Macclesfield Town vs Lincoln City might not pop up on many people's dream fixtures list, but the fixture does have a lot more incident than you would anticipate. Down the years there have been mass brawls, red cards, thrashings, Playoff games and much more, but this year's game is much bigger than that as it pits Keith Alexander vs Peter Jackson for the first time since that night at Huddersfield Town in 2004.

The rivalry dates back to earlier during the 2003/4 when the teams met each other for a promotion clash at the McAlpine (since renamed the Galpharm) Stadium and it was an excellent spectacle. Marcus Richardson had given City the lead (just) before Efe Sodje equalised just after half time. A controversial (but perfectly legal) Pawel Abbott goal later and it was handbags at dawn. Peter Jackson praised Abbott for continuing, whereas Keith wasn't best pleased.

Skip forward three months and the sides met at the McAlpine again, this time for a vital Playoff clash. Huddersfield had the advantage from the first leg after David Mirfin's goal had been the difference at Sincil Bank. City again took the lead, overturning the Terrier's first leg advantage and even Peter admits that City should have been out of sight by half time, but a trip on Andy Booth from Jamie McCombe and a Rob Edwards strike later put Huddersfield Town through....not that Keith was happy about it, using theinfamous "We never get decisions like that" quote.

Now that rivalry will get renewed and how appropriate that Macclesfield now have many ex-Imps in their side that were part of that City side that went out to Huddersfield. The most noteable being Simon Yeo. The former Hyde striker had a rather mixed spell at Sincil Bank, he is still rated by City fans as a "proven" goal scorer, that despite having just one consistant scoring run in his three and a half years at Sincil Bank, including a spell of 8 months without scoring a League goal. I never brought into the myth that Simon Yeo was a cult hero. He was just another striker who rarely turned up when it mattered and we've have far better strikers at the club since.

The Imps go into Tuesday's game high on confidence after outplaying Chesterfield and on a run of just one League defeat in eight attempts. It's a run that has started pushing us up the table and we're now 13th, our highest position since the opening few weeks of last season. City will be looking to extend that run with several very winnable games in such a short space of time.

City go into the game with a near fully fit squad, only Danny Hone will be missing due to his suspension. Infact, other than Danny Hone, it would be a surprise if Jackson doesn't start with the same line up that defeated Chesterfield.

That would mean Rob Burch in goal with Paul Green, Janos Kovacs and Lee Beevers in front of him, Frank Sinclair more than likely replacing Hone. Oakes, Freck and Kerr are likely to form the midfield, whilst Adrian Patulea will have LJL and Dany N'Guessan to his side.

It seems almost ironic that Keith is now in charge at Macclesfield. It means that both City and Macclesfield appointed the manager of the team that defeated them in the Playoffs. To be fair, Keith isn't doing a half bad job, he's having Macc sitting in an unusually comfortable midtable position, and even stranger is that he's managed to get Simon Yeo scoring on a regular basis.

Macc have won four of their last seven fixtures in the League, although they have only won one in four, including a 4-1 home defeat at Exeter City just under a month ago. They have suffered a few thrashings this season, including a 6-0 home defeat to Darlington. Macclesfield are certainly not stable defensively.

City can move as high as 9th with a victory.

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