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Lincoln City boss Chris Cohen takes heart from defeat while paying Middlesbrough big compliment What Lincoln City boss Chris Cohen said about Middlesbrough and their 2-1 win over his side Chris Cohen believes Middlesbrough will be among the toughest of away games for any Championship club this season, as he took heart from Lincoln City's opening-day defeat. Newly-promoted Lincoln impressed in the first half as they made life difficult for Boro and were good value for their half-time lead through Adam Reach. But Boro's quality and depth showed in an improved second-half showing, with Will Lankshear scoring twice to seal three points for Kim Hellberg's side. Reflecting on the loss, co-boss Cohen said: “Most definitely, [take heart from that]. It was an amazing performance - the heart, the passion the boys played with. “The first half was exactly what we wanted it to look like: where we wanted to be, and where we wanted to have them. We were a constant threat on their goal when we had possession. “But in the second half we just dropped a little bit too deep, lost our punch, and when you do that against really good teams with really good players, whether it's a moment of luck like the first goal that deflects off someone, or a moment of magic like the second goal was, you might might not might not survive as as much as we did last year. “So yeah, that was the lesson, but we’re proud of the players, and amazingly proud of the fans because the support was incredible. But now, how do we keep the aggression in the game in the second?” Paying Boro a big compliment, he added: “They're a brilliant football team and obviously probably should have gone up as one of the top two last year. “Now they have invested really heavily into the team as well. So we knew that that would be as tough a test as we'll have all season away from home. “But what a performance in that first half to give players, fans and us belief in terms of what we're able to do at the next level. “It can't be helped that everyone is disappointed in that changing room afterwards because it didn't quite work out. The second half didn't work out the way we really wanted it to.” ------------- Get Teesside Live Premium now for just £1 HERE – exclusive Boro news and features, transfer notebooks, comment and analysis from Eric Paylor, plus an ad-lite experience Join our WhatsApp community to get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe. Your information will be hidden, you'll only ever receive messages from the Teesside Live sports team, and you can leave any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'Exit group'. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.