Swindon Town’s run of three consecutive home fixtures come to an end this evening with a tough test against sixth placed Lincoln City.
John Sheridan’s Reds secured a monumentally important fourth win of the season and a first clean sheet last Saturday, with a hard-fought victory against Bristol Rovers.
Having recovered from a painful 3-0 home defeat against Accrington Stanley a week ago today, it was a victory which helped recover all lost momentum and it will hopefully be maintained with another three points against Lincoln.
It was also a second League goal of the season for Brett Pitman, who attacked the ball through a crowd of players to convert Matt Smith’s brilliant cross from close range – the striker has two goals in six home League games.
While Lincoln will prove be a very stern and tough test, Town have already beaten promotion chasing opposition this season when they overcame Hull City 2-1 at the County Ground on Halloween.
The opposition:
Managed by Michael Appleton, Lincoln came flying out of the traps winning seven of their opening 10 League matches and establishing themselves as early promotion contenders.
However, a recent run of two defeats and a draw in their last three matches against Doncaster Rovers (1-0), Portsmouth at home (1-3) and most recently, a 0-0 away draw at Accrington Stanley has been frustrating for the Imps.
There have been only 20 meetings between the two clubs since 1934, in which the Town have been victorious nine times, compared to Lincoln who have beaten the Reds on five occasions – there have also been six draws.
However, Lincoln are unbeaten in their last four meetings against Swindon between October 2017 and January 2019 with two of those games coming last season: a 2-2 draw at the County Ground and a 4-1 victory at the Sincil Bank Stadium.
Swindon’s last victory against the Imps was a 3-2 away victory back in 2007 when goals from Christian Roberts, Barry Corr and Lee Peacock sealed the victory for the Reds.
Team News:
Jonathan Grounds is suspended for the match this evening for accumulating too many yellow cards.
There are no further updates on returning players since Saturday's game.
Officials:
Tonight's man in the middle will be Graham Salisbury with Adam Ricketts and Ollie Williams as assistants. Antony Coggins will be the fourth official this evening.
