By Nathan Jackson
February 15 2010

Although it may not seem like a fixture that is likely to appear on a DVD of the Imps most important games ever, the game against Accrington could be a massive turning point in our season. The Imps will either end the game 11 points clear of Grimsby before the game on Saturday, or Accrington Stanley will gain their first ever point(s) at Sincil Bank.

When the build up of fixtures in February was noticed, a lot of people said it was an excellent chance to pick up a lot of points in a short amount of time, but it is instead turning into a bit of a nightmare time for City. The Imps have played four times in February so far, picking up just a single point for their troubles, even that was lucky. With arguably the biggest game in the club's history coming against Grimsby on Saturday, it is vitally important that the Imps go into the game with some sort of momentum.

Accrington Stanley could be viewed by some as the ideal team to get City momentum. The Imps have beaten Stanley in every match the clubs have ever played against each other at Sincil Bank, with last season's 5-1 game being Peter Jackson's highest win as Lincoln manager. However, Accrington have shown that they are no pushovers this season, and much like the majority of other teams they could easily come to Sincil Bank and get something.

It seems strange how our home form has completely gone to pot in recent seasons. There used to be a hatful of managers who came to Sincil Bank and said that there wouldn't be many sides getting points at Lincoln, not there aren't many sides who won't get points. If you go back to that aforementioned game against Accrington, way back in December 2008, you'll see we have only won six times at home since that in all competitions and that includes the pre-season friendlies in which City lost all three of the games played before the season began.

With games coming thick and fast, it's about time that some of the players pulled their finger out, not only for the club's sake, but also to save their City career. With nine Imps out of contract in the summer, they have mere months to start impressing. Paul Connor needs to start scoring, whereas Stefan Oakes will need to stop asking himself "Is it the right temperature outside? Is the wind blowing in the correct direction?" to earn a new contract.

Swaibu is suspended following on from his red card against Rotherham, leading to a bit of a selection headache in the defence. With Baker still out injured and Paul Green having not played since the game at Chesterfield, it leads to the question about who will play in the defence in Swaibu's place. One potential solution is to push Danny Hone into the centre of defence and push Hughton back from midfield.

OUR EXPECTED CITY STARTING LINE UP
	Burch finally made a vital save for the first time since the Bradford game when he saved at point blank range against Rotherham. The chances of Burch being dislodged from the first team any time soon are quite slim.
	Watts did well on Saturday as he did his best to keep Rotherham’s attack quiet.  To be honest, there’s not much as I can say about Watts. He’s easily the best defender at the club and should walk into the first team when fit.
	With Swaibu and Baker both missing because of varying reasons, it is likely that the young defender will move into the centre back position from the right back position he has played in recent weeks.
	Anderson seemed very quiet on Saturday, mainly due to Stefan Oakes suddenly coming back into the team.
	With the defence needing a bit of covering due to injuries and suspensions, Hughton will more than likely come in to fill in the right back position that he played in for the majority of the early season.
	With Hughton moving to right back, it is likely that Clarke will take up the missing midfield position.
	Scott has a great record against Accrington and 3 of his 8 goals for the Imps have come against Tuesday night's opposition.
	If the air is the right temperature and humidity, if the wind is blowing in the right direction but at a speed that doesn’t displace his hair and if the grass is mowed into the right pattern, then Oakes will probably play. If all three of the above don’t apply, expect Oakes to be out with a “groin injury”.
	<----Chris Herd  Chris showed his weakness on Saturday, a lack of willing to pass the ball when there are several players around him. However, he’s still a class above anything we currently have.
	Gilmour continues to improve all the time and links up the midfield quite well. Maybe he could be the star main against a side who mainly struggle against City's smaller players.
	Despite being a bit useless, Connor will almost certainly start against Accrington. He is now the only striker at the club who hasn’t scored and that never really looks like changing.
	<---Steven Lennon Scored his first goal for the club on Saturday and for the third time changed the game. However, despite Sutton raving about him, and much like what happened to Michael Uwezu, he’s not really getting many chances.

Lincoln City and Accrington Stanley have played each other seven times, with City coming out the victors on five of those occasions. Now, to all those people who dispute that we've only ever played seven times against Accrington Stanley, this is not the same club that the Imps played way back before the 1960s.

Anyway, the first meeting came in September 2006 when a confident Imps side faced the newly promoted Stanley. Nicky Eaden was making his Imps debut, but it was Mark Stallard who stole the show as he scored two of City's goals as the Imps comfortably beat the Conference Champions 3-1. The next meeting came in February that season and the Imps were just starting the slump that would cost them any chance of automatic promotion. Lee Beevers gave City the lead before Accrington equalised. Kerr put City ahead again but Mullin equalised late on. City would only win two games after this.

The 2007/8 saw Accrington be the second team to visit Sincil Bank and goals from Dany N'Guessan and Louis Dodds gave the hosts the victory......it would be the last time City would win in any competition for one day short of three months. City made the return trip in February 12^th, the same day that it was announced Iffy Onuora was our new assistant manager and two days before Jackson announced he had cancer. Mark Stallard opened up the scoring after just six minutes, Ben Wright and Beevers both scored in the first half.

A welcome early-Christmas present in 2008 came in the result of a 5-1 win over Accrington. Accrington had opened the scoring from 25 yards, whilst also having another goal disallowed and twice hitting the bar. A triple substitution at half time changed the game as Adrian Patulea (twice), Aaron Brown, Ben Wright and Lee Frecklington completed what Sky Sports claimed at the time was the fastest time a side took to score five goals.....although this record doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere else. Scott Kerr scored both goals as City won 2-0 at the Fraser Eagle Stadium last April.

City's first away game of this season came at Accrington and City were second best for most of the match, with the hosts scoring the only goal in 50^th minute through Kempson.

Accrington have defied most pundit's predictions that they would struggle this season and are actually not that far off of the Playoffs. It didn't start as well though as they lost all but one of their first five League games.....only beating City. However, a 2-1 win at Oldham in the JP Trophy changed everything. That was followed by two League wins against Bury and Darlington.

Stanley went on a run of good results that included beating promotion challengers such as Rochdale and Notts County, infact they remain as the only club to have won at Meadow Lane this season. They also beat Shrewsbury and Bury, two more promotion challengers, in the JP Trophy before eventually going out to Leeds.

Recent results haven't quite been as impressive though as they have not scored in their last two games, losing 4-0 at Northampton and drawing 0-0 at Macclesfield.

One of two things will happen, either Accrington will get their first ever points at Sincil Bank or the Imps will gain a massive advantage over Grimsby. Whatever happens, after this game it will be the first time all season where Grimsby will actually have games in hand over City, meaning that not losing is even more vital than it was before hand.

However, this squad don't seem to be able to handle pressure and it wouldn't surprise me if Accrington secured a victory at Sincil Bank.

City 0 Accrington 1

Something's got to give against Accrington Stanley

Discussion started by theimps.tk (IP Logged), 15/02/2010 11:39

theimps.tk
15/02/2010 11:39

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Red Imp
15/02/2010 11:55

I don't think we'll get away with playing 12 players...!

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cherryexile
15/02/2010 12:04

We can only try.

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