Lincoln City look to bounce back from weekend defeat

Lincoln City aims to put their 1-0 defeat to Port Vale behind them as they entertain Accrington Stanley at the LNER Stadium on Tuesday evening.

Travelling Accrington have been on a fairly dismal run of results, failing to register any points since their 1-0 win at Bristol Rovers towards the back end of September. Coach Kennedy will approach the game as he won any other and knows that they can turn the corner at any moment and he hopes that it will not start on Tuesday evening.

“I never get carried away when we’re winning games and we never get carried away when we lose a game. We try to look at the game plan; what went well, what didn’t go well and balance our reflections on any game. We’re all in a good place. We were disappointed to lose as always, but we’re in a good space.”

Kennedy recognised the threat that the visitors will pose if they are not on the ball and will prepare his side as they would for any other game, realising that his side too, were under par at the weekend.

“We’ve watched a lot of footage. I think they’ve got very good players and a manager that has been in the game for such a long time. They’re a really honest group of players, technically solid, and we’ll treat this game like any other.

“I’m expecting a really, really tough game and I don’t get caught up in positions in the league or what the table looks like. I think in every game, you’re always going to be in a really tight one and you’re going to have tough moments.”

The Imps have registered some notable victories this season and with their league home record still intact, Sincil Bank has become a difficult place to play once more following some poor results on home soil under Michael Appleton in last season’s campaign.

Lincoln are sweating on the injury that Danny Madroiu sustained at the weekend after an impressive month of form since joining from Shamrock Rovers in the summer, which has seen him find the net three times in the past month. In better news,  centre-back Joe Walsh is available for selection as Kennedy carefully manages his game time after a torrid spell with injuries over the past year.

With Accrington sliding down the League One table, there has been a call to arms to stem the flow. Experienced Sean McConville was adamant that the squad are still very much together and needs to rally as they take on Lincoln after their disappointing 3-0 defeat at Fleetwood Town.

Speaking to the official club website, as a collective they are determined to make amends for recent form.

“Fleetwood last Saturday is probably the lowest point of the season. We need to take what we did from last year and, as a collective – players, staff and fans – we need everyone to get us over that line and stop the rot.

“We need to go to Lincoln, batten down the hatches and stop conceding the three goals a game as, if you keep doing that, the reality is you will go down. We have to come out fighting and try and get a point on the board or all three.

“Yesterday, people got told in no uncertain terms if they are not doing things they should be doing, myself included, and the staff can take feedback from players and how they are feeling. It’s a collective, we are all in it together, there are no fractions.”

Sitting two points off the relegation places, manager John Coleman had his players in for training on Sunday morning with even harder work is required to pull them out of their current slump.

“We had a very long players’ meeting and video session yesterday, the players are determined to try and put it right. You have got to be positive about things, you can’t be down, you have to learn from your errors, learn the areas that we can improve on, put action plans in place for players to get personal development and improve in the short term and, also for the team, how we operate. These measures will be practised today in training and hopefully come to fruition tomorrow.”

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