City head into the match against Morecambe on the back of the worst losing run since the 2000/1 season, ironically that's also the last season we played the men from Christie Park. That time the then Conference side pushed the Imps in an LDV Vans Trophy match, with only a Lee Thorpe hat-trick saving the Imps from an embarrasing exit from the competition. City made the Northern Final that season, but also finished in the bottom 8 of the division.
Tuesday's draw at Bury might not have been spectacular but at least it stopped the rot of defeats and hopefully the Imps can now build on that draw. However, if we lose against Morecambe and don't create some sort of a gap then we are in big trouble. Our next 2 opponents after Morecambe are amongst the title favourites, and the way the Imps have played the majority of the season could see both games end in a thrashing.
With regards to City's starting line up, after controlling the majority of the game against Bury we should look at keeping the same starting line up. That would mean Ollie Ryan gets another chance to impress after being cited as one of the many reasons why the Imps played much better on Tuesday night. His performances in the reserves have seen his earn his call up to the first team, and hopefully the same will be said of Ben Wright within time.
Wright should hopefully get a place on the bench, having been given just 60 or so minutes in the defeat at Doncaster, he revealed his frustrations at not being given a fair chance in the first team yet......knowing Schofield's random rotation system he'll probably find him starting at centre defence on Saturday.
In all seriousness though, the side should be the same as Tuesday night and that would mean Marriott in goal, with Beevers, Hoof, Bencharif and Amoo in defence. Kerr, Hand, Green and Dodds in midfield with Ryan and Torpey up front. Dany N'Guessan could return following a slight injury that kept him out of contention the other day.
As for Morecambe, I was really tempted to put them in the Playoff places in my predictions. I was immensely impressed with them in their Playoff Final victory over Exeter back in May. One or two vital players being sold later, and now their high place is more of a surprise than something I was expecting. Mixed results so far have seen them lose to sides you'd expect to them to beat, but beating sides convincingly that you'd expect them to lose to, such as a 3-1 victory over Wolves in the Carling Cup.
They come into the game on the back of a 2-0 victory over Stockport, their away record isn't too bad either, winning at Preston, Wolves, Tranmere and Chester, as well as impressive draw at Peterborough and a slightly less impressive draw at Notts County.
Accrington have no former City players in their lineup, although they do have several players who's names will sound familiar. The players who started against Stockport were Lewis ,Yates ,Bentley, Artell, Adams, Thompson, Stanley, Allen, Baker, Blinkhorn and Twiss. Artell is probably the name most familar to City fans after he had stints with Mansfield and Chester.
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