By Nathan Jackson
January 7 2011

Two of Lincoln's last five matches have been against Hereford United and the clubs will meet for a third Saturday in seven when the clubs finally play the FA Cup Second Round replay. With extra-time and penalties a possibility, whomever goes through to face Wycombe will have to recover quickly to face the Chairboys on Tuesday.

For the majority of Lincoln fans, having the club's name involved in the fourth round draw is something that they have not personally seen, but that will be the reality if Lincoln beat Hereford. If the Imps do win then they will make the quickfire trip to Wycombe Wanderers, the Chairboys also due to play at Sincil Bank in the League next week. However, it certainly won't be easy for the Imps.

Hereford are a far different prospect from the team that the Imps comfortably beat 3-1 on November 20th, and even the match a week later in the original tie saw City barely stretched. Since then the Imps have barely played and lost every League match since the aforementioned 3-1 win, whereas Hereford picked up four points over the weekend with a draw against Torquay and a win at Aldershot.

Lincoln will be desperate for the win following various issues surrounding the club at the moment. The sponsors of the club's home kit and one of the stands at Sincil Bank have gone into administration, crowds are down and there is a high level of apathy from the fans into the direction of the directors box. A quickfire double against Hereford and Wycombe would see City scoop nearly £100,000 in prize money alone, a sum that could be vital as the club aim to avoid relegation.

Adam Watts is out injured and Danny Hone can't play as Chris "The Managerial Genius" Sutton thought it would be a good idea to allow him to play in the cup against Darlington. That means that the Imps are in the unfortunate position of having to play Moses Swaibu. The defender was one of the main reasons for the defeat against Bradford last week and he was dropped against Northampton, a game where the defence looked considerably better and more stable without him in it.

Other than that the Imps should have a near full squad to choose from.

THE LIKELY CITY STARTING XI
	If there's a goalkeeper in the land more in need of a cleansheet, send the DVD of his performances to Joe Anyon to give him a bit of confidence.   The goalkeeper has not been inspiring in recent months and hasn't kept a clean sheet since the win in the first round against Nuneaton.
	Anderson made a very rare start against Northampton and did reasonably well through the game in one of his best performances in an Imps shirt.    With Tilson seemingly losing favour in Clapham, Anderson could again find himself in the starting XI
	Green returned from injury against Northampton and will probably go straight into the starting line up, replacing Hoyte at right back as he moves into the centre. Having missed 12 of the last 18 months through injury, Green has a lot to prove if he stands any chance of winning a new contract at the end of the season. He is also sneaking up on the fourth year anniversary at Lincoln.
	To your left is the man who will inevitably be responsible for Hereford's goals.
	Hoyte will more than likely be played at central defence against Hereford due to the injuries of Watts and Hone, let's hope when Swaibu makes a mistake, he can clear it up.
	Changed the game when he came on against Northampton and was involved in the set-up for the goal. Being dropped could be the kick up the arse that Carayol needed.
	It doesn't seem to matter how incredibly badly he plays, O'Keefe always seems to be involved in the next game. Yes, he scored against Northampton, but that is the first positive thing he did, other than that he did his usual act of wandering aimlessly all over the pitch.
	Howell is now being talked about as a loan player that we could be taking permanently and he has played well in the majority of his games.  If he does start, it will be his fifth League match for the Imps.
	Kerr seems to have developed a heavy attacking mentality in recent weeks and has impressed with his high levels of energy and motivation.......despite being captain, don't surprised if he is substituted towards the end.
	Grimes could be about to make his final appearance for the club. Going out would mean that Grimes would return to Millwall, that is unless we negotiate a longer term deal for him.   Scored a brilliant goal in the initial game.
	In a strike force that contains very few real attacking options, Hutchinson is probably least of the evils of him, Facey and Broughton.....but only just.

This is Hereford's fifth year in the League and season have faced the Bulls in three of the previous four seasons. It all started when the Imps became the first side to visit Hereford since they returned to the League in August 2006, a Mark Stallard brace capped a brilliant performance from City that gave a first win of the season with a 2-1 scoreline. Skip forward to February and Hereford visited Sincil Bank just days after City had won at Walsall to go second....a 4-1 win for Hereford later and City's season collapsed, the Imps only securing two wins from that point onwards and ever since that night, City have been on a downward spiral.

The following season saw the clubs have to wait until December to play each other, however, City were no match for Hereford and despite a Lee Frecklington equaliser, Hereford ran out 3-1 winners. The return fixture saw Scott Kerr sent off before a Dany N'Guessan double, eventually seeing City win 2-1 just weeks before Hereford won promotion.

They made an immediate return to the division and the clubs didn't meet until February last season. Gavin McCallum scored twice at Edgar Street to secure Hereford three points, but the return fixture at Sincil Bank saw arguably City's best performance of the season, also featuring arguably the goal of last season from Matt Saunders. It was the highest attendance of City's season, but mainly due to the fact the World Cup was at Sincil Bank and there was a chance to get your photo taken of it.

City's best performance of this season has also come against Hereford as goals from Ben Hutchinson, Delroy Facey and Mustapha Carayol gave City a comfortable 3-1 win. A week later came the original Second Round tie. Goals from Ashley Grimes and Mustapha Carayol weren't enough as goals from Fleetwood and Manset gained Hereford a replay.

Not many players have played for both clubs over the past ten years. Current Imp Gavin McCallum use to play for Hereford, whereas Janos Kovacs plays for Hereford after only just leaving City early last year. Former loanee Joe Heath also plays for Hereford. Other than that, the clubs have only shared Scott Willis, Josh Gowling, Rob Betts and Guy Ipoua have represented both.

Hereford haven't had the best start to the season to say the least. They started it by hiring Simon Davey following the saga that saw him leave Darlington in the summer. Despite an opening day win at Hereford, the Bulls quickly found themselves bottom and they didn't win again under Davey. He was sacked and replaced by Pitman, who's impressive early results included winning 5-0 at Stockport, however, Hereford have yet to win at home in the League.

They also recorded one of the most noteworthy wins of the season, coming from 3-0 down at Northampton to win 4-3 and they haven't looked back since. Despite not losing since October 2nd in the League before the 3-1 defeat to City, a 1-1 draw with Cheltenham the weekend befpre weekend saw the slip back into the relegation zone and there is still a chance that they could still join a list of clubs to be relegated in their fifth year in the Football League, following on from Kidderminster, Rushden, Boston and Chester, Barnet also almost joined that group last season but avoided it on the final day.

A long winless run saw the fans grow frustrated with Pitman, whom was eventually confirmed as the first team manager on a permanent basis. They appeared down and out but constant failures to win for Barnet and Lincoln mean that Hereford have not only caught Lincoln and Barnet, but have even overtaken the Bees.

Lincoln face already familiar opponents

Discussion started by theimps.ka (IP Logged), 07/01/2011 20:25

theimps.ka
07/01/2011 20:25

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Rob Peel
07/01/2011 20:57

Less than 2000 fancy an imps win top premiership draw in the 4th round BUT get spanked @ Wycombe

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