City open their 2017/2018 campaign with a trip to Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday, an occasion that marks the Imps’ first fixture in the Football League since 2011.
When the fixture list was announced in June, Danny Cowley argued that it “couldn’t be a tougher start”, a sentiment that certainly has an element of truth to it. The Chairboys – under the guidance of former City winger Gareth Ainsworth – had a decent home record last season (W11, D6, L6) which helped propel them into 9th, just one point off the play-off places.
Ainsworth will reach five years in management next month, and although it seems relatively recently that he was linked with non-playing roles at City, that makes him the 4th longest serving manager of the 92 behind Arsene Wenger, Paul Tisdale and Morecambe boss Jim Bentley. His Wycombe side have earned a reputation for being difficult to beat if not particularly easy on the eye, a point emphasised by the fact they conceded less goals than Doncaster last season who were automatically promoted and only four more than Hartlepool, who were relegated.
With a frontline led by lower league veteran Adebayo Akinfenwa however, Wycombe are still a threat in an attacking sense despite their slightly dour reputation. The 35-year-old forward has scored goals at pretty much every club he has represented since the mid-noughties, and netted against the Imps towards the end of City’s fateful relegation season in April 2011, rounding off a 4-0 win for Gillingham at Sincil Bank. The giant striker has had a number of decent tussles with City centre halves over the years, with Paul Green marshalling him particularly well as a makeshift centre-back when Akinfenwa was at Northampton Town.
The big man’s partner for Saturday is unclear. 21-year-old striker Scott Kashket netted 10 league goals last season in just 21 appearances, and bagged a cup hat trick against Chesterfield. Kashket has had an interesting football education, starting his youth career at Alicante based Hércules CF (who had a season in La Liga at the start of the decade). However, the highly-rated forward has been nursing a hip flexor problem and City may find themselves defending against either Paris Cowan-Hall or experienced forward-turned-wide man Nathan Tyson.
Despite Tyson’s signing, Wycombe have been relatively quiet in the transfer market. Star defender Aaron Pierre has made the move to Northampton Town, with experienced Egyptian international Adam El-Abd a replacement. El-Abd is a bit more of a solid, experienced no-nonsense defender than the outgoing Pierre, a quick defender who recovered well. It will be interesting to see how Wycombe adapt defensively with the changed personnel.
City meanwhile are expected to hand competitive debuts to Michael Bostwick, Jordan Maguire-Drew and Matt Green. Green scored twice against the Chairboys last season, netting a late equaliser at Field Mill in the home league fixture and scoring from the penalty spot in a third round Checkatrade Trophy tie. New boys Rob Dickie and Ollie Palmer may make their competitive bow, although you would expect both to start from the bench. The main question mark going into the game is still at left-back, with Sam Habergham’s injury robbing City of continuity across their back four. It remains to be seen if a new body (Neil Eardley or Matthew Briggs) is brought into the fold before City head to Adams Park.
The early season betting has City as one of the favourites for promotion from League Two. Whatever happens on Saturday, we won’t find out if that’s on the cards yet. Nor will we find out if prophecies of doom about an impending Cheltenham-esque season of struggle (largely propagated by our friends in Nottinghamshire and Cleethorpes) is incoming. Saturday will, however, be the first decent indication of where we are in our preparations for the season in relation to other teams.
Hold on to your hats Imps, it could be another wild ride.
PREVIEW: @WWFCOfficial v @LincolnCity_FC:https://t.co/lpMValq80X#Chairboys #CowleysCampaign #EFL
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) August 3, 2017
