me, they’re comfortably the best side in this division by a distance, judging on what I’ve seen tonight.

“We’ve got some big games coming up against the likes of Rotherham and Sunderland, and they won’t cause us the amount of problems that this side did.

“Fair play to them, sometimes you’ve got to hold your hands up and admit you’ve come up against a good side who are in a better place than us at this moment in time.”

Appleton swapped forward Liam Cullen with former Colchester left-back Cohen Bramall at half-time allowing Morgan Whittaker, who had been given a torrid time by Burns in the first half, to move into midfield. pushed further forward having started the game at left wing-back.

The former Oxford and Blackburn boss admitted he made the switch as he was concerned about falling to a heavy defeat.

“That’s why we did what we did at half-time,” he continued. “It was important that we didn’t come away losing [by] four, five or six. That’s why we brought Cohen on, to try and contain the threat they had with Wes Burns.

“Having said that, we had moments before they scored but we didn’t get our shots off earlier enough, we didn’t back ourselves enough in those moments. When you don’t do that, you’re going to get punished.”

Quizzed on whether he was disappointed by the lack of chances his team created, Appleton added: “No, and that’s not me trying to be devil’s advocate. Sometimes you’ve just got to go ‘You know what, there’s a reason why they’ve spent more than anyone else in this league’ — and it shows on the pitch with the quality they’ve got.”

Photo: Action Images

SamWhiteUK added 09:18 - Mar 9 Wow, doesn't that feel nice to read
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stormypetrel added 09:33 - Mar 9 A short few months ago on a Tuesday night we were given a lesson in the realities of this division by an imperious Rotherham. They were simply much better. Fast forward to last night, watching the game I can't wait to see us against Rotherham now. Very gracious of Appleton
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PortmanTerrorist added 09:37 - Mar 9 We will soon find out of he is right....let's hope injuries do not affect us too much !
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BlueSwede added 09:42 - Mar 9 Interesting to see what two different managers can get out of to a large externt the same squad. Just saying.
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bluesman added 09:52 - Mar 9 Just hope Morsy isn't too bad. Think we can just about manage without Ed with the cover we have but nobody does what Morsy does
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Ipswichbusiness added 10:24 - Mar 9 That interview was going well until right at the end he came out with the whine about us spending money. We attract 20,000 plus to matches, plus we had the £220k from him for selling Bishop; why shouldn't we spend the money?
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Europablue added 12:45 - Mar 9 I'd rate Rotherham above us for now, but like others have said it will be interesting to see how we do against them. We are nowhere near the team we were just a couple of months ago.
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Bluearmy71 added 12:49 - Mar 9 @ipswichbusiness Did you watch the interview as opposed to where Phil rather unfairly left the quotes from Appleton?? As in the interview he didn't come across as begrudging or moaning, he merely stated the fact that you can tell we have had significant financial investment in the squad by the quality of players, in other words, they had money to spend and they spent it well, once again more of a compliment than a moan imo!! It is lovely to hear such praise from an opposition manager, make you so proud!!

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Monkey_Blue added 13:00 - Mar 9 I won't knock him for the money spent comment. It's a fact we've spent more than anyone else and he's simply pointing out that's given us a good squad and now under KM a good team. If anyone is getting defensive about him saying that, wind your neck in because our expectations are built On the money we spent and squad we amassed. It's nice to hear his praise but it's nicer to look forward to games and trust we have a switched on cerebral manager getting results out of the squad.

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SeasonTKT_Cobbold added 13:05 - Mar 9 A very good interview. You have to watch the video for the full context around the spending of money as the written article is ambiguous and doesn't accurately reflect what he said.
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IpswichToon added 13:19 - Mar 9 I'm not sure why, but suddenly, I really like Michael Appleton...
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micky_1560 added 13:51 - Mar 9 Credit to Lincoln and Appleton, they started off well, trying to play football from the back, were well organised and there wasn't too much between the teams. Had we gone a goal down, it may have been quite difficult and you could see why they had beaten Sheff Wed. Lets hope they beat a few more teams for us. Once we scored, we looked like we might over-run them until the injuries in the 2nd half and constant stopping of the game made it scrappy. We never looked like conceding a goal, but when Lincoln bolstered the midfield and had 2 lines of 4, we again looked like we struggled to break a team down. A professional performance to get the 3 points and we move on to harder opposition.

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runningout added 13:56 - Mar 9 Lincoln have shown us how to play at times and not long ago. They have a top manager in Michael Appleton. I say that Not just because of his kind words
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Ipswichbusiness added 13:57 - Mar 9 Bluearmy71; no I didn't watch it, I relied on Phil's article. You are probably right, I should have watched it before commenting (apologies to Mr Appleton if he reads this).
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carsey added 14:24 - Mar 9 Definitely a case of the written word not giving the full context of what was said. There was no critisim or sourgrapes from Appleton just recognition of the fact Town have had money to spend, spent it well and have a good team.
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SussexTractor added 16:18 - Mar 9 Great feedback. We now needs the Imps to give Sunderland a bloody good thrashing !
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KiwiBlue2 added 22:19 - Mar 9 Have always rated Appleton and would not have been disappointed if he had come here. Although in saying that I think that McKenna is the man for the job at present as the results are proving. Appleton's comments make a nice change from the usual serve we used to get from the unlamented, but thankfully now silent, mouth from Gillingham....... coyb
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Bazza8564 added 09:05 - Mar 10 Another manager speaking with integrity and honesty after a defeat. Contrast that with Accrington's Chairman "Morsy is a sh**house". It rather underlines the stark contrast in league one between quality clubs and Rugby League merchants who thump it and run. Well done Appleton, someone else who has gone up massively in my estimations....
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