Lincoln City welcome League two side Notts County to the LNER Stadium tonight in the opening game week of the Vertu Trophy group stages.
The Imps will be looking to keep up the great momentum that they have been building on already this season.
Their strong start has seen them beaten just once in all competitions after Adam Jackson was shown a red card against AFC Wimbledon.
That leaves them in ninth place in the Sky Bet League One table and with a Carabao Cup third round tie against Club World Cup winners Chelsea to look forward to.
Opponents – Notts County
The Magpies on the other hand, haven’t had the best start to their third successive League Two campaign.
Martin Paterson’s side have picked up eight points from a possible 18, landing them in the middle of the pack.
It took until they faced relegation threatened Shrewsbury Town two weeks ago, to pick up victory as a dominant attacking display earnt them a 4-1 win.
Unlike Lincoln, County lost their first-round Carabao Cup fixture against Wigan Athletic all thanks to a Paul Mullin penalty kick.
Team News
Defender Sonny Bradley will be forced to sit this match out after his straight red card on Saturday.
Young prospect Zane Okoro will also be unavailable after he finalised a loan move to NIFL Premiership side Coleraine FC yesterday.
The Imps were also busy bringing faces in on deadline day as Finn Barbrook and Jordan Obikwu joined on loan from Championship sides Ipswich Town and Coventry City.
They were also joined by Adam Reach who signed a one-year deal on a free transfer before Dexter Lemibikisa joined on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers after the deadline.
While all are expected to be available tonight, it remains unclear as to which of the four newest faces will feature. However, we can expect that Ivan Varfolomeev and Oscar Thorn may get their firsts start having only featured on the bench since signing for the club.
Head-to-head
The two sides last squared up against each other in the same competition in 2023. That match saw the Imps progress into the later stages of the competition after loanees Jack Vale and Jack Burroughs scored in a 2-0 home win for the Imps.
Overall, County have had more successes beating the Imps on 35 occasions with the two sides clashing 72 times since the first meeting in 1983.
Played for both
Jorge Grant and Terry Hawkridge are two players who have spent time in both teams’ colours.
Grant joined the Imps in 2019 and went onto make it to the League One play-off final under Micheal Appleton as he scored 19 goals throughout his short stay at the club.
Hawkridge left Lincoln in 2017 after scoring the goal that secured the Imps’ return to the football league in their wildly dominant National League winning season.
He joined County and subsequently left after just one season to return to the National League with Solihull Moors.