By Nathan Jackson
December 3 2007

Lincoln City are set for a rematch with Jim Gannon after the Stockport manager was far from thrilled with the Imps following the goalless meeting at Sincil Bank back in April. Gannon was unhappy that City hadn't sent in the match video to the FA soon enough to get a red card wiped out ahead of his club's inevitably failed playoff push. A win for City could see City move out of the relegation zone.

Back in the latter parts of last season Jim Gannon wasn't exactly making himself many friends in this division. He slagged off Bristol Rovers after the Gas had to call a game off against them, that attitude caused the Rovers players to motivate themselves to such a level that they went from midtable also-rans into the team that won the playoffs.....cheers for that Jim.

You could argue that if it wasn't for Jim Gannon then City might have won the playoffs. Without that improved motivation for the Rovers players, they more than likely wouldn't have made the Playoffs and City would have instead faced Shrewsbury Town in the semi-finals. It was ironic in a way that despite a 5-0 win at Darlington on the final day, Stockport were denied a place in the playoffs by an 86th minute winner just down the road at Hartlepool for Bristol Rovers.

City head to Edgeley Park 13 months to the day since the Imps lost their top spot in the division, a position that we never regained, and it could turn out that this trip could be our final day of the season in the bottom of the table. Just 5 weeks ago a game against Lincoln was 3 easy points, but since then Jackson has turned us into a side that are pulling out results, a win for the Imps could see us move up to 20th place, a draw may even be enough to move out of the drop zone if neither Mansfield or Wrexham get a point.

Unfortunately City have struggled on the road recently. The Imps have only scored 6 on the road this season and just the solitary win on the road this season partly explains our lowly position. We struggle to get shots on target away from home and we're losing to teams who are no better than us. However, against Forest we managed a goal, as well as several decent chances on target.

Ben Smith will probably return to goal after seeing Marriott concede 3 at Forest. Gary Croft, Danny Hone Paul Green and are all seemingly guaranteed to start, but with Moses, Brown and Beevers injured, Bencharif should make his first start for several weeks.

The usual suspects will more than likely be in midfield with Warlow making the occasional trot up the wing, with Freck and Kerr in the middle and Dodds on the right. Forrester and Ben Wright will probably start up front.

Stockport have been a bit indifferent this season, they are capable of pulling out some surprise results, such as the win at MK Dons, but they will follow that up with disappointing results, shockingly going out to Staines in the FA Cup last week. Stockport's inconsistency will probably cost them any real chance of the playoffs, especially as they have a tricky December.

Following on from the Imps, Stockport will have home games against Wycombe and Grimsby, whereas they have away trips to Macclesfield, Shrewsbury and Wrexham. Although on paper Stockport should get a few points from those games, their inconsistent form might see them struggle to pick up a large amount of points.