Just when you want to get a win under your belt, your next trip is to a team who have beaten you 4 times in the last 5 attempts, scoring 11 goals in the process. After 2 draws from the first 2 games, City really need to win to just show the division that we mean business this season, on the flip side, a defeat could see City go bottom of the division for the first time in more than 10 years.

Usual suspect Steve Robinson is still out of action after getting injured in Ireland. Imps captain Paul Morgan will definatly miss the game as he starts a 3 game suspension. To compensate for the loss of Morgan, few people will be surprised to see either Cryan or Brown push back into defence and bringing Keates into the midfield. The battle for the 3rd attacking place still rages on between Green and Asamoah as neither seems willing (or able for that matter) to stake a claim for the side.

Who I think will start (Right to left)

Marriott

Beevers     Cryan      McAuley     McCombe     Mayo

Brown    Keates

Molango     Green       Birch

Notts County have made a solid start to the season. They followed up last weekend's 0-0 draw at Torquay with a 1-0 win at home to Wrexham. Many people have predicted a good season for Notts COunty under the tenure of Gudjon Thordarson, who has an excellent record with several higher division clubs.

The main threat from County will be ex-Imp, Gavin Gordon who is set to make his first appearance against the Imps since leaving for Cardiff in 2000. Gordon has a good scoring record in this division and given a better chance, he could have easily gone on to have a great career with Cardiff. He didn't even get a chance with Cardiff after scoring 5 in the LDV Vans Trophy game against Rushden in 2001/2.

Last season, Notts County did the double over the Imps after 2 games that were fairly even. The game at Sincil Bank was a fairly uninspiring encounter. County opened the scoring 30 minutes into the game when Matthew Williams' shot hit the post and rebounded to Tony Scully who had the easy task of scoring an easy tap in. County made it 2-0 in the 63rd minute when Tony Scully doubled his tally with a well taken shot from the edge of the area. City did get one back in injury time when Pearson's shot hit GTF's face and went in.

Depsite controlling most of the game, City lost 1-0 at Meadow Lane towards the end of the season when a 43rd minute penalty was converted by Julien Baudet. City should have at least equalised but unsurprisingly, we didn't.

Ironically, the all of Notts County's wins during last season came in between these games.