Next Up: Lincoln City vs Exeter City

City produced another encouraging display in going down to big-spending Huddersfield last week, but it is now five defeats in a row in all competitions, and with a long trip to a side riding high in the table on Saturday, Gary Caldwell faces an uphil battle to avoid making it six in a row. With his attacking options limited, Caldwell will no doubt have seen the form of Andrew Oluwabori on loan at Yeovil and (if possible) considered recalling him, although recent loan signing Akeel Higgins looked sharp when coming off the bench against Huddersfield. Jack Fitzwater picked up his fifth booking of the season in that match, but as one of those cautions was in the EFL Trophy he will not be suspended for the trip to Lincoln.

Having flattered to deceive somewhat last season after just missing the playoffs the previous year, Lincon have made a strong start in 25/26 and currently sit third in the table and unbeaten in the league since August 9th. They also famously led briefly against Chelsea in the EFL Cup last week before going down to a brave 2-1 defeat. Michael Skubala has seen a number of departures and, like Caldwell, has chosen to utilise the loan market while there have been few permanent signings – one of them the experienced Sonny Bradley. James Collins, 35 in December, continues to roll back the years and is top scorer with five in all competitions, while the likes of Connor McGrandles will pull the strings in midfield.

Sincil Bank hasn’t been a particularly happy hunting ground for City, winless here since a vital 1-0 win in 2009 that went a long way to sealing promotion. Last season’s fixtures won’t have lived long in the memory, both finishing 0-0, the only incident of note being Ryan Woods receiving a red card late on in the home fixture in front of the Sky TV cameras. As a result Lincoln still enjoy a healthy league head to head lead with 28 wins to City’s 20, a further 20 matches finishing level.

The match officials for this game will be:-

Referee: Andrew Humphries
Assistant Referees: Ollie Williams and Darren Wilding
Fourth Official : Aaron Jackson

This is Andrew Humphries first season as a League One referee. His record so far this season in 10 games is that he has shown 31 yellow cards and sent off three players.

Interview with Gary Caldwell

Interview with Jack Fitzwater