Michael Appleton won his first game in charge of Lincoln City yesterday afternoon and has revealed how he knew his side would beat Sunderland.
Tyler Walker was the star man for the match, he broke the deadlock on the 17th minute before grabbing his second when he turned home from Bruno Andrade’s cross.
Walker could have scored in between both of the goals when he was given the chance to score from a spot kick, only to hit the inside of the post. Watch the highlights for yourself below…
Sincil Bank has erupted 2.0.
? 2-0 ? #LINvSUN pic.twitter.com/ewbP5ENIsk
— Lincoln City FC (@LincolnCity_FC) October 5, 2019
Appleton said: “I think it had a little bit of everything.
“I think it’s important you start games well, get on the front foot and ask questions of the opposition.
“The first goal in any game is crucial. Yes you have to show character to come from behind sometimes, but it gives you a platform.
“Sunderland then had to come out and that made the pitch bigger, but it suited us on the transition.
“I felt confident today coming into the stadium.
“You just sometimes get a feel for it and we were very confident.”
“I wouldn’t say they were poor, but they came up against a group of players and staff who knew it was a big game,” he continued.
“We knew we hadn’t been on a good run but the last two performances I have been happy with, bit by bit.
“They came up against a really motivated team who are really, really backed by their own fans.
“They came up short.”
Appleton expected that his team would beat Jack Ross’ side, but was surprised by Sunderland’s route one style of play.
“It surprised me a little bit that we had to deal with a lot of direct play today,” he admitted.
“Obviously Wyke is a pivot for them and they do play into him and play off him, but we had to deal with a lot of stuff in the box.
“We had to do the basics right and we did them really well.”
Following the final whistle, fans took to reply their reaction on the full time tweets – see what they had to say by clicking on the next page.
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