Lincoln City v Northampton Town
Recco Hackett is back from injury ahead of the Imps’ match against the Cobblers tonight (Tuesday) at the LNER Stadium – 7.45pm kick off.
The Imps play their second home game in four days when they welcome Northampton Town to the LNER Stadium on Tuesday 29 October (7.45pm KO).
It’s been a mixed start to the campaign for Northampton Town, currently in 17th place with 15 points in the early season standings.
Led by manager Jon Brady since 2021, the Cobblers’ form has picked up and they’ve cxollected an impressive seven points from their last three fixtures.
Last time out they overcame Crawley Town 3-0 at Sixfields and hope to make it a fourth game unbeaten when they travel to the LNER Stadium.
The Imps’ last home victory against Northampton came in 2021 where the introduction of second-half substitute Conor McGrandles flipped the match in City’s favour, with Michael Appleton’s side ultimately coming out 2-1 victors.
Head coach Michael Skubala said City would be looking to make the most of their home advantage.
“Every team you play in this league is really tough. They all have their different styles, and you’ve got to be on it. We know how tough of a division it is this season. The key is consistency from game to game and trying to put in the best performance that we can, but that sometimes means having to try and win games in different ways.
“What’s clear is that the group is still growing, it was a really good performance on Saturday against Stockport and it was worth three points, but it’s onto the next one now. We can’t get too high and we can’t get too low.
“Northampton are really hard to beat, they give nothing away and catch teams. We know we’re going to have to be really good without the ball because if we’re not we’ll get hurt. We’re at home, we want to take the game to them and want to be aggressive, and hopefully we can get the three points.”
Hackett is looking forward to being in the starting live-up: “It’s been a long road to be able to get back to starting a game. It felt good, and I’ve been working hard while I’ve been injured. I’ve had a few 30 minutes leading up to now, but it feels good to be back, and I’m buzzing to go again.
“There’s only so much fitness you can build up from training and doing rehab, so now it’s just about building on the minutes. I feel really good after the game on the weekend, and hopefully I can kick on again against Northampton and get some more minutes under my belt.”