The most eventful week of the season so far for Lincoln City will end with a trip to Roots Hall to face Southend United, on Saturday.
With Chris Sutton and Ian Pearce’s departure now an out-of-date story it is down to caretaker manager Scott Lindsey to direct proceedings hoping that his first game in charge will end with a maximum three points recorded.
Lincoln’s opposition, Southend, were relegated from League One last season and currently find themselves six places above City in 14th position.
The major problem the Imps have faced over the last few matches is that they have played majority football but haven’t been able to take their chances in the final third of the pitch. Lindsey feels that this is something that will eventually develop in his team’s game and that patience is essential.
He said: “I don’t think you can actually do anything in training to make that happen. You can do all the shooting and finishing exercises under the sun but that isn’t going to make it all happen.
“It will eventually come, we’ve had more chances in the last three games then I’ve ever known. I think it’s just about being a little patient and making sure that we are still getting in those areas to score, I think it’d be more of an issue if we weren’t having chances, you know want, will, desire and passion were all there on Tuesday night it was just the end product but I think that will come.”
Former manager Chris Sutton was reknowned for labelling each game in the League Two calendar as 50/50 and this is certainly a mantra that the former first team coach shares, especially when Southend have lost two of their three fixtures at home this campaign.
“They’re quite organised and they have quite a strong back-four, but they’re no different to what we’ve played against as such but you know it’s going to be a battle I think that goes without saying.
“I think it’s going to be the first 20 minutes where we make sure we’re on the front foot and ensure that we win our first headers and tackles and the second balls but I think that goes without saying. And then as the game opens up we can start to play and hopefully create chances from that,” Lindsey said.
Another positive for the Imps is the amount of injured players they currently have in the squad — only Andy Hutchinson [metatarsal] and Paul Green [thigh] will miss Saturday’s trip down south. Captain Scott Kerr will be unavailable as he serves the last game of his three-match ban after he was shown a straight red against Accrington two weeks ago.
Similar to Sutton and Pearce, Lindsey has been at Sincil Bank over a year now and despite City’s current position in the league, he firmly believes that there has been a big change in where the club is now, to where it was this time last season.
The 38-year-old said: “I think the club’s in a better state on the pitch I must admit I think if you look back to a year ago we were down near the bottom and we had a fight on our hands to stay in the league.
“I think Chris did a good job doing that and we kept in the league. And then we built a new side as it were for this year, I think we brought in eight or nine players, and we’ve had a tough start, yes, and we’ve not come up with the goods but it’s difficult for these new players to gel straight away and I think the problem being is that people want instant success.
“We all want instant success but we’ve got to be, maybe a little bit patient and I think we’ve definitely turned the side around on the pitch without a doubt and we’re not far from being a good side.”
The Linc’s prediction: Southend 2 Imps 1 – After a week of uncertainty and change, a win against the Shrimpers could be a step too far for an Imps side desperately looking to write a new chapter in the Lincoln City history books.