Bolton travel to the LNER Stadium, or Sincil Bank to most people, looking to get their first win of the season tomorrow night.
We’re unbeaten so far, but with two league draws and three goals conceded per game, there’s an eye or two on our defence. It seems evident that the squad are still getting up to speed after a disrupted pre-season, so in that regard there’s probably nothing better than another match on the horizon.
IAN EVATT | Wanderers manager previews Lincoln City away clash – YouTube
Team news
Declan John seems to be the main doubt ahead of the trip to Lincoln, after coming off at the weekend. Ian Evatt has mentioned the fitness situation, and a lot of the team selection will be driven by that, so it does make it quite hard to guess what the starting XI will be. Will Aimson, Xavier Amaechi and Liam Edwards seem to remain out.
Possible XI: Dixon; Jones, Baptiste, Johnston, Gordon; Williams, Sheehan; Bakayoko, Sarcevic, Afolayan, Doyle
Previously…
We’d be hard pressed to have a result as bad our last trip to Lincoln, last January we went there and lost 5-1. Ronan Darcy actually equalised early in the second half that night but ex-Wanderer Tyler Walker scored just after the hour mark then a Josh Emmanuel own goal with five minutes left triggered a capitulation, as we ended up relegated from League One at the end of that curtailed season.
The opposition
Lincoln have had a disrupted summer after manager Michael Appleton’s cancer diagnosis but he has been back for a few weeks now post-surgery. Last season saw them lose in the play-off final against Blackpool, and they’ve started the season with a home win and an away draw. Liam Bridcutt, who went there after his short spell with us, is club captain and has had a good start to the season. The Imps also have added up top in the close-season, with Chris Maguire and Tom Hopper being key signings, but Tayo Edun and Anthony Scully have been the ones in the goals so far.
Prediction
We should do better than last time, but Lincoln are a decent League One side and we’re not yet up to speed it seems. 2-1 to Lincoln.