Ahead of the Hull City fixture, Michael Appleton divulged some interesting player fitness snippets.
You can discuss what Michael Appleton said earlier today HERE, as well as many other topics on our 100% Imps forum! We have also published a Lincoln City v Hull City Quiz, which can be found just below the summary. Every page view helps raise money for Lincoln City Football Club!
Hull City: Realistically The Imps are playing the side that will win the league. They have a big budget, good players, and a large squad but that does not take away from the fact that they have still had to get the job done. They have been the most consistent side, with a number of their players showing the motivation required to bounce back from relegation the previous season.
MA was clear what his primary and secondary targets are versus Hull. The focus is very much on securing the three points but he did add, “We don’t want anyone to have that type of enjoyment at our own ground”, when asked about the prospect of The Tigers achieving promotion tomorrow.
The Return of Clean Sheets in Recent Games: “We didn’t want to throw away all the hard work that we’d done previously. It was almost reminding them (the players) the reason why we put ourselves in the position why we had a chance…..there’s still a job to do to make sure we finish in that top six. Maybe that just highlighted and heightened the senses and made people aware that actually, we need to step up a little bit and get back to what we were doing”.
Outside Chance of Automatic Promotion?: MA was dismissive of the possibility at this stage. He was adamant the only time he would look at that is if The Imps were a little bit closer to Peterborough going into the actual fixture against them. “The single most important thing is just making sure we acquire enough points in the top six”.
MA will not need to be tracking results in other games at this stage, he simply wants to attain a positive result and nail down a top-six finish in the next two games. He knows exactly how many points Lincoln need to do that.
Injury Updates: Adam Jackson and Joe Walsh remain unavailable for an unspecified period. The players that have stepped in have done well, manfully even. However, with ever bigger games on the horizon, as many players as possible will be needed. Cohen Bramall is available for selection.
MA ‘teased’ that Jorge Grant may even start but did caution that his ankle ‘puffed up’ after playing in midweek. He did not see that as a big problem and close ongoing monitoring of the situation is in place.
Intriguingly MA hinted that both Liam Bridcutt and Tom Hopper may play a part versus Hull, as both have been training. They are very close to returning and there is a great temptation to deploy them. However, he strongly cautioned about being realistic and observing the fuller picture, that of the number of big games yet to come. MA will make sensible decisions on that score.
Writer: hulloutpost
Have a go at our Lincoln City v Hull City quiz below:
Michael Appleton: "The single most important thing is just making sure we acquire enough points in the top six."https://t.co/17nHNHaDK0#ImpsAsOne #HCAFC #TheTigers
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) April 23, 2021
