T&T England-born international striker Justin Obikwu came off the bench to score and set up another goal as Lincoln City defeated Luton Town 3-1 in the English Football League One at the LNER Stadium on Saturday.
Lincoln City took the lead in the 12th minute when Ben House turned in an assist from Freddie Draper. But with 13 minutes left in the match, Jordan Clarke fired Luton Town level off a feed from Millenic Alli.
With ten minutes left in the contest, Coventry loanee Obikwu was introduced for James Collins and five minutes later, he fired in his team's go-ahead goal before he set up House for the insurance item in the 90th minute.
Speaking after the win, the 21-year-old Obikwu, who featured for the Soca Warriors in their two Concacaf Final Round World Cup qualifiers against Curacao and Jamaica earlier this month, said it was a great feeling to score his first City goal.
He said: “It was a great feeling to score my first goal, especially playing in front of the fans for the first time too.
“I’m very grateful to score and to get my first assist too, which is, of course, a bonus.
“The defender headed the ball onto my hip and then instincts took over. I was pretending to whip it into the far corner and went near post instead.”
Obikwu, who signed for the Imps on deadline day and jetted straight off to the Caribbean to represent T&T, quickly made his mark with the decisive second goal.
He said: “My main aim is to gain as much experience as possible developing under a new head coach and a new team as well.
“Obviously, I want to help the club push towards their objectives too and make a positive contribution by scoring and assisting.
“The fans really carried us through the game, especially towards the end when Luton had equalised.
“When I came on, it was noticeable how loud they were. It was a great team effort and that includes the fans too; they really were the 12th man for us.”
Head coach Michael Skubala was elated with the win and said he wants to keep City's strong start to the season going after victory over Luton Town.
The 3-1 success over the Hatters took the Imps to 18 points from the opening nine games, an impressive two points per game record.
Skubala said: "The lads were all magnificent and we deserved all three points. We want to make sure this is a real fortress for teams to have to come to. Fans can get excited, which we want them to do, but we just want to keep the process going and do what we do.
"We put a tactical plan together, which worked, then with the depth of the squad, everyone is ready to go. All the subs who came on affected the game in such a good way.
"That competition for places is exactly what we need - we know we've got people who can come in and do a job whenever they are called upon."
City are back in action at the LNER Stadium on Tuesday night when Premier League side Chelsea visit in the third round of the Carabao Cup.
Skubala added, "Before this game, there was no mention of Chelsea, but now we've got the three points. We have to recover quickly and get ready for an exciting game on Tuesday.
"Of course it'll be hard and we know their quality, but we'll put a team on the pitch that we think can win the game. We truly believe at home, we can cause damage and hurt anyone."
