BARNSLEY head coach Conor Hourihane said he was disappointed with the loss against Lincoln on Monday night but believes he is seeing signs of improvement.
Adam Reach's fantastic volley added to Tom Hamer's early opener to give the Imps the victory.
Barnsley were poor in the first half but started the second half well, only for Reach's volley to prove a real sucker punch.
The result leaves Barnsley in 15th, just two points above the League One relegation zone.
Hourihane said: "I'm really disappointed.
"We're going through a bit of a sticky patch at the minute, obviously since the Leyton Orient game we've lost three in a row.
"I think I was more pleased with that tonight than I was the last couple of games.
"Coming up against a team who are second in the league we knew it was going to be tough but I thought we were in the game throughout.
"It's a group that are really honest and they do everything I ask them to do."
After the Boxing Day defeat to Mansfield Hourihane said the club needs time to rebuild and he reiterated that following the Lincoln defeat.
He added: "You've (the fans) just got to stick with us and understand that we're hurting and I'm hurting.
"We don't intentionally go out there and lose games of football.
"We're trying so hard.
"We've got some really exciting players and the club's in a bit of a phase now where there's a little bit of a rebuild with younger, exciting players.
"If we can recruit properly in January then hopefully we'll get some players to guide the younger lads as well."
