Part One Complete!

26th January 2008

Part one of Lincoln City's vital double header has gone the way of The Imps as they saw off Dagenham & Redbridge's challenge by beating them 2-0 at Sincil Bank.

It was a scrappy game in parts that frayed the nerves of Lincoln's fans, not helped by the five minutes of stoppage time at the end of the match. Thankfully, a win was achieved courtesy of goals from Ben Wright and Dany N'Guessan.

The first goal was scored in the 15th minute when Wright converted Paul Green's cross to help ease the nerves of Lincoln's fans, management and players alike. Unfortunately, Lincoln can never do things the easy way, and a second goal was beyond them until the 95th minute! By then, every Imps' fan was nervous as Dagenham had played their way back into this game and at times looked dangerous. For the record, N'Guessan scored from Mark Stallard's pass.

Lincoln City now entertain fellow relegation strugglers Mansfield Town on Tuesday evening, in another must win match. It is expected that the same starting eleven will start this match, although N'Guessan is now a match closer to full fitness and may start in place of Lenell John-Lewis, who sustained an injury during the Dagenham match. Alas, it is expected that influential midfielder Lee Frecklington will not have recovered from his ankle injury.

It is also expected that Lincoln City's manager Peter Jackson will not sign any more players before or even after the Mansfield match. Jackson has told reporters that he will only sign a new player if he is better than Lincoln City already have. This news will have come as a disappointment to Lincoln City's fans who feel that the defence requires some extra bodies. However, there is no argument to the fact that we must not make panic signings just for the sake of it.

It is expected that summer will see a major clear-out of players, as Jackson looks to trim his squad to just 19 players. Jackson's aim is to have quality rather than quantity as he explained last week. This could be bad news for the players, such as Jamie Forrester, Scott Kerr and Alan Marriott, who are all out of contract in June.

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