By Nathan Jackson
February 2 2007

Lincoln City will hope for their first win in 9 years at Meadow Lane on Saturday as they travel to face Notts County. The Magpies have had more success in this derby since they rejoined this division in 2004, however City have the 3rd best record on the road this year, despite the recent poor form.

When most fans travel to watch City away at Notts County they are very rarely thinking of anything but 3 points, however it means a lot more to me than that, for me this is a family affair. My half-sister Sarah is a Notts County fan, and more often than not in recent years she’s been able to gloat because the Magpies have won 3 of the last 5 meetings between the 2 sides.

It’s a game that both sides have to win for differing reasons. Notts County will hope to start catching up to the playoff places with a win, whereas City will be hoping to simply avoid dropping into the playoffs, with a defeat potentially seeing City slip to 5^th. A win for City however could see them move to within a point of Swindon Town, who themselves have a very difficult game at home to Hartlepool. MK Dons don’t exactly have an easy game either, away at Bury.

City’s away form recently has been dire, and our proud record of having by far the best away record in the league has disappeared with Swindon and Walsall now ahead of the Imps in that category. Infact, since we went top for that singular week back in October, we’ve lost 5 of the 8 away games that have followed, with just one ending in City bringing back maximum points.

Despite one or two players carrying little knocks, there are no major injury worries for Saturday’s game. Spencer Weir-Daley is expected to start on the bench after returning from the injury that kept him out last week. Infact the only like chance will probably see Eaden slip in at right back, with Beevers moving into the centre position.

The bench will more than likely be filled with the new signings, with either Moses or Morgan likely to be excluded from the squad altogether.

Marriott

Eaden      Beevers   Brown   Mayo

Amoo    Kerr  Frecklington  Hughes

Forrester   Stallard

 

Well I predicted them to finish 8^th, and that’s exactly where they are at the minute and they are well on track to produce their best finishing position for some considerable time, however they are a bit in consistence and find it hard to string together many wins at a time. That has caused them to start falling away from the race and it looks as though the top 7 teams have already been decided.

The main reason Country are starting to fall away is because they seem to struggle to beat the teams above them in the table, infact they’ve won just one game against a current Top 7 side. Ultimately that could cost them a playoff place.

County do have an impressive squad, with two ex-Imps leading the striking options. Lawrie Dudfield spent time on loan at the Imps in the 2000/1 season, and he is now a veteran at this level having played for Hull, Northampton, Southend, and Boston. The other is Jason Lee, a man famous for having a crap hair-style in the 90s. Other potential match-winners include Andy Parkinson who scored a fantastic goal for Grimsby against City.