Reading manager Noel Hunt vowed his team would “bounce back” over the closing three games of the season after their Sky Bet League One play-off hopes suffered a setback in a 1-0 home defeat by Lincoln.
After a goalless first half, Imps substitute James Collins nodded home what proved to be the winner in the 65th minute – with his first touch of the ball after coming on.
Reading, now down one place to seventh in the table, face a trip to Mansfield on Easter Monday.
“We have to bounce back, we just have to,” said Hunt. “This is it.
“Listen, whatever happens, these boys have given everything and it’s important that we stick by them.
“We have to keep pushing, we have three games left. There’s two weeks until the end of the season.
“There’s still loads of peaks and troughs to come. Nothing is ever linear.
“We’ve prepared for this and we’ve just got to keep going.”
The Royals also lost their nine-match unbeaten home record.
“It was very frustrating. We didn’t play as we really wanted to,” Hunt said.
“We didn’t have the same intensity as we have done over the last few weeks and months.
“Lincoln made it hard for us. They’re a strong and organised side and we knew that set plays would be a big part of the game.
“We just got the detail wrong, unfortunately, and a set-play decided it.
“That did annoy me as we’d worked on that only yesterday. It’s just a small detail but it’s cost us.
“But we got going after that and, in the last 10 minutes, we kind of showed what we’re really about. I’d like to have seen that earlier in the game.”
Mid-table Lincoln are now undefeated in four matches.
“I loved us,” Imps head coach Michael Skubala said. “In every part of that game, I loved us.
“We were defensively strong and had a threat (going forward). I think that we had everything today. If you looked at it, it was a proper performance.
“Sometimes you can question our technical or tactical things but, for me, you can’t question the character of this group of lads. You can’t question their motivation, either.
“To come here and play like that, against a team that’s chasing a play-off place… I thought it was a top performance.
“At times, especially in the last ten minutes, we’ve had to dig in, win our headers and get in our clearances.
“For all the work that these lads do, they were so good today. And in every facet of the game.
“Maybe we can get cleaner in moments, in transitional moments, but we keep progressing and we keep moving forward.
“It’s a blueprint for the future.”
