Lincoln City Season Preview: Imps on the up

With the 2018-19 League Two season coming shortly, The Football Lab spoke to Lincoln City fan Gary Hutchinson from the outstanding The Stacey West (@staceywestblog); we also highly-recommend his 2017/18 Season Review to any EFL lover.

Since Danny and Nicky Cowley took over, you’ve become the first non-league team in over a century to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals, won the National League title, won the EFL Trophy and, in reaching the League Two play-offs last season, achieved your highest finish in 11 years. Not a bad time to be an Imp?

There’s been worse times! It’s exciting at Lincoln City now, but we spent enough times on the fringes of success or embraced by utter failure. This is our time, this is when we ascend and rise, stretch our wings and make an impression. It won’t last forever, nothing does, but I’m on board for the ride.

You had an early blow this summer with Alex Woodyard moving to Peterborough. Do you expect Michael Bostwick to move further forward and partner Lee Frecklington in central midfield, or is a more mobile replacement for Woodyard required?

No replacement is required. Having Alex dictated our style of play somewhat, but his move wasn’t unexpected. Bostwick can operate in the same role Alex did, albeit in a different way. We played a 4-4-2 but the central two were often both sunk quite a way back, almost into a 4-2-3-1 with Matt Rhead in the middle of the three. With Lee Frecklington and Michael O’Connor signing we can be very flexible next season.

Elliott Whitehouse has gone to Grimsby. Are you hoping you’ll sign another advanced central midfielder capable of breaking beyond the main striker, or do you expect a return to 4-4-2?

I’ve touched on tactics above and frankly, Elliott was nothing more than a fringe player. When Bruno Andrade arrived it suggested to me he was on his way and that is exactly what has happened. He can do exactly what Whitehouse was billed as doing, only last season he scored 22 and Elliott didn’t.

My theory on Matt Rhead is that his unique physical qualities make him very effective up top, but only for short bursts; just six of his 50 appearances last term lasted 90 minutes. Was it important to add two counter-attacking options in Bruno Andrade and John Akinde?

Absolutely, Matt Rhead is a great asset but only as a late sub against tiring legs. John Akinde is the big one, we’ve been crying out for that physical, mobile striker every since Danny and Nicky arrived. Many think he’s the final piece of the jigsaw, I’ll wait until I’ve seen us a few times to be so bold but I expect great things from the former Barnet man.

Like Andrade, goalkeeper Grant Smith joins from Boreham Wood while Josh Vickers is hoping to be back fit. Do you think either of those players could be good enough to replace Ryan Allsop?

Josh Vickers was the better keeper anyway, he got injured. Look at our form, when he took over in goal we started winning games. He got injured in our match with Luton which we started in third, after that we tailed off. Grant Smith will be pushing but in my opinion, Vickers is as good as we’ve had in years.

Neal Eardley has been talked about by some fans as one of the best right-backs they’ve ever seen at Sincil Bank. How well has he recovered from the long-term injury he had at Birmingham?

He played 45 games last season which tells you everything you need to know. Neal Eardley is still Championship quality in my opinion. He’s calm and assured, he reads the game wonderfully and when he signed a new deal, I celebrated like a new signing. Big player.

You couldn’t quite find a settled centre-back partnership last season for various reasons. If you can find some stability in that area, can you improve further on the return of 15 league clean sheets?

Yes. It wasn’t us not finding a settled pairing, but with Sean Raggett only ever staying for six months our hand was forced. Rob Dickie let us down a bit, then injury and suspensions didn’t help either. Danny will be targeting more clean sheets and I strongly suspect a change of tactics might facilitate that. Before Christmas we had one of the best defensive records in League Two by the way.

None of your wingers started more than 23 games in 2017-18. Are you optimistic that you’ll get a bit more out of the likes of Harry Anderson and Tom Pett this year?

Yes and no. I’m not sure we’ll operate with wingers in the strictest sense. I think Pett might be used wide as part of a three up front, or maybe even more central. Harry Anderson has struggled since the turn of the year, he was superb early doors but drifted off his game after a while. It’s a big season for him.

Left-back Sam Habergham was absent from the last few match-day squads last season but the club didn’t report an injury. With Harry Toffolo coming in, does Habergham have some work ahead to win his place back?

Sam was injured, but he does have a big task on his hands this season, yes. He’s currently injured again, meaning he’s missing his third pre-season on the bounce. If we operate with wing backs which many think we might, Toffolo is a natural choice.

Lincoln aside, what are your thoughts ahead of the 2018-19 League Two season as a whole? Any potential dark horses for you?

I’m not going to list the obvious choices, we all know who they are. I like the look of Newport’s recruitment, it’s measured but impressive. I like Fraser Franks and Keanu Marsh-Brown is as good as anyone on his day. If they can feed Amond there’s no reason they shouldn’t be top seven.

Port Vale are another who struggled last season. Idris Kanu and Ricky Miller are great signings if Neil Aspin can get them working with Tom Pope, but there’s also an element of panic in their recruitment. It seems he’s cast the net wide and is now looking to work with what he’s caught. If he gets it right, they’ll do well. If he gets it wrong, it could be another long season in Burslem.

Where will you finish?

Top three.

Thanks to Gary for his answers. The Football Lab’s verdict on Lincoln can be found on We Love Betting from late July.