By Nathan Jackson
February 6 2011

Lincoln City will aim to make it 6 wins in a row on Tuesday but the opponents don't come much tougher. The Imps have a poor recent record against Shrewsbury, not even scoring against them since February 2008. Getting a sixth win in a row for the first time since the end of the 1991/2 season won't be easy.

The win against Hereford United secured a fifth straight win for the Imps that has seen City move from 24th to 15th in the space of two weeks. 15th has been a troublesome position for the Imps in the last few seasons as, ever since the appointment of Chris Sutton, we have never risen above the position of 15th, always finding it to be a bit of a stumbling block when it came to progression. The fifth straight win was the first won of it's kind since February 2008, when five wins in a row ended relegation fears all together, moving us away from a relegation battle that contained Mansfield, Wrexham and Dagenham.

The last run of five wins in a row almost ironically started with a 2-1 win over Shrewsbury Town. That came on February 2nd 2008 and the Imps have not troubled the scoreboard in a game against Shrewsbury since. Breaking that duck and securing a win would be the first time City have won six in a row since the back end of 1991/2. That run contained seven wins, coming against Scunthorpe, Carlisle, Maidstone, Chesterfield, Hereford, Halifax and Blackpool. If City can get a win against Shrewsbury, you'd fancy them to go on and make it eight wins in a row as our next two games are against Morecambe (who we've already beaten away from home this season) and Aldershot, a team with a poor home record.

Let's not be under any illusions about how difficult this game against Shrewsbury will be. It will be the first time during this run that we're facing a team that is not only up near the top of the League, but are also on decent. There's also the small fact that Shrewsbury were the last team to beat the Imps in an away game where the Imps didn't score, way back on October 16th, the final game before Tilson took over as manager.

Shrewsbury could go third with a win but would need to hope that Rotherham lose, although a draw for Rotherham at Gillingham would mean a win of three goals would see Shrewsbury climb into the automatic promotion picture. If Stevenage fail to beat Bury, then a win for Lincoln would see the Imps move into the top half of the table, a seemingly ridiculous suggestion just two weeks after we were rock bottom of the table.

With no new injury worries coming out of the game against Hereford, it is incredibly likely that the Imps will play with the same starting XI. To show how much City's squad has changed under Tilson, the team that faced Shrewsbury in the final game before Tilson took over was Anyon, Clapham, Swaibu, Watts, Hughton, O'Keefe, Keltie, Kerr, Carayol, Jarrett and Hutchinson. Two of those are no longer at the club and only two are likely to feature during the game against Shrewsbury on Tuesday.

THE LIKELY CITY STARTING XI
	Two clean sheets in a week is a good stat to have after just five games for your club. He hasn't had a lot to do during recent games, but what he has had to do, he's done really well. He'll be up against a stern test against the division's fifth highest goalscorers.
	Calmness personified. Hunt was a rock against Hereford and didn't let them get many, if any, crosses into the box. Also provided some good balls forward.
	He had a far better time on Saturday than he did against Bradford on Tuesday and much like Hunt, didn't let many crosses get into the box.
	Arguably the unsung hero of the past month or so. The defence has looked far, far stronger with him in the team and it does make you wonder where we would be had he been in the team all season.
	Kelly's passing was far, far better against Hereford and he showed a large attacking intent throughout the game, although his inability to beat anyone was a bit worry. Still not a bad effort.
	He didn't have a great game against his former employers, and certainly didn't make himself admired by the locals after his reaction to our winning goal, but even so, you'd rather have him in the team than Jarrett
	Howell was much, much better against Hereford than he was against Bradford, but then again that's not saying much. His game is very similar to that of the late Richard Butcher, it'll be interesting to see if he ever scores the quality goals that Butcher scored.
	O'Keefe continues to improve and now all the questions about what he offers have been silenced. He'll never be the best player in the team but at least he's actually being involved in the games now, rather than just watching them pass by.
	Watts returned from injury against Hereford and looked fairly steady at the back, he and Hone are developing a really good understanding. It's been a long time since the Imps had a pair of central defenders playing so well together.
	Grimes' goals may seemingly be drying up but that's not all he offers. He's set up goals in the last two games and is a great link up player, not too dissimilar to Jamie Forrester.
	If there's one striker in a surprisingly good level of form, it's Delroy Facey. A striker who's days have seemed numbered for some time has suddenly become one of our vital players. With Scott Spencer awaiting his first start, you know that Facey will want to maintain his current levels of performance.

The clubs have shared just four players during this millenium. Current Shrewsbury goalkeeper Ben Smith had an unsuccessful loan spell at Sincil Bank in 2007, whereas strikers Derek Asamoah, Mark Stallard (right), Steve Watts have also played for both. Several former Lincoln targets have played for Shrewsbury at some point. David Raven was a target when Alan Buckley was in charge at City, Nigel Jemson had a trial at Sincil Bank in 2003, Craig Disley was offered a deal by Keith Alexander in 2005 but he wanted £4,000 a week and Jake Robinson was one of numerous strikers to reject the Imps in the sumer of 2009.

City's recent record against Shrewsbury is woeful. City haven't beaten Shrewsbury at Sincil Bank since March 2005 and despite five straight wins at Shrewsbury between August 2002 and February 2008, the Imps haven't won, or even scored at Shrewsbury since that 2-1 win three years ago. Infact, Louis Dodds' winner that day is the last time a Lincoln player has scored beyond a Shrewsbury defence.

The scoreless run against Shrewsbury started in November 2008 when despite Shrewsbury being down to ten men after just two minutes, City couldn't force any of their 22 shots into the net as the sides shared a 0-0 draw. The game at the New Meadow that season came in the penultimate game and also ended 0-0, Shrewsbury would make the Playoff Final a few weeks later, losing to Gillingham.

Shrewsbury did the double over City last season with a 2-0 win at Sincil Bank and a 1-0 win at New Meadow, meaning that Chris Sutton became the first manager since Phil Stant to lose at Shrewsbury. Earlier this season Shrewsbury won 2-0 at New Meadow, that despite City dominating the first twenty or so minutes.

In recent years Shrewsbury have had a habit of being up at the top end of the table before then going on a bad run to throw it all away, and this season appears to be a not too dissimilar story. Despite sitting fourth in the table, Shrewsbury have won just four of their last fifteen fixtures, two of which were against teams in the relegation zone at the time. Infact, looking at it their form hasn't been exactly brilliant for most of the season, their back to back wins over the last two games is just the fourth time that Shrewsbury have gained back to back wins in the League and they have yet to secure a third win in a row this season, a good omen for City perhaps?

With eight defeats, they have lost more games than Bury, Stevenage and Accrington, all below them in a table. However, on the flip side of the coin only three teams have won more games, the current top three. They don't score many but don't concede many either, with their 29 goals being bettered by Port Vale, Stevenage and Burton, all of whom have played fewer games than Shrewsbury, especially Burton.

The squad is decent, with a who's who of good defenders. Ian Sharps and David Raven have had success at this level with Rotherham and Carlisle respectively, but they're certainly not weak in the other areas of the pitch and they Matt Harrold is in decent form, hitting the net three times in the last two games.

Imps aim to make it 6 against the toughest of the tough

Discussion started by theimps.ka (IP Logged), 06/02/2011 14:43

theimps.ka
06/02/2011 14:43

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davidimp
06/02/2011 16:17

Saw all 7 wins way back then!!!
Can it really be 19 years ago?
How did I afford it, I was on the dole as well!!!
Some bloke called Thompson was the manager then, wonder what happened to him??
LOL!!!!

Here we go again!
Will we ever get the right man?

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