Lincoln City will be hoping to claim their second home victory in five days on Saturday when Accrington Stanley make the journey east.
City expelled memories of the 4-2 defeat at Barnet last weekend with an impressive win over Oxford on Tuesday night which put them on 42 points—just eight away from manager Steve Tilson’s target for Football League survival.
A victory for the Imps could theoretically see them edge into the top half of the league for the first time this season, depending on results elsewhere.
Visitors Accrington Stanley have lost just one of their last five games away from home, but have endured a torrid time on the road for much of this season. Stanley didn’t win an away league game until a New Year’s Day win over Morecambe—which came at the 14th time of asking.
Tilson though reserved praise for the Lancashire club. He said: “They get some youngsters from Liverpool and Everton. They try and pass it but as we saw on Tuesday night, Oxford played the better football, no doubt about that, but I think we worked a little bit harder and got the result on the day.
“It’s two sides that find themselves in the middle of table but both sides know 50 points is in their sights so they’ll be looking to get there as soon as possible.”
Lincoln have been rocked by the news that on loan defender Gavin Hoyte is going to have to spend six months on the sidelines after damaging his anterior cruciate ligament, medial ligament and lateral collateral ligament in one go. They will also be without midfielder Luke Howell after he limped out of the midweek win over the U’s with the former MK Dons man expected to be missing for two to three weeks with a hamstring injury. Clark Keltie also remains unavailable for selection.
Mustapha Carayol is in line to be handed another start after impressing in midweek, but the Gambian winger says he is not happy with his performances for the Imps so far.
Carayol said: “I set my targets quite high and the way I finished last season meant I wanted to carry it on.
“It wasn’t the case because I got injured early in the season and was out for three or four weeks so it took me a while to get my fitness and start playing well. Then the weather killed us and then I got injured again so it’s been a bit of a stop-start season for me.
“Hopefully I can play the rest of the games and do really well.”
Accrington boss John Coleman, who was linked with Lincoln City before Tilson was appointed in October, has his top scorer Terry Gornell fit for selection and he will be a threat to the City backline, as will former Huddersfield playmaker Ian Craney.
Kick-off at Sincil Bank is 3pm.