Preview: Lincoln City vs. Exeter City – prediction, team news, lineups
Separated by just three points in the League One standings, mid-table foes Lincoln City and Exeter City square off at the LNER Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Michael Skubala‘s side were held to a 1-1 draw by Charlton Athletic last time out, while their visitors were no match for Derby County, suffering a 3-0 reverse to the Rams.
Extending their unbeaten run in the third tier to a respectable six matches, Lincoln City were Charlton’s opponents for Nathan Jones‘s first home game in charge of the Addicks on Tuesday, where a Reeco Hackett drive saw the Imps enter half time a goal to the good at The Valley.
However, with 17 minutes of normal time remaining, Freddie Ladapo‘s fine strike into the far corner stole a point for the former Premier League outfit, thus denying Lincoln a third win on the trot following consecutive beatings of Burton Albion and Fleetwood Town.
Both sides had opportunities to snatch all three points towards the end of the midweek battle, leaving Lincoln boss Skubala to profess that a point on the road was a fair result, one which moved the Imps onto 42 points from their 32 fixtures in the 2023-24 League One season.
Eleventh place in the division belongs to the hosts on account of their six-game unbeaten streak, and with 13 points separating Lincoln from the playoff zone and 11 between the Imps and the relegation spots, consolidating their mid-table ranking will ostensibly be the overriding goal between now and May.
During Lincoln’s last 540 minutes of League One football, Skubala’s unit have only shipped a mere three goals – one of which came during their 2-1 beating of Fleetwood last weekend, which ended the Imps’ miserable eight-game stretch without a win at the LNER Stadium.
Upcoming opponents Exeter have already achieved back-to-back wins in the third tier twice in 2024, sinking Peterborough United and Wigan Athletic to warm up for the visit of Derby in perfect fashion, but they would come out second best while butting heads with the Rams.
Max Bird, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Tom Barkhuizen all found a way past Gary Caldwell‘s backline in a routine three-goal success for the title challengers, leaving the Exeter boss to lament the “bad goals” his side gave away in front of the St James Park faithful on Tuesday night.
By virtue of their 16th loss of the campaign, Saturday’s visitors languish in an unlucky 13th place in the League One table and are within touching distance of hosts Lincoln, although they have played a game more and will surely remain below the Imps even with maximum points on Saturday.
Exeter’s mid-table ranking is remarkable when taking into account their shocking -21 goal difference – only basement side Carlisle United boast a worse record in League One – as the Grecians have only made the net bulge 25 times in the current campaign, although 15 of those strikes have come on the road.
Playing away from home does not faze Exeter, who have sunk Bristol Rovers, Wigan and Barnsley in their last three games on their travels, and a 1-1 draw with Lincoln at St James Park in October extended their unbeaten run versus the Imps to a respectable four matches.
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