Lincoln City will play their second league game in three days on Monday afternoon when they take on Northampton Town at Sixfields.
City slumped to another home defeat on Saturday after Bradford City secured a 2-1 victory at Sincil Bank, but Steve Tilson will be hoping his team can come away with something from the match against the Cobblers.
The Imps are level on points with Barnet, the current occupiers of the second relegation place in League Two, but do have three games in hand on the London side. Northampton are just five points ahead of Lincoln and have played two more games than Tilson’s side.
Reportedly Barnsley-bound Kern Miller is likely to remain the only absentee for Lincoln City as the central defender continues to recover from a broken jaw. Ashley Grimes has extended his loan spell from Millwall and should retain his starting place up front.
With no other moves in the transfer market confirmed for the Imps, manager Tilson will have to look to the likes of Gavin McCallum, Luke Howell and under-fire striker Ben Hutchinson if he wishes to change from the 11 who began the match against Bradford.
Ian Sampson’s Northampton Town team have struggled so far this season, despite being tipped for a high finish before the campaign began. However at Sixfields, Northampton’s defence is relatively solid, having conceded just nine goals there so far this season—meaning Lincoln’s misfiring frontline will not be handed any easy opportunities to score.
Midfielder Ryan Gilligan will miss the game for Sampson’s side after he contracted pneumonia over the Christmas period. They could also be without top scorer Leon McKenzie who has been struggling with a knee injury.
The two sides met at Sincil Bank back in November and Northampton inflicted a first league defeat on City manager Tilson after finishing the game with a 2-0 victory.