90 minutes away from Cardiff

By Nathan Jackson
May 19 2005

Lincoln are 90 minutes away from Cardiff and simply avoiding defeat would guarantee that eventually. A win or a draw would see the Imps through and the trend of the playoffs so far looks brightly on the Imps as every single side that lead from the first leg, has gone through.....so far.

Live on

Kick off : Saturday, 12:05pm

I think Macclesfield fans summed it up that despite winning the first leg, Lincoln fans looked "miserable as sin" when walking away from the ground. When doing research the other day I came across a disturbing statistic, Macclesfield have to score which is something every team since the middle of February has done. City haven't kept a clean sheet on the road for 3 months and Macclesfield have only failed to score at home once since Brian Horton took over.

The situation is quite simple really. If City can avoid defeat then the Imps are going to Cardiff. However, if Macc win by 1 goal, it goes to extra time, if they win by 2 or more goals then the Silkmen are going to Cardiff. A repeat of the scoreline at Moss Rose from December would see the game into extra time after Macclesfield beat City 2-1.

A few things work in City's favour superstitiously wise. All the sides that lead from the first leg went through. Preston maintained a 2 goal advantage over Derby, West Ham beat Ipswich 2-0 to make it 4-2 on aggregate, Hartlepool went through on penalties and Sheffield Wednesday won 3-1 on aggregate. With only the league 2 playoff semi finals left, not a single side that has been at home in the second leg has gone through..........yet.

City are expected to start with the same 11 that started the first leg. Francis Green is expected to return to the bench after a few weeks out injured.

Most likely formation (Right to left)

Marriott

McAuley     Morgan        Futcher     McCombe     Sandwith

Butcher    Gain

Taylor-Fletcher    Asamoah  Macclesfield.

 

Graham Potter will still be missing for the Silkmen and it should be as you were. However, Brian Horton could very well change the defensive formation or personnel after the goal that Lincoln scored last week which saw 4 Macclesfield defenders stood and watched McAuley head the Imps into the lead.

As I said earlier, Macclesfield have only failed to score once in Brian Horton's tenure and that being a 2-0 defeat by Cheltenham. It should certainly be an interesting battle between Maccs attack and City's defence that has kept 20 clean sheets this season.