Lincoln City have the opportunity to seal promotion to the EFL Championship in just a matter of hours as earning as little as a point against Reading will put them out of reach of third place Bolton Wanderers.
It would be a historic achievement for the Imps, who haven’t experienced football in England’s second tier for 65 years. The task is simple, take a single point from their final six games in SkyBet League One.
However, Lincoln will hope they won’t have to wait any further to start the celebrations, with the opportunity presenting itself to secure promotion today at the SelectCar Leasing Stadium.
Michael Skubala’s side have set themselves up perfectly to secure promotion today, beating AFC Wimbledon 1-0 on Good Friday thanks to a late winner scored by substitute Ryan Oné.
Those three points helped City to maintain an 18-point gap between themselves and the sides sitting in the play-off places, meaning goal difference is the only thing forcing the fans to put a halt on their celebratory promotion plans.
To confirm a finish inside the top two of League One, they will have to either draw or beat Reading, who remain in the hunt to secure promotion to the Championship themselves this season.
Liam Richardson’s side currently sit sixth in the table on 62 points, only occupying a play-off place by the skin of their teeth as Stevenage are just one point behind them with two games in hand.
Recent form puts Lincoln City as firm favourites for the match, winning five of their last six games – whilst the Royals have won just two, losing and drawing the same number of games.
After the crucial win on Friday, Skubala said: “No, it doesn’t change the preparations, we’ll keep our methodology and we’ll keep our planning and we’ll keep everything the same because it’s got us to this point.
“There’s no point to change anything we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing.”
James Collins, Oscar Thorn, Adam Reach and Adam Jackson are all expected to be absent from the potentially record breaking squad, with no positive updates coming from within the camp since the Imps last featured.
If Lincoln fail to win today, they may still be able to get the job done at the LNER Stadium when they face Leyton Orient on Saturday in their penultimate home match of the season.