Tom Shaw thrilled at Lincoln’s quality in ‘real ugly side of football’

Lincoln joint head coach Tom Shaw gave an insight into how his team grind out results following back-to-back 1-0 away wins in the Sky Bet Championship.

The Imps were off the back of a 4-0 drubbing by Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup in midweek, but they did not let that affect their preparations as they defended resolutely away at Preston.

Freddie Draper came up with the goods, heading home Andrei Coubis’ long throw in the 81st minute.

Lincoln spent much of the game under the cosh as Preston had their chances, but they defended admirably – an approach they constantly work on in training.

Shaw said: “Our supporters want full throttle football and that’s what we’re trying to give them. We take lots of learning from the top teams and try and replicate our version of it.

“We’ve built this success over the last few years on the real ugly side of football, and we’re very proud of how we play.

“We’ve recruited, nurtured and developed a set of players that have got incredible character like I’ve never seen before in my time in the game. We pride ourselves on those horrible, ugly things.

“If you saw our training ground, it’s very competitive and we have a lot of 0-0 draws in training because the lads defend the cage so well, so we pride ourselves on that.

“All the other stuff will come over time and we will be threatening at this level. There were glimpses of that today and Freddie gets the goal he deserves.”

For Preston, it’s just three points out of a possible 21 to start the season, which has left them second bottom of the Championship

Despite having 12 shots and 16 corners, the Lilywhites couldn’t force the ball in.

North End boss Paul Heckingbottom said: “We’re really frustrated. While we’re not in front, they’re going to have their counter-attacks, opportunities and set plays and 90 per cent of the time we dealt with it, but ultimately it was their biggest weapon.

“While we’re not getting in front, they’re going to have their opportunities – counter-attacks and set plays.

“There’s no lack of effort there. We had opportunities, but we didn’t force the big moments to go our way. But that’s something we have to put that right, the only way to stop that noise at the end of games is to win games.

“They defended their box really well and they were the ones who forced a scrappy goal in at the other end.

“I can’t be critical of the effort of the players, but we are missing that – what Lincoln did today – being the ones that force the ball in. The margins are so fine.”