The Shrimps are back on the road on Saturday, as they travel to the LNER Stadium to face Lincoln City in Sky Bet League One.
Morecambe made it three league games unbeaten last weekend after a 1-1 draw against Portsmouth. Liam Shaw opened the scoring with his first goal for the Shrimps on 36 minutes before Colby Bishop equalised for Pompey in the second half.
Lincoln also drew 1-1 last weekend against league leaders Plymouth Argyle at the LNER Stadium.
The Opposition
Lincoln currently sit 13th in League One after 17 games. The Imps have picked up five wins, eight draws and four defeats so far this season.
City have had a lot of success since they were promoted back to the EFL in 2017. The Imps won the Papa Johns Trophy in 2018, beating Shrewsbury 1-0 in the final and were promoted to League One as League Two champions in 2019. They were then League One Play-Off Finalists in 2021, but were denied promotion to the Championship when they were beaten 2-1 by Blackpool in the cruntch match at Wembley.
The Imps are managed by Mark Kennedy who played as a left back and a winger for Millwall, Liverpool, Manchester City, Wolves and Ipswich over a 20-year career. Kennedy’s first managerial role was at Macclesfield Town in 2020. After leaving Macclesfield, the 46-year-old spent time coaching in Ipswich's Academy as well as a spell as assistant manager at Birmingham City until May. Kennedy was then handed a four-year contract by Lincoln in the summer.
Key players
Winger Jack Diamond is on loan at the LNER Stadium from Sunderland. Diamond has been one of the Lincoln’s most prolific players in front of goal this season with five goals and one assist in 11 games. The 22-year-old spent last season on loan at Harrogate Town but made the step up to League One after scoring 14 goals in 45 appearances for the Yorkshire side.
Like Diamond, striker Ben House has five goals and one assist for Lincoln so far this season. House earned him self a move to Lincoln after an impressive spell with Eastleigh in the National League. House was awarded National League Player of the Month in October 2020 when he netted five goals in five games and joined Lincoln for an undisclosed fee in January.
Midfielder Matty Virtue is currently on loan at Lincoln from Championship side Blackpool. Virtue began his career at Liverpool and captained their under-23 side in October 2018 before joining Blackpool in January 2019. After scoring seven goals in 59 appearances for the Seasiders, the 25-year-old signed on loan for Lincoln at the start of September and has scored two goals and picked up an assist so far this season.
Derek Adams’ Thoughts
Derek Adams wants his side to continue playing on the front foot like they did against Portsmouth last weekend.
“We play on the front foot to try and get an advantage in games,” he said.
“We can defend well and we can go forward. We’ve got players coming into the team that enable us to have that extra dimension going forward.”
Team News
Donald Love is back fit and ready for selection again after a strong performance last weekend against Portsmouth.
Max Melbourne also returned to the bench last weekend, however Adams said there is some illness in the squad. Dylan Connolly is suspended after picking up his fifth booking of the season last time out.
Meet The Officials
Martin Coy will referee the game on Saturday and will be assisted by Billy Smallwood and Alex Gray.
Coy has taken charge of six games so far this season across the EFL and in the FA Cup including two in League One and Two respectively and one in Papa Johns Trophy and FA Cup.
The official last took charge of the Shrimps in a 3-2 defeat away at Burton Albion in October last season.
Admission
Supporters will be able to pay on the day at the LNER Stadium.
Watch The Game Live
If you're not travelling to the match, match passes to watch the game live can be purchased via iFollow Shrimps.
All matches including Saturday fixtures up to and including the match at Plymouth Argyle on 17 December will be available to watch live on iFollow due to the continuation of the World Cup.