Crunch week ahead for the Imps
Lincoln City travel to in-form Leyton Orient tomorrow at the start of a tough three-match week (kick-off 3pm)
Imps head coach Michael Skubala said backroom staff had left no stone unturned in the preparations for the trip to the Gaughan Group Stadium including making an early visit to the ground himself on Tuesday night to watch Orient ‘dismantle’ Mansfield Town and record a comfortable 3-0 win.
“They’re an exciting team. They’re fast, they can break quick, they can get in behind, they defend well - at home they’re a bit of a force.
“It’s going to be a really tough test for to go there and get something, but we have got to have a plan and be resilient and try and go after the game as much as possible.”
Orient sit just below the play-off zone in seventh and seven points ahead of the Imps in 12th spot and still nursing their own Wembley ambitions for the end of the season.
Skubala believes Orient are League One’s current in-form team and last weekend did see them take Premier League Champions Manchester City to the wire in the FA Cup, but their eventual defeat was the third in a row in all competitions. The Imps’ coaching team have ‘looked at everything’ including how other teams have taken on the Os in pursuit of an away win on Saturday.
Victory will put them within four points of Orient and be a substantial boost for the Imps’ two other matches next week. City did win the return fixture 2-1 earlier in the season with goals from Jovon Makama (pictured) and Freddie Draper.
The Imps are away at Mansfield Town on Tuesday night (kick-off 7.45pm) and back at the LNER Stadium next Saturday against Burton Albion (3pm) with Skubala facing a balancing act with injuries recognising not all his available players can be at the top of their game for the full 90 minutes over those back-to-back fixtures.
Ethan Erhahon had been ever-present to City before being injured against Wigan Athletic and will be out for a few more weeks, although Tom Hamer is back on the training pitch.
Another blow for City was losing the appeal against Joe Gardner’s red card received on the Nottingham Forest loanee’s debut against Cambridge United last weekend.
Photo: Vaughan Photography
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