After a frustrating day in Gillingham at the weekend, the Spireites’ attention turns to an away fixture against Lincoln City this evening in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.
With a penalty shoot-out win last time out against Manchester City U21, Paul Cook’s side will be looking to take all three points in normal time and put themselves in a strong position to progress to the knockout stages.
Head-to-head
It will be our first meeting with Lincoln since the 2017/18 League Two campaign, when the Imps were victorious in both games with 2-1 and 3-1 wins.
Our most recent victory against our opponents came in 2011, when goals from Craig Davies and Dean Holden gave John Sheridan’s men a 2-0 win at Sincil Bank.
Paul Cook has faced Lincoln just twice so far in his managerial career, but boasts an unbeaten record with a 1-1 draw and 1-0 win during his time at Ipswich Town.
Michael Skubala
Lincoln’s head coach has been at the club since November 2023 after he departed the coaching team at Leeds United and has enjoyed a successful spell so far, ending the season just two points away from a play-off position after a 16-match unbeaten run from January to early April.
Despite being relatively new to management in association football, Skubala has a diverse CV in different corners of the sport and notably spent three years as the head coach of the England national futsal team.
Skubala guided the side to their highest ranking in two decades before moving over to the U18 set-up at St George’s Park.
Lincoln City
The Imps have enjoyed a solid start to their sixth consecutive League One season and will be hoping to improve on their seveth-placed-finish last time around.
With recent victories against Stevenage and Mansfield, Skubala will be hoping his side can make a long-awaited return to the second tier.
After two deadline day arrivals in Saxon Earley and Bailey Cadamarteri, Skubala may look to rest key individuals and embed new players into the squad.
If you can’t make it to the match, you can follow the action online. Listen to the pre-match build-up on 1866 Sport from 6.30pm. Shortly before the 7pm kick-off, switch over to the commentary platform to hear full commentary. This is a subscription service available via the following link: https://spireitestv.chesterfield-fc.co.uk. For those who have not yet subscribed, an explainer video is available here: https://chesterfield-fc.co.uk/news/video-guide-to-accessing-match-commentary
Return to 1866 Sport for half-time analysis and post-match reaction/interviews.
