By Nathan Jackson
February 13 2011

As obscene as it may sound, Lincoln could be a top ten side at 10pm on Tuesday evening. The Imps were rock bottom of the season three weeks ago but six wins in seven means that a win at the Recreation Ground could see City go tenth, but it would require a first ever win away at Aldershot Town.

The game at Aldershot will come exactly a month after a 2-1 home defeat to Wycombe Wanderers. That game was arguably the low point of the season as it left City adrift at the bottom and looking at trips to Forest Green, Tamworth and Gateshead next season. Little did we know what the next few weeks would bring.

A 4-3 win away at Stockport was the catalyst for one of the most memorable turnarounds in fortune of any team at League Two level in recent memory. It was the first of six wins from the last seven games and after a season of looking like one of the teams likely to go down, the Imps are now on the verge of the top ten. Infact, City will go 10th if Torquay and Southend lose to Burton and Wycombe at home, however, City are guaranteed to be in the top half at the very least if we win as Cheltenham are not playing, however, after a season of struggle, you'd be hard pushed to find a single Lincoln fan that would be fussed about being 12th rather than 10th (a defeat could see us fall to 16th). Infact, Tilson is on the way to guiding us to our highest League finish since 2006/7.

However, we also know how City can easily collapse, last Tuesday's 5-1 defeat against Shrewsbury said that, and given that Aldershot are one of the two teams we are yet to face, meaning we generally know very little about them, especially as they have a new manager. 

Due to a lot of games in a short amount of time, we are starting to pick up injuries and Hoyte, Kelly and Hunt will all miss the game through injury, although all three have cost us several goals in recent weeks so it's not exactly a bad thing. Carayol could start the game, replacing Kelly and Kanyuka could be given just his second start, whereas Fuseini is also likely to retain his place.

THE LIKELY CITY STARTING XI
	There was a moment of panic when he went down injured on Saturday, but thankfully he recovered and went on to record his third clean sheet in four games. He loan spell is set to end after Saturday's game against his old club Chesterfield.
	Clapham made a rare appearances in Saturday's win and generally did quite well. However, you get a feeling that he is only on borrowed time and will be dropped as soon as Hunt is fit again.
	Kanyuka's third appearance saw his first good performance against Morecambe. He did considerably better in defence than he had in midfield, and he even got his passes to arrive at their intended destination.
	If ever there is proof that Chris Sutton is a tool then it's the fact that the Imps defence has been far better since Danny Hone returned from Darlington. Hone is the only player who will (probably) start to the game to have played in City's first ever game against Aldershot two seasons ago.
	Fuseini made his first start against Morecambe and generally did quite well. One he gains full fitness he should become one of the best players in the side.
	He is everything that Jarrett was, he can run down the wing, beat defenders, put in quality crosses and has a decent shot, Jarrett rarely produces any of those and it's why McCallum is our first choice left midfielder.
	Hasn't been outstanding in recent weeks but he is definitely a trier, something that can't be said for some other central midfielders at the club.
	Easily our most improved player over the last few months and he has been one of the ever presents of the current run.
	Watts continues to play well alongside Hone and if we can keep both fit then we could well end the season well. This is the most stable a Lincoln central defensive pair has looked since the early days of Keith's second reign.
	Eleven goals this season sees him comfortably at the top of the scoring charts for the Imps. He's the only one who consistently looks like scoring and he could be the difference in where we finish this season.
	To be honest Facey has been poor over the last two games by his recent standards and you get a feeling Spencer will get his chance pretty soon if Facey doesn't rediscover his form.

Now, before someone says it, this is NOT the same football club that used to be in the Football League. This football club has only existed since 1992 and therefore any mention of the team from before 1992 is irrelevant as it is a completely different club. Because of this, there isn't a lot of recent history between the two clubs. The two teams have only ever met on four occasions and Aldershot have won three of those.

The first ever meeting between the clubs came in November 2008 when Peter Jackson took his Lincoln side down to the Recreation Ground. City dominated the first half but fell behind just before half time as Sandell bundled home from a corner. Aldershot bossed the second half and Scott Davies gave the Shots a deserved victory.

Aldershot made their first ever visit to Sincil Bank on the final day of the 2008/9 season and goals from John Grant and Scott Davies were enough to win the game for Aldershot, but it was a day remembered for the shear amount of "sitters" that Lincoln missed and it was a game that was to prove costly for Ben Wright. The striker was going to be offered a new contract, that despite just three goals all season, but the chances he missed changed Peter Jackson's mind and he instead released Wright.

A few months later and Aldershot became the first team of the tenure of Chris Sutton. Talk about a false-dawn. City were brilliant that day and created chances for fun, eventually taken the lead in the 83rd minute through Sergio Torres. It was the first of just 14 games that we won under Sutton in 51 attempts. Aldershot secured their Playoff place in the return game towards the end of the season. City wasted chance after chance before Davide Somma eventually gave City the lead for what would turn out to be his final goal for the Imps, but a double from Marvin Morgan and a Dean Morgan strike meant a 3-1 win for the Shots.

The final game of this season will see Aldershot make the trip to Sincil Bank and strangely, City's game at Aldershot this Tuesday will be the third time City have played away at Aldershot Town and each time City have travlled their with a different manager.

The clubs don't even have a history of sharing players. Since the turn of the millenium only two players have been at both clubs, although Junior Mendes (above, right) is the only man to have actually played for both. The other was Omari Coleman, the young striker joined the Imps from Watford and City loaned him to Aldershot in the 2005/6 season. He never played a game for the Imps.

Current Aldershot man Alex Rodman has spent time at Lincoln United.

Aldershot are managed by a man who a strange legacy in football. When 2003 began Dean Holdsworth (left) couldn't have been aware that seven months later he would become the first ever player to be at a club at all four professional levels and with four different teams within the same calendar year. I'm going to refer to the divisions as they were known then. He started the year at Premiership Bolton Wanderers but quickly went to Division 1 side Coventry, he stayed there until transfer deadline day when he then joined Division Three side Rushden. The Diamonds won Division Three before Holdsworth joined Division Two's MK Dons.

Holdsworth has been at Aldershot after a brilliant spell as Newport manager. He has secured nine points in his first six games, two wins and three draws is a decent return for a rookie manager, although the last three games have all been drawn, two of which have been against relegation candidates.

This season has been a bit of a reality check for Aldershot. They made the Playoffs last season but joined a rare club of teams to reach the Playoffs and not score, losing 3-0 on aggregate. Since the inception of the Playoffs, only Colchester (1987), Stockport (1990), Bury (1993), Preston (1995), Chester (1997), Leyton Orient and Rotherham (both 1999 - Orient are the only team to ever not score in all three Playoff matches, winning the semis against Rotherham on penalties after two 0-0 games, but losing the final 1-0 to Scunthorpe), Hartlepool (2000) and Northampton (2005)  have failed to score at all in the Playoffs. Ironically the old Aldershot team were the first team to win the Playoffs at this level, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers in the final.

Only twice during the entire season have Aldershot won back to back games and whilst home form has been their strong point in recent seasons, only four of their fourteen home games have ended with victory. They have picked up sixteen points at home.....although City have picked up nineteen poins on the road.

Can City achieve the obscene at Aldershot?

Discussion started by theimps.ka (IP Logged), 14/02/2011 19:33

theimps.ka
14/02/2011 19:33

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