By Nathan Jackson
September 20 2005

Lincoln travel to Fulham in the Carling Cup, it's the first meeting in 6 years the two teams have met in any competition. City used to beat Fulham all the time and used to be awful but then a millionaire Egyptian came along and they got 3 promotions in 5 years, coincedence?

After Saturday's laughable display against Peterbrough, City get a welcome break from the league with the distraction of the Carling Cup 2nd Round and this time, we face Fulham. Last year's outing to Birmingham was a day enjoy by many, that eventually ended in defeat however. City can't realistically expect to win this game unless the Cottagers play their youth team.

Keith has promised changes, so expect the starting line-up to remain exactly as it was (as usual)

Who I think will start (Right to left)

Marriott

Beevers     Morgan    McCombe   Mayo

Cryan     Kerr     Keates

Birch  Asamoah

 

Fulham are only in the Premiership because of Mohammed Al Fayed. Exactly 10 seasons ago, was the last pre-Al Fayed season and they struggled tremendously to stay in the league. Al Fayed brought them during the summer of 1996 and they went on to win 3 promotions in 5 years and are now an established Premiership side.

Under Chris Coleman, they have had their most successful period in their history and in 2003/4, secured the only top 10 finish. This season has started less well. They only won 1 of their pre-season games and have also recorded just 1 league win, coming against Everton. They started their season with a home draw to Birmingham, before 2 defeats at Blackburn and Arsenal saw them struggling. The win against Everton came next before a draw at Newcastle was followed by Saturday's 2-1 home defeat by West Ham.

The two teams haven't met for 6 years. City have played 23 times at Craven Cottage, won 3, drawn 4 and lost 16. The most recent season we played each other was 98/99 where Fulham won both meetings. However, before that, City hadn't lost to Fulham since 1958