Lincoln City manager Michael Skubala believed Reading 'gave up' after their second goal in Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Sincil Bank.
The Royals conceded a goal in each half to continue their wretched run against the Imps, still winless since 1985.
New arrival Finley Burns was unlucky to divert Rob Street's effort past Joel Pereira to give the hosts a lead and despite having a goal ruled out for offside and twice hitting the woodwork, Reeco Hackett sealed the victory with his strike 25 minutes from the end.
Noel Hunt was frustrated with some of the decisions given by the officials, but Skubala praised his side for their 'solid' set up.
"The first one is good and you’re in it but as soon as the second goal went in I think we could have got more, and we started to create even more," the former Leeds United coach said. "They gave up, if you like. I don’t know if that’s the right term, but I felt like they gave up a little bit. I think that comes from being so solid. If they’ve created one big moment in the game, and we were so solid as an 11.
"If you don’t score and we score again, their desire, because they can’t break us down, is gone. From then onwards it was just managing the game out and making sure we didn’t give anything cheap away to make sure we got a clean sheet."
On the match as a whole, with more than 9,000 in attendance and a healthy travelling contingent of over 1,300 Royals, Skubala summed it up: "As a group, no [I could not have asked for more]. They emptied the tank today and I thought they were fantastic, the 11 and the finishers coming on. As a team, we were solid and strong, competitive and what you want on the first day. It’s never going to be perfect and pure, but you want to get the three points. As effort and desire goes, I thought it was top."
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