Cast your minds back to August 23rd, roughly 4:50pm and we had just lost to Wycombe Wanderers. Moral was low amongst the fans, Peter Jackson's pre-season hype that indicated that Lincoln City would dominate the division had quickly become a distant dream and another relegation battle looked imminent, just under two months later and it's becoming a different story.

City have only lost once in the League since that day and although the majority have been draws, the main positive is that the defence has started to shut shop and rarely look like conceding. Infact, the only goals City have conceded since their last defeat on September 13th have been a fluke and two beauitful volleys. It seems almost ironic in that case that we're about to enter a fixture where four of the last five meetings have seen one of the participating teams score on four occasions.

The first of which was a meeting in the Northern Section Semi Final of the LDV Vans Trophy Final. City were hovering above the drop zone at the time, whereas Chesterfield were riding high. A Lee Thorpe double and a Gareth Grant strike gave City a 3-0 lead before Chesterfield pulled one back with five minutes to go, City did restore the three goal lead through Justin Walker. A few weeks later and City came from behind at Saltergate to beat the Spirites.

Another LDV Vans Trophy meeting produced a thriller. Gary Fletcher (as he was known then) opened the scoring in the first minute before Chris Brandon equalised just over 30 minutes later. A Yeo goal was annulled by Warhurst's free kick before a Mayo penalty was parred by another Brandon effort. However, Gary Fletcher popped up in the 95th minute to score the "silver" goal (what a stupid idea that was).

A Jack Lester hatrick at Sincil Bank last season was followed by a goal from Janos Kovacs, N'Guessan and Bencharif scoring for the Imps. A cold Friday evening last March was the first of three games in four that we conceded four or more goals. Kerry scored Chesterfield's 1st and 4th goals with strikes from Lester and Leven in between, Ben Wright had pulled City back into the game.

Since that day, the Imps have really done the better out of the two sides, escaping a relegation battle and putting together and onslaught for the midtable positions this season, Chesterfield threw away a Playoff position and are also heading for a midtable finish. Infact, whereas the Imps are on a long unbeaten run, Chesterfield haven't won since a 1-0 win over Rotherham on September 6th.

The Imps are go into the game with a fully fit squad. Stefan Oakes and Frank Sinclair have both recovered from their injuries and Oakes made an immediate impact against Rochdale, setting up Danny Hone's equaliser and he should be in line for a start. If anyone, he will probably replace John-Lewis in the middle. LJL has been consistantly the worst performer for the Imps this season, whereas the other midfielders have been consistant, if a little unspectacular.

I predict Oakes, Frecklington, Kerr and N'Guessan to start in the midfield, although the recently-impressive Clarke could be set to deservedly continue his run in the first team. If I'm being honest, I'd be distraught if Sinclair got into the pairing of Kovacs and Hone, the two have been reasonably impressive as a partnership with Green and Beevers either side.

You are likely to see Patulea up front but his partner is very open to debate. Kevin Gall never performs, Ben Wright can't buy and appearance, whereas Sam Mullarkey and David Graham might as well not bother turning up to the stadium on match days.

You'll be shocked to hear that Chesterfield haven't lost when Jack Lester has scored this season in the League, but it's hardly a surprise that they are struggling to reach last season's form when you consider he hasn't scored a League goal since the opening day. Lester's goals won Chesterfield fourteen goals last season, unsurprisingly giving the club the nickname of "Lesterfield".

However, Chesterfield do have a talented squad with the ever dangerous Jamie Ward also playing well. Ward is outscoring Lester this season and has come close to joining the Imps on several occasions in the past, mainly during the John Deehan days. Arguably the most under-rated player in League Two, he's dangerous on his day and we had beeter be careful.

Chesterfield's current run has seen them fail to beat Dagenham, Rochdale, Brentford, Morecambe and Chester, losing the first three and losing the remaining two.

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