Billy McKinlay praised match-winners Tomáš Souček and Łukasz Fabiański for their performances in West Ham United’s 1-0 Carabao Cup third-round win at Lincoln City.
The Irons were made to work hard, very hard, by their EFL League One hosts, who wanted to follow-up their second-round victory over Sheffield United with another upset against Premier League opposition.
Thanks to Fabiański’s heroics between the sticks and Souček’s second-half winner, converted from Saïd Benrahma’s near-post corner, though, it was the Londoners who battled through wet and windy conditions caused by Storm Agnes to reach the fourth round.
Speaking to West Ham TV, assistant coach McKinlay admitted his team had been tested by the Imps, but felt they did enough at both ends of the pitch, ultimately, to deny Mark Kennedy’s side a famous victory.
It’s all about getting through in the cup, and that was the objective before the game.
It was a really difficult game in different conditions and Lincoln put up a really, really good performance and caused us some problems.
I think the boys probably deserved the win and we had opportunities to maybe capitalise on them playing out with some possession in the final third which we should probably have done a bit better with, but we’re really happy to win the tie.
Nothing has changed from the year-dot, that you’ve had to come and earn the right to play.
There were things that the gaffer emphasised before the game, that we’re not just going to turn up and it was going to be a walkover.
We knew it was going to be difficult and that the conditions were going to be tough and they were a factor in the game.
Lincoln have had some good results in their league campaign this year, so we knew it was going to be difficult and we don’t underestimate teams at our place, so we were well-prepared, it was a difficult game and we’re delighted to be through.
We’ve got some good deliverers and we’ve got people who want to go and head the ball.
We’ve been pretty good at that for two or three years and we had other opportunities tonight when we probably should have developed things in the final-third and created a little bit more, so that was something we need to continue to work on.
But a goal is a goal and we’ll take it.
Mohammed Kudus has settled in at the Club really well and we can see there is a talented footballer there who cares about his football and wants to come in and contribute.
I think we maybe just have to be mindful of the fact it is a really tough league, the Premier League, and it’s really difficult to come in and set it alight.
We have to be patient with him, but we certainly think he’s going to be a good player for us.
Łukasz Fabiański has been a stalwart for this Club for a number of years and he obviously has been terrific in the last two games that he’s played.
He made some terrific saves tonight when we needed them, so he is 100 per cent reliable.
