Gary Caldwell hails Exeter’s character after smash-and-grab win at Lincoln

Exeter boss Gary Caldwell hailed his side’s character following their smash-and-grab 1-0 League One victory at Lincoln.

Kevin McDonald scored a dramatic late winner – in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage-time – as the Grecians clinched their first away points of the season and inflicted the Imps’ first home league defeat of the campaign.

Only Chelsea had turned over Michael Skubala’s side on their home patch this term in a League Cup tie last month.

And a relieved Caldwell, whose side had lost five on the bounce in all competitions before kick-off, said: “I don’t think we’ve lost belief in this poor run.

“Fine margins have gone against us, but today that fine margin has fallen our way. We came up with the moment to score and took it.

“I think we can improve in the final third, things like our decision making.

“I asked for character and I thought everyone in the team showed that and that’s why we deserved to win.

“It’s not easy to win games of football at League One level. It’s not easy to win here. We knew how much it would take, I told the lads we would have to do everything to win and we did that.

“The character, the commitment and the desire from the players was amazing.

“It’s great to see Kevin back. He’s a great character in that dressing room. The respect his team-mates have for him, the quality he shows in training is incredible.

“I thought we’d need his experience today. Some of his passes weren’t great, he’s just said that, but he had the quality and composure in the moment that mattered and I’m buzzing for him.”

The Imps had the better chances but failed to make them count as they slipped to fourth in the table.

Frustrated boss Skubala admitted: “We’re gutted. We’re gutted because you saw their game plan, they came here to smash and grab it.

“We’ve had more than enough opportunities to win that game. We’ve had some clean ones and some half-chances, loads of touches in their box – but we need to score.

“We shouldn’t come off losing that game. The one chance they’re waiting for is a soft goal for us to concede.

“I think we’d have been frustrated at 0-0. We’re gutted because it’s another game we feel we should win.

“This is the challenge for us because as we evolve, teams will come here and stifle it a bit and slow it down.

“We should be frustrated with a 0-0 let alone a loss, that’s the most frustrating thing at the end.

“We were waiting for a perfect opportunity and took too many touches. It’s like we were trying to score a perfect goal when you don’t need to.”