Saturday marks the start of the new season for Lincoln United, with another shot at promotion into step four on the horizon.
Last season, under Chris Funnell, The Whites narrowly missed out on promotion, and went just one penalty kick away from a date at Wembley in the Isuzu FA Vase final.
The summer brought a vat of chances, with the new Scott Hellewell-led management team taking over and bringing in a string of fresh additions.
Speaking to The Linc, he previewed the season ahead: “When you are wanting to compete at the top, and we know there are going to be some good sides in the league, you can’t start poorly. If you do, you are chasing. You need to start well.
“We want to do well in all the competitions, but if it meant now someone saying ‘You’re going to win the league, if you get knocked out of every cup competition in the first round’, then obviously we would take it.”
Hellewell has said the only target his team has set is promotion into step four, adding: “The league has always been the priority, from minute one, and that’s what we said to the players. But, winning breeds confidences. So, no matter what you are winning in, whether it be a cup competition or pre-season, hopefully it will give everyone a boost going into the next game.”
Last season, the cup successes may have caught up with the Ashby Avenue ‘ballers, adding game after game to an already lengthy season. The FA Vase crusade, while joyous and crowd-pleasing, could have been the reason United ran out of steam during the run-in.
Now, Lincoln head into the United Counties Football League Premier Division season as one of the favourites to secure promotion.
Lincoln United’s Busy Pre-Season in the Books:
Hellewell looked back on a packed pre-season, which included clashes with Northern Premier League outfit Gainsborough Trinity, Lincoln City under-21s, and the management team’s former side Winterton Rangers.
He said: “Pre-season is just about getting fit. When it comes to the games, you probably get more out of them then you do the training sessions, and we put the extra games in to look at different shapes, and different personal in different positions. I think it’s gone very, very well.
“Lots of the lads have impressed us throughout pre-season. A lot of the lads who were already here have, and quite a few of the new lads have.”
Curtain Raiser at Wisbech Town:
With the drip-feed announcement of Lincoln United’s fixture list, it has been revealed that The Whites will make the trip to Cambridgeshire on the opening day, to face Wisbech Town.
It is one of the longer journeys in the division for the Lincoln-based outfit, but Hellewell is not fearing the trip.
He said: “Playing Wisbech away first isn’t bad, it’s a long trip and it’s good to get it out of the way early doors and not have to go there in the winter. We’ll be going there looking for the three points, and let’s be fair, anything other than three points and we probably won’t be happy.”
After their opening day at Wisbech, Lincoln return home on Tuesday, July 30, against Newark Town.
Feature Image Credit: Ed Mayes Photography