Lincoln City will hope to continue their positive form as they host relegation-threatened Fleetwood Town in SkyBet League One action on Saturday.
Michael Skubala’s side come into the game unbeaten in their last four, including a win away at Burton last time out. Reeco Hackett scored the only goal in a contest that the Imps played the majority of with ten-men, following Alex Mitchell’s first-half red card.
This positive run has left fans optimistic of what the rest of the season could bring under Skubala and they will be hopeful for another three points at the LNER Stadium.
Opposition: Fleetwood Town
Fleetwood are in their tenth consecutive season in Sky Bet League One, but this year threatens to end that run. The Cod Army were on a torrid 14 game winless streak that stretched back to November 11 ahead of their win last weekend, leaving firmly in the relegation zone.
The departure of top scorer Jack Marriott to Wrexham late in the January window has not made the difficult task of survival task any easier.
However, Fleetwood manager, former Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam, has certainly turned a corner in the last fortnight. He got his first win as boss at home to Port Vale last weekend and followed it with an impressive 0-2 victory away at Bristol Rovers in midweek.
Despite two recent clean sheets there is no doubt the Lancashire outfit struggle to keep the ball out their own net and sit 23rd for average goals conceded per match with 1.7. Comparatively the Imps sit 5th conceding an average of one goal per match.
Team News:
The Imps will be without defender Alex Mitchell as he serves his one match ban for the red card he was shown at Burton.
A new defensive issue also arose from the Burton game with second-half substitute Jack Burroughs picking up an injury.
Speaking pre-match Michael Skubala said: “Because we had no more changes, he’s suffered an ankle injury so he’s going to be out up to four weeks we think.”
Skubala did comment on how Ben House came through the 30 minutes he played after returning from injury, warning they need to be cautious: “He’s trained okay this week, but we need to be careful, so we don’t lose him for the long term.”
Fleetwood had a very busy January window, bringing in seven new faces, including four loans from Premier league clubs. Bournemouth loanee Gavin Kilkenny has particularly impressive in his first two appearances.
Head-to-Head:
The clubs have met just ten times and it’s a fixture that has been closely contested with three wins a-piece and four draws since their first clash in October 2011.
Alex Mitchell scored the only goal when the Imps won 0-1 at Highbury in October, a match that was Tom Shaw’s first win in interim charge following the dismissal of head coach Mark Kennedy.
The second of those ten meetings was a particularly memorable one with a brace from none other than Jamie Vardy earning the Cod a point from 0-2 down in April 2012.
Played for both:
Centre-back Cian Bolger made the switch to the Imps in January 2019 after 108 games in two-and-a-half seasons at Fleetwood. The Irishman played 51 times before departing in August 2020.
Fleetwood’s January signing Harry Boyes is the only name on the list from the current squads, as he spent the second half of the 2022/23 on loan at the Imps from Sheffield United, making 18 appearances.
Jeff Hughes, Callum Connolly and Danny Rowe are also names who have spent time at both Highbury and Sincil Bank.
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