MATCHWATCH : Lincoln City (a)

[Sutekh]

When : Saturday December 16, 3pm
Where : Sincil Bank, Lincoln, LN5 8LD
Capacity : 10,780

First away league game since the end of November next and this time it's a trip to Sincil Bank scene of Reading's 13th (and final) successive league win back at the start of the 1985/86 season. And how many of us would rather be watching the likes of Senior, Beavon, Wood, Hicks, Bremner and Westwood than the great Selles masterplan (and quite possibly even watching the 2023 versions of the aforementioned).

Sadly Lincoln City is rather better than the state of their club badge would lead you to expect and is a fairly workmanlike, organised, useful little team that is fairly typical of most teams in the lower two divisions. Sitting 10th in the third tier Lincoln have won 8 and drawn 7 of their 21 league games so far, however they were turned over at home by Morecambe in the FA Cup so may well have weaknesses to be exploited if Reading's awake and can get themselves correctly organised.

The Imps have lost only 1 of their last 6 in the league (1-0 at Stevenage) while winning 2 and drawing 3 but they have not won a league game at home since beating Charlton 3-1 in October so may be starting to feel a bit edgy - and especially so if the game doesn't start well for them.

Irish international Daniel Mandroiu is the main danger man with 4 goals he played as a striker/attacking midfielder and always seems to be part of any attacking threat offered by Lincoln in highlights reels. Hakeeb Adelakun and Ethan Hamilton offer similar problems from midfield while the Ed Bishop on their books is not the former star of UFO.

Forgetting Dom Ballard and the enigma that is Ejaria, Reading are pretty much at full strength with just McIntyre unlikely to be fit enough to play. Hutchinson and NGW though will probably continue to be cold shouldered while Mola may appear again after completely disappearing for the tripe that was Oxford.

Referee

Robert Madley

Previously

06 May 2018 > Cardiff City 0-0 Reading
28 Apr 2012 > Birmingham City 2-0 Reading
10 Mar 2012 > Reading 3-1 Leicester City

Historically

Twelve seasons shared with our friends from Lincolnshire so far and overall the northerners have the edge by one win overall. In Lincoln the record is pretty with 3 wins compared to 5 for the Imps. It has been the scene of 4-0 and 5-1 thumpings though so a tricky place if you aren't in the right frame of mind or organised properly.

How to follow the game

1. Get a ticket and travel
2. Listen to Radio 5 Live and/or a myriad of other radio stations for score flashes
3. Ring/text a mate for updates
4. Use a RoyalsTV subscription
5. BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)

[Mid Sussex Royal]

I don't think Hutch has necessarily been cold shouldered as has been suggested due to the Shrewsbury interview, from what I've seen this season he's been a complete liability and Craig is deservedly in the side in that spot. He was also around the squad for the 2 recent cup games.

Is Ben House still injured for Lincoln?

[Hound]

Difficult to justify a place for Hutch certainly

Guess the team will be much the same. Maybe Mukairo back for Vickers sadly. Holmes prob keep his place. Would like to see either Carson or NGW on the bench and potentially play wide midfield if needed, still the spot we don’t seem to have found a good option for

[Sutekh]

I don't think Hutch has necessarily been cold shouldered as has been suggested due to the Shrewsbury interview, from what I've seen this season he's been a complete liability and Craig is deservedly in the side in that spot. He was also around the squad for the 2 recent cup games.

Is Ben House still injured for Lincoln?

House not expected back until Jan/Feb.

[Snowflake Royal]

Difficult to justify a place for Hutch certainly

Guess the team will be much the same. Maybe Mukairo back for Vickers sadly. Holmes prob keep his place. Would like to see either Carson or NGW on the bench and potentially play wide midfield if needed, still the spot we don’t seem to have found a good option for

Won't happen, but NGW would be worth trying LW, he's quite good going forward but would certainly help out his fullback. Dorsett should keep the LB slot, one semi poor game coming back from injury is not a worry

Vickers I think is best on the bench as he's not going to displace Azeez on the right or Knibbs in the middle. His best hope would be Knibbs back left and him in the middle, but he'd also be competing with Elliott for that.

We need to do something about the left flank to take some pressure off Yiadom and Azeez, though.

Holmes deserves to keep his place and Abbey shouldn't be dropped after one poor game. Bindon wasn't hugely solid when he came on anyway.

Smith needs to come off early he was blowing out his arse the other night. And Ehibhatiomhan needs more time.

I think Hutch is worth a destroyer place on the bench. But Savage is more flexible.

This is what I'd do, you can probably just switch NGW for Mukairu and bring Bindon onto the bench for Hutch to be pretty close to what Selles will do.


......................Button
Yiadom, Holmes, Abbey, Dorsett
.............Wing................Craig
Azeez.............Knibbs..........NGW
.......................Smith

Subs: Pereira, Mbengue, Hutch, Savage, Elliott, Vickers, Ehibhatiomhan

[Hound]

Yes like that team. Carson delivers a cracking ball and defensive frailties would be less obvious in that spot as well. Not to that Selles will play either there

Where’s Rushesha gone? Disappeared after the fa cup game. Quite like him and could do a job when Craig tires etc

[Snowflake Royal]

Yes like that team. Carson delivers a cracking ball and defensive frailties would be less obvious in that spot as well. Not to that Selles will play either there

Where’s Rushesha gone? Disappeared after the fa cup game. Quite like him and could do a job when Craig tires etc

Get the impression Selles doesn't want Rushesha and he was a waste of a squad place.

What happened to Senga, I forget, did he go on loan?

[Sutekh]

Yes like that team. Carson delivers a cracking ball and defensive frailties would be less obvious in that spot as well. Not to that Selles will play either there

Where’s Rushesha gone? Disappeared after the fa cup game. Quite like him and could do a job when Craig tires etc

Get the impression Selles doesn't want Rushesha and he was a waste of a squad place.

What happened to Senga, I forget, did he go on loan?

Yes, Jack Senga-Ngoyi is currently on loan at Ayr United (where he is a team mate of a Patrick Reading).

[Hound]

Yes like that team. Carson delivers a cracking ball and defensive frailties would be less obvious in that spot as well. Not to that Selles will play either there

Where’s Rushesha gone? Disappeared after the fa cup game. Quite like him and could do a job when Craig tires etc

Get the impression Selles doesn't want Rushesha and he was a waste of a squad place.

What happened to Senga, I forget, did he go on loan?

Yes, Jack Senga-Ngoyi is currently on loan at Ayr United (where he is a team mate of a Patrick Reading).

Seemed to be doing ok there last I looked, was generally starting games after being on the bench first part of the season

[Brogue]

apaz this will the last away game where the players will get an overnight stay, from now on its no more hotels as we can't afford them. Carlisle and back in a day is going to be fun for the players

[morganb]

Yes like that team. Carson delivers a cracking ball and defensive frailties would be less obvious in that spot as well. Not to that Selles will play either there

Where’s Rushesha gone? Disappeared after the fa cup game. Quite like him and could do a job when Craig tires etc

Get the impression Selles doesn't want Rushesha and he was a waste of a squad place.

What happened to Senga, I forget, did he go on loan?

Regarding Rushesha, we saw him in one of the pre-season friendlies and weren't that impressed, but Selles kept singing his praises and we eventually signed him. I thought he had improved as the season has gone on (seen him play for the Unders as well as the first team) so it is surprising that he's another one to disappear all of a sudden.

[Hound]

apaz this will the last away game where the players will get an overnight stay, from now on its no more hotels as we can't afford them. Carlisle and back in a day is going to be fun for the players

Not that it helped our away form though did it? Assume no overnight stay for Wycombe and that’s the only game won in the last year

[Brogue]

apaz this will the last away game where the players will get an overnight stay, from now on its no more hotels as we can't afford them. Carlisle and back in a day is going to be fun for the players

Not that it helped our away form though did it? Assume no overnight stay for Wycombe and that’s the only game won in the last year

[Sutekh]

apaz this will the last away game where the players will get an overnight stay, from now on its no more hotels as we can't afford them. Carlisle and back in a day is going to be fun for the players

Well at least it can’t really make the away results any worse

[Hound]

apaz this will the last away game where the players will get an overnight stay, from now on its no more hotels as we can't afford them. Carlisle and back in a day is going to be fun for the players

Not that it helped our away form though did it? Assume no overnight stay for Wycombe and that’s the only game won in the last year

Well it hasn’t helped has it? Our prep for away games can’t be good as the results show.

Who knows it might actually help to not be away from home the day before

[Snowflake Royal]

It's hard to see how it could do anything but make prep and performance worse, but as said, won't affect results.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Takes away hope that away results will improve. Also suggests nothing is close to being resolved and management are making the tough choices to keep the show on the road. A couple of weeks ago we had hope that we were near the bottom. Not any more.

[Snowflake Royal]

Takes away hope that away results will improve. Also suggests nothing is close to being resolved and management are making the tough choices to keep the show on the road. A couple of weeks ago we had hope that we were near the bottom. Not any more.

23rd is about as close to the bottom without being there as you can get tbf

[WestYorksRoyal]

Takes away hope that away results will improve. Also suggests nothing is close to being resolved and management are making the tough choices to keep the show on the road. A couple of weeks ago we had hope that we were near the bottom. Not any more.

23rd is about as close to the bottom without being there as you can get tbf

Ha. Didn't mean our league position. I meant being relegated with this shit owner in play, out of player contracts and a L2 relegation battle ahead. Things can get much worse than simply relegation.

[Clyde1998]

Tickets are now off sale on the website, but it was just under 900 sold yesterday from our 1,132 allocation. Tickets are available in person on the day.