Imps aim to get back on track against Morecambe

It's certainly been an interesting four weeks for the Imps. Bottom of the table and adrift after a defeat to Wycombe Wanderers to Wycombe on January 15th, five wins in a row later and some fans were thinking that the Playoffs were possible......Tuesday night made it quite clear that the Imps are not ready to challenge at the top just yet. The last few days have seen a bit of time for reflection and most now seem to agree that the Imps are generally a match for anyone in the current bottom half and a few from the top half, but anyone above that and we'll struggle.

So the mission is on to reach 50 points and where better to start than a home game against the team that saw Tilson's first League win as Lincoln manager? The game at the Globe Arena was a half decent trip for the Imps. Despite a poor opening half, the Imps were dominate in the second half and it also saw the first of Grimes' 10 goals (to date) for the Imps.

However, we certainly shouldn't underestimate the visitors, especially given our home record in recent years has been absolutely shocking, including last season's match against Morecambe that saw the visitors head back to Lancashire with a comfortable 3 points.

City could, theoretically, go as high as 12th with a win and as low as 19th with a defeat. Morecambe will move above City if they win and they themselves could also go twelve, although they would need a massive swing in goal difference to achieve that.

Despite being mullered 5-1 on Tuesday, there isn't expected to be many changes to Lincoln's starting line up, although Stephen Hunt was taken off as a precaution on Tuesday, well, that's the official story......it obviously had nothing to do that he was getting easily beaten every single time by the right winger.

Other than that minor doubt, it will probably be the same starting XI as Tuesday night. Despite all coming on as substitutes, it would be a big surprise if Patrick Kanyuka, Drewe Broughton and/or Scott Spencer start.

THE LIKELY CITY STARTING XI
	Although considerably better than Anyon (not saying much), Carson seems to fall into that category of goalkeepers that seems to only keep clean sheets if there's no half-realistic shots on target against him. He has kept two clean sheets in six games but has conceded ten in the same time period.
	He didn't have a great game against Shrewsbury and you get the feeling that much like Anyon's convenient "illness" that allowed Carson to come in, Hunt was taken off because of his poor performance, rather than actually being injured.
	For the second game in three he was easily beaten by the winger he was defending against and a considerable amount of the five Shrewsbury scored came from his side of the pitch.
	It seems almost strange to have a defence that conceded five and yet the two central defenders didn't do a lot wrong. The defence has been far been since Hone came back and had it not been for Hoyte and Hunt failing to defend their side of the pitch, we probably wouldn't have conceded five.
	I am not, nor have I ever been impressed by Kelly. An absolutely atrocious passing completion rate, combined with trying to do too much with the ball has lead to some frustration. It's also interesting that all we've heard since he came on loan was how fast he is.....yet he gets outpaced to virtualy everything.
	Brilliant cross for the goal on Tuesday and he has a bit of Dany N'Guessan about him in the sense that he can provide moments of brilliance, but just tries to do a bit too much on some occasions.
	Effort unquestionable, desire unquestionable, passing completion rate - worrying. Other than at Hereford, Howell hasn't had a brilliant time of it recently in terms of his impact on the game, but to be fair he is arguably the best central midfielder we have (on first viewing)
	Ten times the player he was a few months ago but still has a tendency to let games pass him by. Whether he remains in the first team once/if Fuseini comes back is very much up to debate.
	Much like Hone, Watts didn't do a lot wrong on Tuesday night and he didn't really deserve to be in the situation where the defence conceded five.
	Good goal on Tuesday but was otherwise anonymous for most of the match. He looks tired a lot of the time and if we have a comfortable lead after about an hour, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him going off. His tenth goal has seen him become the first player since Adrian Patulea in 2008/9 to reach double figures.
	Delroy didn't have a great game against Shrewsbury, but then again not many people did. He'll more than likely start as he is better against the opposition at the lower reach of the table.

Morecambe and the Imps have only been playing each other regularly over the past three seasons, although the two sides did meet 10 years ago in the LDV Vans Trophy. Lee Thorpe scored a hatrick to edge the plucky non-Leaguers on the way to the Northern Final. Only three players have scored hatricks for Lincoln since then.

The League meetings so far have been fairly even, with two wins each and three draws, however, City have been the better team in four of the seven meetings. The meetings started in the 2007/8 season when City bossed the game and lead through Ryan Amoo, only for a Lee Beevers own goal to get Morecambe a point with their only attack. City won 2-1 at Morecambe in the final away game of the season through goals through Ben Wright and Paul Green, Blinkhorn with the consolation in added on time for the hosts.

2008/9 saw two 1-1 draws. Frecklington put City ahead at Sincil Bank before a Morecambe defender scored from 45 yards. The meeting at Christie Park fell on a Tuesday night and took a late Paul Green goal to gain City a point in a game where Moses Swaibu made his debut for the Imps.

Last season saw Morecambe comfortably win both games 3-1. Morecambe raced into a 3-0 lead that could have easily been 7 or 8 at Christie Park in October before Rene Howe pulled back a late consolation against his former club. The meeting at Sincil Bank came last April when despite a Cian Hughton equaliser, Morecambe scored two late goals to again win 3-1.

The meeting at the Globe Arena this season saw a rare event, City coming from behind to win a game. Phil Jevons had given the hosts an early lead in a game they could have easily lead by four or five in, but goals from Swaibu and Grimes' first for the club meant the points headed back to Lincoln in what was Steve Tilson's first League win as Lincoln manager.

Not many players have played for both sides in recent years, infact just two and both were loanees for both clubs. Goalkeeper Ben Smith was on loan to the Imps in 2007/8 and was at Morecambe last season, whereas Rene Howe (above, right) represented Morecambe in 2008/9 before spending the first half of last season at Sincil Bank.

Morecambe's first stadium in their new, shiny version of Christie Park hasn't been great so far. Having challenged for promotion last season, they have been down at the bottom of the table for most of the season.

The transition into the new stadium wasn't smooth. They had to cancel all of their pre-season friendlies before only being able to confirm that the first competitive game would go ahead just 24 hours before the fixture was due to be played.

Just four home wins in their new stadium, combined with a general poor away record, currently sees them lay in 18th on 33 points, a point and two places behind the Imps. They do have an eight point gap over the bottom two though, so they should easily avoid the drop.

They come into the game having not won in five games and they have drawn their last three games 1-1, two of which were against teams around them in the table. However, their five games before that did yield an impressive twelve points, including beating a Shrewsbury side who dismantled City on Tuesday night.

Morecambe have also struggled with goals this season and leading goalscoer Phil Jevons has just six goals. Only Stewart Drummond has also scored more than five.

They do have a tendency to get cards and four players have been sent off for Morecambe this season, whereas a total of 20 yellow cards have been dished out to the men from the Globe Arena.