By Nathan Jackson
September 3 2010

Lincoln City have the difficult task of attempting to become the first side to take points off of Chesterfield at the Spireites' new home. Chesterfield have won both league games played at the new stadium, but the Imps have only lost one of the last four meetings and won on their last away league game, so it could be an interesting game.

4 defeats from our opening 6 games in all competitions hasn't been the best start to the season. Infact, the four point haul from the opening four League games is only better than one recent season, the 2008/9 season when the Imps only picked up a single point from the opening quartet of matches. Last season saw 6 points after 4 games, as did 2007/8, but we had a very impressive eight a year before. However, if you wanted to look on the positive side of things, we only gained four points from our opening four games of the 2004/5 season before going on to reach the Playoff Final.

In all fairness, the Imps have deserved more from their opening four games so far this season. There isn't one league game where the opposition have outplayed us all throughout the match and we've had the goalscoring opportunities to take the lead in all of the matches. At Rotherham we drew level before Carayol missed a near sitter, against Torquay we had a goal disallowed and wasted several chances, before last week's game against Crewe when City created 19 chances but scored just one. Infact it seems almost strange that our only win so far came in the game where we only looked like scoring once or twice.

Overall it has been a very mixed start to the season. The optimists will look at our League position and think that it shows improvement, the pessimists will concentrate on the fact we've lost exactly half of our league games, and the realists would have realised ages ago that we've made no progression on the pitch since Sutton arrived late last September.

Now Sutton will attempt to do something that no manager has achieved since March 2003, becoming the first away team to win at a new stadium in the league, the previous one being Hull's KC Stadium. Chesterfield's new B2Net Stadium is a far cry from Saltergate, but they have already started to replicate the form from their previous home, winning both League matches to be held there so far, the last of which was a 4-0 victory over Hereford.

It will certainly be a difficult test for the Imps, especially as you'd have to go back to 2000/1 to find the last time Lincoln won in Chesterfield, suffering two defeats and a draw in the defeats since then. However, the Imps do have a half decent record against the Spireites recently, only losing one of the last four matches between the clubs.

Lincoln will be without Albert Jarrett, whom is away on international duty with Sierra Leone. Paul Green went off injured in the first half at Rotherham, but he is likely to be included. However, there are expected to be a lot of changes from the side that limped out of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on Tuesday night.

We're also away from home, which virtually guarantees the use of the 4-1-4-1 formation.

THEIMPS.KA OFFICIAL RATINGS
	Anyon didn’t really have a lot to do on Tuesday night and was only realistically beaten because of a heavy deflection. He will also be hoping for his second clean sheet in as many League away games.
	Mr Popular amongst some fans, Joe Anderson has silenced his critics in the last few games with some good performances. If we continue to play with Pearce and Clapham in the side then Anderson will continue to improve.
	It’s Adam Watts, what more do you need to know?
	Having been rested against Rotherham, it is expected that Pearce will fit in at centre back alongside Watts.
	With Jarrett and Carayol both missing, it leaves Hughton as our only genuine wingers. Hughton scored his first ever professional goal against Chesterfield at Sincil Bank last season.
	Despite being injured during the game on Tuesday evening, Green is likely to overcome the injury and start at right back. Paul is one of the few survivors from when the Imps beat Chesterfield in October 2008, Danny Hone and Scott Kerr are the other survivors.
	Clapham got a nice rest on Tuesday evening and will hopefully fit and raring to go against Chesterfield, especially given that he has played for several of their local rivals in the past.
	Keltie is having a difficult season far, failing to make the same sort of impact he had towards the end of last season.
	Still hasn’t really impressed and has been largely anonymous since joining on loan from Celtic. Despite this, he will almost certainly start.
	Has the best goals:games ratio in an Imps shirt out of all the strikers at the club and scored the winning goal against the Spireites at Sincil Bank last season.
	The official website says that Andy Hutchinson is expected to start in the place of the absent Jarrett. If that is the case then the striker would be hoping for what would be just his second goal in what would be his 21st appearance for the club.

The clubs have played each other six times in the last three seasons, with the Spireites having marginally the better record. The last meeting was February's meeting at Saltergate, a game that ended 2-1 to the hosts following on from goals from Green and Barry Conlon. Swaibu had pulled one back for the Imps.

That game had come six weeks after the previous meeting. Boxing Day saw Chesterfield visit Sincil Bank to face an Imps side who hadn't won for ten weeks in the league. Cian Hughton and Facey gave City a commanding lead before Chesterfield pulled one back. It should have been 2-2 just minutes later but Lester blasted his penalty well over the bar.

2008/9 was the best season in terms of results for City. The meeting at Saltergate came just weeks from the end of the season, with Adrian Patulea levelling after Jack Lester's opener. A Stefan Oakes free kick, as well as goals from Patulea and Kovacs gave City a 3-0 lead in the corresponding game at Sincil Bank, Jack Lester did pull one back in a game that had seen Danny Hone sent off just after half time.

2007/8 saw two commanding victories for the Spireites. The meeting at Sincil Bank came just a few days into the reign of Peter Jackson, it was an evening to forget though as Jack Lester grabbed a hatrick and Janos Kovacs scoring the fourth, Bencharif and N'Guessan scored consolations for the Imps. Chesterfield also scored four goals in the return fixture, with a brace from Lloyd Kerry, as well as goals from Leven and Lester secured victory for the hosts, Ben Wright had pulled it back to 2-1 at one point.

You'd then have to go back to 2003/4 to find a competitive fixture between the two. The clubs were drawn together in the second round of the LDV Vans Trophy. The Imps had taken the lead three times through Fletcher (as he was known then), Yeo and Mayo, but Chesterfield had equalised on each occasion, twice through Brandon and once  through Warhurst. Gary Fletcher eventually settled the tie as he scored the silver goal (remember that strange concept?) in the 95^th minute.

Not many players have represented both clubs during the last ten years. No current Imps have played for Chesterfield at any point in their career. Shane Nicholson, John Vaughn, Lawrie Dudfield, Shayne Bradley, Mark Stallard (right), Marvin Robinson, Janos Kovacs, Peter Holmes, Adam Smith, Martin Gritton and Davide Somma have represented both clubs over the last ten seasons.

Interestingly, Chesterfield were the first club to notice that Somma wasn't really getting the chance at Leeds. He had joined the Spirities last winter and made his debut in a game against Crewe, missing a penalty on the way to a 3-2 defeat for Chesterfield. It does make you wonder what would have happened if he had scored that, would he have stuck with Chesterfield and never actually came to Sincil Bank?

Out of all the players listed above, Janos Kovacs is the only player to score for and against both clubs in the fixtures over the last few years. He scored the 4th in Chesterfield's 4-2 win in November 2008 before scoring City's 3rd in a 3-1 win in October 2009.

Chesterfield have started their season well, picking up 8 points from their opening 4 games, although in typical Chesterfield form, they've won both of their home games and failed to win either away game. Chesterfield's high positions in the tables have often been because of excellent home form and after 11 home games last season, they had a record of 9 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat from those games, by far the best record in the division at that time.

It was ultimately their poor away form last season that prevented them making the Playoffs. They finished outside of the top 7 by two points, but had they turned any of their 12 defeats on the road into a victory then they would have made the Playoffs.

Chesterfield will be without Aaron Downs and Jamie Lowry, whereas Gregor Robertson and Robert Page are unlikely to feature. Jack Lester is also a slight doubt following on from suffering from stiff hips.

Imps travel to the new B2Net to face the same old Spireites

Discussion started by theimps.ka (IP Logged), 03/09/2010 21:36

theimps.ka
03/09/2010 21:36

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