Manager on Lincoln test
Pleased to bounce back after the defeat at Wrexham with a win over Dartford, Town boss John Still is now hoping his side can repeat Tuesday’s level of performance against Lincoln on Saturday.
The Imps arrive at Kenilworth Road in fourth place in the table and the manager is expecting another difficult game.
“They’re a big, strong side, they’re going to be very competitive and I think they’ll get the ball forward quite quickly,” Still told the press on Thursday. “Like all games, they’re tough – the games are tough at all levels now.
“Every game at every level is tough. Even in the top Champions League games, the so-called massive clubs don’t smash teams. Very rarely do these ‘big’ clubs smash teams, because teams are organised now at all levels.
“I don’t envisage anything other than a tough game on Saturday. Will it be tougher than last week? Probably not. Will it be tougher than next week? Probably not, because they’re all tough.”
The Hatters played some of their best football of the season during the midweek win over the Darts, much to the manager’s delight.
“I was really pleased with it,” Still said. “The performance was in line with what we’ve been producing for the last few weeks, albeit with the disappointment at the Wrexham performance.
“I think if you can keep performing to that level I think results come, that’s how I see it.
“We scored three, we had one disallowed, there was one knocked off the line. I think we had as blatant a penalty not given as you’re going to get.
“That all showed that we’re creating those opportunities and to a certain extent taking those opportunities.
“So it was pleasing to score because obviously that’s been in short supply.
“As a performance I couldn’t be disappointed with that at all.”
The manager may be able to call upon defender Alex Lacey following an ankle injury whilst Anthony Charles and Jon Shaw are making progress as they make their road to recovery from shoulder and hernia problems.
“Alex Lacey trained today so we’ll see how he is tomorrow [Friday],” confirmed Still.
“Jon Shaw is doing some light training and I’m hoping he’s back within the group within a week or 10 days.
“Anthony Charles played in the development game on Wednesday and trained today so he’s probably only a week away now from getting back to where he was.”
Striker Alex Wall serves the second of a three-match ban following his red card at Wrexham whilst defender Danny Fitzsimons remains sidelined with a knee injury.