Lincoln City may still have play-off ambitions as they are currently sat in 10th position,11 points off of Oxford United in sixth with 13 games still to play. Since Mark Kennedy left unexpectedly in October, Michael Skubala has been quietly going about his business, and it’s not gone under the radar.
The Imps are one of the form sides in the division and have achieved three wins and three draws in their last six matches. They won 1-0 at the weekend against fellow in-form side Exeter City, with on-loan Luton Town striker Joe Taylor getting his first goal for the club since joining in January. Impressively, Skubala’s side are undefeated since their 2-0 loss to Blackpool on New Year’s Day.
Although they may be 11 points off of making the play-offs this season at the current moment, the Imps do have an outside chance of still playing in May. They’ll need to be at their best though,as well as some teams above faltering, but it isn’t completely out of question just yet.
Here are three reasons as to why they should still have some hope…
Consistency
In the last six matches, consistency hasn’t been an issue, however, before then it was, and a tricky spell in November and December would see Lincoln lose plenty of ground on their promotion-chasing rivals.
The East Midlands club lost five of their last six games before the 1-1 draw against Wycombe Wanderers in mid-January. If they’re to make the play-offs they will need to continue on this current run of form which has got them back into the hunt with an outside chance. Keeping everyone fit does seem to equal consistency for the Imps, and players returning from injury has coincided with the current vein of form.
Strikers hitting form
When Skubala came in, City were playing square pegs in round holes for a while. The likes of Ben House and Reeco Hackett have both had medium to long-term injuries and at one stage, 19-year-old youngster Jovon Makama was leading the line. Thankfully since then, the injured players have returned, and the Imps have signed the likes of Jack Moylan and Joe Taylor, which has helped to gain some momentum. Freddie Draper has also returned from a successful loan spell with League Two Walsall, where he scored 10 goals in just 21 appearances. Keeping key players fit is going to be one of the main keys.
If House, Draper or Hackett or maybe even all three, could pick up a few goals, then it will massively help the League One side to edge closer to the play-offs. In 18 games, Hackett has just four goals, Draper hasn’t scored since returning and House has scored one in nine. It’s now hoped that Taylor will score a few more as well, since scoring his first goal at the weekend. Getting one of their forward options scoring consistently will be paramount for any chance they have.
A favourable run-in
The Imps still have to play plenty of teams in the bottom half of the table, including the likes of; Carlisle United, Cheltenham Town, Port Vale, Reading and Cambridge United. The play-off hopefuls will hope to get at least 10-12 points from the 15 available in those games.
A lot of the top six still need to play each other as well, which could allow Lincoln to catch-up.
Oxford United for example, still have fellow promotion-chasers Peterborough, Portsmouth, Stevenage and Bolton Wanderers to name but a few. Peterborough, on a bad run themselves, still have to play the likes of Bolton, Oxford and Stevenage, and Barnsley have Derby, Bolton, Stevenage and Portsmouth.
Having taken 12 points from a possible 18, everyone at the club will feel confident that they can sneak into the playoffs, and then it’s down to alottery. As they say, you have to buy a ticket to win. If, and it’s a big ‘if’ they can sneak into the play-offs, Lincoln definitely have the quality as well as recent form which could take them to Wembley.
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