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Orient
Match Is The Key
21st April 2006
Leyton Orient visit Sincil Bank on Saturday afternoon for
vital fixture that will affect both sides' chances of
promotion.
Both Lincoln City and Leyton Orient require the victory
to further their promotion hopes. Should Leyton Orient
lose, then their promotion hopes could rest via the
play-offs. However, should Lincoln City lose then their
promotion hopes will once again be in jeopardy. This
match has all the ingredients of being a match to
remember.
Orient are currently third in the League Two table. Four
points from a possible six during the Easter weekend has
seen Orient move into the top three for the first time
since January. Only the top three teams are guaranteed
automatic promotion.
Meanwhile, Lincoln's haul of four points from six
returned them to the seventh place, which is the final
play-off qualification spot.
Understandably, the nerves of both teams could start to
fray, although Lincoln are experienced in claiming a
play-off position having done so for the past three
seasons. However, Orient's manager Martin Ling has backed
his players to hold their nerves to ensure that they
celebrating automatic promotion.
Should Orient match Grimsby Town's results for the final
three matches of the campaign, then Orient will win
promotion. The tactics employed by Orient against Lincoln
could well depend on Grimsby's result against Cheltenham
on Friday evening.
Orient have several injury woes ahead of this match to
key players. The most worrying is that striker Paul
Connor, who cost £40,000 from Swansea City in January,
is rated very doubtful. The loss of Connor will be a huge
blow for Orient, as none of Orient's strikers have scored
since Connor signed. Thankfully for Orient, Connor has
managed five goals in thirteen matches!
Humorists might raise a wry smile should Connor not play,
as Joe Keith and Gary Alexander will lead the Orient
attack. Hence Imps' boss Keith Alexander will be pitting
his wits against Keith (&) Alexander! That should at
least provide the radio commentators with a laugh.
Definitely missing for Orient is Shane Tudor who has
undergone surgery on his groin. Awaiting surgery are
Donny Bernard and Justin Miller, but both players are
desperately trying to play on until the season's end.
Highly-rated defender Gaby Zakuani has been given a 50:50
chance of playing against Lincoln.
Despite all these injury setbacks, Orient have lost just
once in their last thirteen matches. Their one defeat was
a shock 1-0 loss at relegation threatened Rushden and
Diamonds on March 18th.
Lincoln have a near full squad from which to select their
team. However, it is debatable whether several players
like Gareth McAuley, Paul Mayo and Paul Morgan are fully
fit as all three have only just returned from lengthy
injury absences. This will be McAuley and Morgan's third
match within a week.
These two clubs first met on 16th September 1905 when
Lincoln lost 3-2 to Leyton Orient at Sincil Bank. For a
full round-up of the historical results between these two
clubs, please click here.
Odds for the game:
Lincoln City - 11/8
Draw- 11/5
Leyton Orient - 17/10
Odds kindly supplied by Sporting
Odds, who
regularly offer free bets to customers. To ensure that
you obtain the freshest offer, you will need to click
this link and register immediately - so please return to
this page first, if necessary.
Please click the links for cheap merchandise for Cheltenham, Grimsby
Town, Leyton
Orient, Lincoln
City, Swansea
City football
clubs.
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