Lincoln City begin their seventh season in Sky Bet League One tomorrow as they welcome Reading to the LNER stadium as they hope to silence doubters.
The Opponents: Reading
The Royals finished seventh last season despite ownership struggles in which they were placed under a transfer embargo until the club was sold.
Former chairman Dai Yongge did eventually sell the club and its facilities to former Wycombe Wanderers chairman and American businessman Rob Couhig.
Since that sale, towards the end of last season, the transfer embargo was lifted and the club have been working hard to maintain their play-off push.
They welcomed former Imps captain Paudie O’Connor as one of eight signings this summer that also included Portsmouth striker Paddy Lane.
Lane scored 12 goals as Pompey won the league in 2023/24, and Imps fans will most likely remember him from his controversial celebration on the last day of the same season.
Team News:
Michael Skubala’s side come into the season with two new faces in the side as they welcomed Sonny Bradley from Derby County on a free transfer.
Alongside him was left-sided defender Ryler Towler who joined from Championship side Portsmouth and featured at left-back throughout most of pre-season.
The side will be hoping to silence many doubters going into the new season having won three out of six pre-season games.
However, they will be without Ethan Erhahon, Sean Roughan and Paudie O’Connor who all left the club this summer for fellow League One sides.
Alongside that, Erik Ring and Lewis Montsma have both missed parts of pre-season with injury however Skubala said: “Ring is close, really close.
“He should be coming back into training this week. We have got a bit more assessment to do on Lewis to see how long that will be, so we aren’t too sure on that.”
Head-to-head:
The two sides have faced off against each other 26 times in the past with the Imps losing out seven times including the first meeting in 1961.
However, they have had the better of their opponents 10 times and have shared the points on 11 occasions having not lost since the turn of the century.
Two of those victories came last season as James Collins found the only goal of the game at the Select Car Leasing Stadium in April.
Earlier in the season, goals from loanee Bailey Cadamarteri and winger Reeco Hackett were enough to see the Imps win 2-0 at Sincil Bank.
Played for both:
Paudie O’Connor is the obvious name returning to Sincil Bank following his departure at the start of summer.
However, also facing off against his former club is Lincoln City’s Ben House who came through the Royals academy and made one first team appearance in 2020.