Dagenham visit is a test of how far we've come

Lincoln City's trip to Dagenham and Redbridge earlier in the season was the final time that Peter Jackson managed a League game for the Imps, five months later and City are a very different club. This means that this game will be a very good indicator of how far City have come in recent months.

The games are now well and truly coming thick and fast for the Imps, to the point where I'm writing the match preview to our next game just over twelve hours since our last match ended. The defeat against Burton has brought a few city fans back down to reality with the realisation that despite improved performances, we can't really push on until we've got a striker who could score at least 15 goals a season, a feat not often past by Imps players in recent times. What would we give for a Jamie Forrester right now, or even Mark Stallard during his first year at the club?

We created more than enough chances to win the game at Burton, but the lack of a natural goalscorer at the club prevented City from scoring enough goals to even get a point these days, and although I'm still extremely confident we'll avoid the drop, I don't imagine us troubling the top half of the table anytime soon.

It seems like a long time ago since our away game at Dagenham in August. In what was to be Peter Jackson's final League game in charge, the Imps put in a very poor display and were lucky to only come away from Dagenham with a 3-0 defeat. It was also the first time that mass "Jackson Out" chants could be heard from the away end.

So in a way, this is an excellent chance to compare how we've progressed under Sutton. The Imps have changed a lot since that day, so much to the extent that only four of the starting XI on Wednesday night were at the club when Jackson was here, those four being Burch, Hughton, Kerr and Green. Infact, the 3-0 defeat earlier in the season was an excellent indication of how City were going backwards as the Imps had won 3-0 at the same stadium but five calendar months earlier.

City have suffered three injury casualties in the last few days with Michael Uwezu, Nathan Baker and Matthew Saunders all picking up knocks and all three are likely to miss out on Saturday's game. That would mean a rare start for Swaibu (left), that's if Sutton still has faith in him after shouting at him for the entire second half at Burton. Other than that little selection issue, it should still be the same defence of Green, Anderson and Watts in front of Burch.

The midfield are currently creating chances for the strikers, so you'd be hard pushed to see any of Herd, Hughton, Kerr or Keltie dropped, and that leads us onto the main issue of strikers. Facey and Connor are both very similar players in that they hold up the ball well, win flick ons and bring others into play, but neither are likely to score anytime soon. Facey has only scored once during his near two month loan spell, whereas Connor has only scored one goal in his 12 or so appearances during pre-season and the actual season, that coming against Goole.

Lenell John-Lewis has only scored once in a year, and the less said about Jamie Clarke and Fagan the better. Gilmour is probably the best striker we have, but he has also only scored once in nearly three months at the club. It's quite strange to have this many strikers at the club and not one of them be a natural finisher. The fact they've only got five League goals between them says it all really. Assuming there are no new players are signed after this match preview is posted, I suspect that the strikers starting will be Facey and Gilmour, although Sutton could be tempted to play Connor after he returned from injury.

So the team with one of the worst strike rates in the country will now come up against a team that were free scoring at the beginning of the season. Dagenham opened their season with wins of 5-3, 5-0 and 3-0 in the opening month. However, in recent months it's been more of a case of the opposition scoring for a few months. After 6-1 thrashing at Huddersfield Town was followed a few weeks later by a 5-2 home defeat to Aldershot Town. Tuesday night saw a 3-0 defeat at home to Notts County.

They are pretty much replicating what they did last season, starting really well and although still be in the promotion hunt approaching February, are rapidly falling apart. It's a shame as I feel they deserve promotion more than one-season wonders such as Notts County. Most people who know me know that one of the things I hate more than terracing, is the teams who are god awful for years and years, only to then have one good season and win promotion because of it.

I respect Dagenham. After that first season they had in the Football League, I thought they were god awful, but they have adapted extremely well and quickly since then, and after Rochdale, are the best side I've seen so far this season. If they can re-pick up their form then I'm sure they'll end up winning promotion this season.

Dagenham's away record isn't great and it seems strange to talk about someone coming to Sincil Bank where we've picked up more points at home than the opposition have away from home, 18 points to 14 to be precise. They haven't won on the road since a 1-0 win at Accrington on November 14^th, and have lost their last two away games at Northampton and Notts, and they could only gain a draw at Grimsby Town.

Dagenham's side contains just one former Imp, midfielder Peter Gain, whom left the Imps in 2005, announcing this by appearing on a bed with a half naked Barry Fry (right).

He was the first of many ex-Imps to play for Peterborough.

Prediction

Dagenham are a good side and on their day could easily thrash anyone in this division, but I think that with City starting to get their act together, this certainly won't be a repeat of the 3-0 game down at Sincil Bank. A draw would be a creditable result for the Imps, whereas Dagenham would probably be happy to simply not lose on the road.

Lincoln 1 Dagenham 1