Lincoln City welcome Cheltenham Town to the LNER Stadium on Saturday (30th September), looking to record a league win for the first time since August.
As for the visitors, they too are an out-of-form side, yet to win at all this season after nine games.
The Imps currently occupy 13th spot in the SkyBet League One standings, with The Robins bottom, with only one point.
Mark Kennedy’s most recent fixture was a mouth-watering third round Carabao cup tie, at home to Premier League side West Ham United. The Imps narrowly lost 1-0, in a positive display. As for Cheltenham, they’ve had a couple more days preparation, since last Saturday’s 3-0 home defeat to high-flying Stevenage.
Opposition: Cheltenham Town FC
Over the last couple of seasons, The Robins have begun to establish themselves as a League One side, after promotion to the third division at the end of the 2020/2021 season.
The Gloucestershire-based side were promoted as Champions that year, and have been successful in staying in League One, with respectable 15th and 16th place finishes since.
However, the start to this season has been disastrous. Head coach Wade Elliott left the club by ‘mutual consent’ early on in the season, leaving them managerless. They are yet to win after nine games, with only a single point coming in a 0-0 draw away to Portsmouth.
Interim manager Kevin Russell has yet to see his side score in the league and will be looking to change his side’s fortunes when they arrive in Lincolnshire.
Team News:
The striker injury crisis remains for Mark Kennedy, with Ben House, Tyler Walker and Jake Vale still side-lined with long term injuries, along with defender Lewis Montsma.
Forward Danny Mandroiu could be in contention for a return to action. The Irishman just missed the midweek cup tie against West Ham, so could be involved on Saturday.
As for the Robins, James Olayinka remains suspended following his red card at Peterborough. Experienced defender Curtis Davies could feature after being on the bench against Stevenage last week.
The referee for the fixture will be Ben Atkinson.
Head-to Head:
Historically, this has been a successful contest for the Imps, as they are yet to be beaten by The Robins since 2017. Since then, Lincoln have taken maximum points four times and have drawn three.
The two sides first met in November 1998 in the FA Cup. City won that day 1-0 away from home and will be looking to repeat a similar scoreline on Saturday. Kennedy’s side will go into the game as favourites to extend the unbeaten run over Cheltenham Town to eight games.
Played for Both:
Cheltenham Town currently has three former Imps within their ranks. Defender Sean Long made 45 appearances for City between June 2017 and June 2018. Midfielder Curtis Thompson made a singular senior appearance for Lincoln back in 2011 whilst on a short loan from Notts County. Fellow midfielder Ellis Chapman made 31 appearances, either side of a loan move to Chesterfield, before being released and snapped up by the Robins.
LincSport will provide live updates of the game on Twitter/X, along with a post-match report.