Chesterfield roll into Lincoln

Chesterfield will come to Lincoln on Saturday with both sides in unusual form. City have won 6 of their last 8 games, whereas the Spireites may not have won many games recently, but they have only lost once this calendar year and on paper, they will be the most difficult opponent we have faced so far this season at Sincil Bank.

Tuesday was bittersweet for the Imps. A draw was as brilliant result considering we had never won away at Aldershot Town and we had been 2-0 down, but the performance was awful and it wasn't the first game. City have been poor for the past four games and maybe we should be incredibly thankful we have picked up seven points from those games, but we'll have to do a lot better to make absolutely sure we're not dragged back into the relegation battle.

To be fair the last month or so has been a big high and we couldn't just expect to play well consistently and I think the players have earnt their week without a game that comes after the game against Chesterfield, I know it will certainly be nice to not be travelling the country on Tuesday evening for the first time since January 18th.

Are we safe? Mathematically not, but realistically near enough and with a run of games that contains a lot of teams down the bottom, we could find ourselves virtually guaranteed safety within a few weeks.

However, our opponents couldn't be tougher. Chesterfield are top of the division and have been for the vast majority of the season and despite a lot of people highlighting that they're in bad form, they're not losing many games, infact they've lost just once this calendar year and they have an excellent record against the Imps, although they have returned to Derbyshire pointless after the last two visits to Sincil Bank.

Regardless of what happens, Chesterfield will end the day top. City can move up to 12th with a victory but could potentially fall to 15th, it would be 16th but Northampton and Aldershot face each other and obviously can't both overtake City, although this does guarantee that regardless of that result, the Imps will fall to 14th with a defeat to Chesterfield.

Lincoln City will definitely be without Albert Jarrett and Drewe Broughton after they joined AFC Wimbledon and Aldershot respectively. Trevor Carson and Julian Kelly have both extended their loans and the latter could return from injury, as could Gavin Hoyte and Stephen Hunt.

Mustapha Carayol didn't really do enough to get back into the starting XI and will probably start the game on the bench again.

Realistically, the only change is likely to be Gavin Hoyte replacing Paul Green, who became injured yet again on Tuesday evening.

Meetings between Lincoln and Chesterfied been filled with goals in recent years, with only two of the last eleven meetings ending with less than three goals scored.

Our look at the meetings will start with the game at Sincil Bank in the 2000/1, Luke Beckett equalised from Steve Holmes' penalty. However, there were two meetings between the sides at Sincil Bank that season and it came in the LDV Vans Trophy. Chesterfield were flying at the top of the League and the Imps were struggle under Phil Stant. However, a rousing performance from the Imps as a brace from Lee Thorpe, as well as strikes from Gareth Grant and Justin Walker gave City their place in the Northern Final. Steve Payne scored a consolation for the Spireites. Walker was also on target as City came from behind at Saltergate to win 2-1 a few months later.

Chesterfield were promoted that year and the next meeting didn't come until the 2003/4 season when the sides again met in the LDV Trophy. Gary Fletcher (as he was known then) before Brandon equalised, Yeo re-established the lead before Warhurst equalised. Mayo gave City the lead yet again in the 85th minute before Brandon equalised for a third time. Fletcher scored a goal in extra-time for the only example of the silver-goal being important in a Lincoln game. Lincoln haven't won a game in that competition since.

The Spireites were relegated back into the division in time for the 2007/8 season. They visited Sincil Bank for Peter Jackson's second game in charge. Jack Lester hit a first half hatrick before N'Guessan pulled one back for City. Kovacs hit a fourth for Chesterfield before Bencherif made it 4-2. The game at Saltergate was similar with Chesterfield running out 4-1 winners, goals coming from Kerry (twice), Jack Lester and Peter Leven, Ben Wright scored a consolation for City.

Despite Jack Lester continuing his good record against the Imps and Danny Hone getting sent off, Stefan Oakes, Adrian Patulea and former Chesterfield man Janos Kovacs secured a 3-1 win in October 2008. It came in the middle of a run of 5 wins in 6 games. The game back at Saltergate saw the sides draw 1-1, Patulea equalised from a goal from, you guessed it, Jack Lester.

The last three matches have finished 2-1 for the home side. It started with City beating Chesterfield thanks to goal from Hughton and Facey, Boden pulled one back late on for Chesterfield before Lester missed a penalty two minutes later. Goals from Green and Conlon won the match for Chesterfield at Saltergate, Swaibu with the goal for City. Finally, this season the 2-1 scoreline didn't reflect Chesterfield's dominance as Mattis and Davies got the goals for Chesterfield, Hutchinson with the consolation.

Chris Perkins, Davide Somma, Martin Gritton, Adam Smith, Shane Bradley, Marvin Robinson, Janos Kovacs and Shane Nicholson has all played for both sides since the turn of the millennium. Unusually, most of those went directly between the two clubs with five of them going from Chesterfield to Lincoln. Interestingly, Davide Somma missed a penalty for Chesterfield on his debut against Crewe, had that gone in then he might have gone on to have the same success he had at Lincoln. In that alternate reality, it is likely he would never have come to Sincil Bank and the Imps would be in the relegation zone.

The seasons ending with the numbers 0 and 1 seem to be good years for the Spireites as, ten years after winning promotion in the 2000/1 season, Chesterfield and well on course to do the same this year. It's safe to say their promotion this year wouldn't be the same in terms of controversy as the previous season. Ten seasons ago they were heading for the title quite comfortably before they faced a heavy points penalty for financial irregularities. There was a point where they were heavily rumoured to be subject to a 50 point deduction that would have seen them go from top to bottom, so they were probably quite pleased to have only been deducted nine points, they eventually went up with Cardiff and Brighton.

 The Spireites have only lost once in the last twelve games, but only one win in their last seven has seen some start to question whether they can actually secure the promotion they looked destined for several months ago. The season started off well for the Spireites and it wasn't until a trip to Rotherham on September 25th that they lost a game, however, it was the only League game that they lost between the beginning of the season and a trip to Oxford on November 23rd.

However, they've only lost seven games all season, three of those have come against Burton Albion and two have come against higher league opposition in the cups.

Chesterfield have three players with double figures in terms of goals, with Craig Davies netting 16, Danny Whittaker has 12 and Jack Lester has 10. Only four sides have stopped Chesterfield and although they don't keep many clean sheets, they are certainly one of the more dangerous sides in the division. Crewe know just how resilient Chesterfield are as Crewe scored five at Chesterfield and still only took a point home. At various points during the match Crewe were winning 3-0, 4-1 and 5-3, and yet only took a single point back to Cheshire.

The Spireites have hit five twice this season, four goals on three occasions and three times twice. Only Crewe and Shrewsbury have scored more than twice against them.