This Friday the 13th the Imps will take on champions to be Fleetwood Town at the Highbury Stadium in a 7:30 kick off that will be shown live on Premier Sports. Fleetwood are in need of only one more victory to confirm their status as conference Champions 2011-2012 following on from their draw to nearest challengers Wrexham.
Fleetwood have been dominant this season and their last of only three defeats in the league this season came at home to Newport in October, when they lost 4-1. Since that result they have all but 5 games, which has given them 102 points before this match. Over twice as many as our current points total. Fleetwood have been so strong this season due to their attacking play, they have the leagues current top scorer in Jamie Vardy who has 29 league goals to date, unsurprisingly he was linked with several higher clubs in the January transfer window.
Vardy isn't their only source of goals though, with Andy Mangan scoring 21 so far, their wealth of attacking talent is certainly their main strength, their defensive record isn't actually too dissimilar to Lincoln's at home.
Lincoln will go to Fleetwood fully aware that their is no pressure or expectation on them to get a result, anything will be a bonus against a side that has been so dominant this season. This game will give the club an idea of the sort of level they need to be at both on and off the pitch to be able to challenge for promotion back into the football league in the coming seasons. the gulf between the two sides is huge at the moment and it will take a drastic improvement in all areas of the club to come anyway near to being in Fleetwoods position in the next few years.
The Imps will come into this game on the back of a confidence boosting 5-0 home win against Darlington. I am expecting Holdsworth to play the exact same starting eleven as he did in this last match. Continuity has been a major reason for me in our recent resurgence away from the relegation places. We do run the risk of a hammering and a football lesson, but we received one of those to lowly Stockport before the victory over Darlington.
Sadly I am going to predict a defeat for the Imps, but I do think we will have a go and make it tough for Fleetwood, a 2-0 defeat. the one upside of this is that the Imps may get to see a side lift a trophy and fully realise how good it would be to be able to do this next season. With this game being live on TV I expect a few Imps fans to be in the pubs of Lincoln for the rare opportunity to watch thier club on the big screen. I am unaware if the Club are showing the game, they should be....after all, it is Lincoln City!
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