By Nathan Jackson
October 18 2007

Lincoln City enter the unknown on Saturday lunchtime as a managerless City take on Peterborough United, the side who were many "experts" title favourites before the season began. City achieved the double over the Posh last season and a 3rd win against the Posh in a row could potentially see the Imps move out of the relegation zone, but the Posh need the win to maintain a promotion push.

9 games in all competitions without a win sees the Imps lay 23rd in the table, with Sunday's 4-0 defeat at MK Dons being the fourth time this season that City have conceded at least 4 goals. However, that was all under the inept management techniques of John "I'm Proud of the Lads who just lost 4-1 at home to Hereford" Schofield.

Now with Grant Brown taking charge for Saturday's game it is likely that our best players will FINALLY either get to play or at least play in their actual positions. Infact, with over 40 out of work managers believed to be coming to Sincil Bank we might see the players putting in considerably more effort to try and impress the potential managers. It gives players such as Ben Wright and Owain Warlow to try and stake a claim for a first team place.

With that in mind it's almost impossible to predict who will start in several positions. You can almost guarantee that Marriott will be in goal. As far as the defence is concerned you'd probably get good odds on seeing Lee Beevers, Hamzar Bencharif and Nat Brown playing, assuming they're all fit of course. In midfield you'll probably see Freck, Kerr and N'Guessan and Jamie Hand in midfield.

One of the main questions though is the fitness of Mark Stallard, having limped off against MK Dons it is feared that he is injured. If that's the case then again it's anyone's guess who will be up front. Seeing as Grant Brown is the reserves manager, he knows that Ben Wright can score for fun and will probably give him hhis first start since joining the Imps in the summer. Then it's just a case of pick one from Forrester, Torpey or Ollie Ryan.

For the thrid season in a row the Posh find themselves challenging for the playoffs early on. They haven't lost in the League for 5 games, winning the last 3 games against Shrewsbury, Grimsby and Wyomcbe Wanderers.

They have a fairly talented squad, arguably the 2nd best after MK Dons. Their best player is arguably George Boyd, the most expensive player ever to come out of the Conference has been a revelation for the Posh since joining from Stevenage back in January....one of the few things that Peterborough fans probably thank Keith Alexander for.

2 former Imps played in their last game, Dean Keates starting with Guy Branston coming off of the bench. The starting line up against Wycombe last Sunday was Jalal, Gnakpa, Westwood, Lee, Day, Newton, Hyde, Keates, Boyd, McLean and Mackail-Smith.