Imps on the road in FA Cup

Lincoln City travel to Birmingham City for an early kick-off (12noon) in the third round of the FA Cup this Saturday needing to end their current win and goal drought.

The distractions of the traditional third round Saturday with its giant-killing potential (who fancies Morecambe at Chelsea?) may seem superfluous to the Imps’ league ambitions, but if any team knows what a good run in the cup can do, it’s Lincoln.

There’s no denying it’s a tough ask, but the weight of expectation will not be on the Imps’ shoulders – that will rest with the Blues who are coming off the back of a productive festive season in their bid for promotion to the Championship.

Birmingham City has put together an 11-match unbeaten run in all competitions compared to Lincoln’s dip in form, but there are at least a couple of reasons for the fans travelling to St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park to be optimistic,

The first is their own performance last time out at the LNER stadium against Stevenage when not only did they keep a clean sheet, but also just missed out on the win through a contentious call after Lewis Montsma scored.

The second is that the Blues are likely to be missing four key players on Saturday as manager Chris Davies all but ruled out Krystian Bielik, Jay Stansfield, Keshi Anderson and Emil Hansson at a pre-match press conference yesterday (Thursday).

Lincoln’s head coach, Michael Skubala, has some of his own injury problems with first choice keeper, George Wickens out for weekend’s game after a scan, so Zach Jeacock has been recalled from his loan spell at Southend United.

Skubala is very much aware of the task facing his team with its core of young players and has been doing his homework by watching Blues’ previous matches. He is expecting Birmingham to dominate possession, so his side must be clever off the ball and ready to make the most of any chances.

“It’s a good opportunity to show what we can do.”

Picture: Vaughan Photography

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