The Imps are just one game away from a second trip to Wembley this season as they face Exeter City in the second leg of their Sky Bet League Two play-off semi-final on Thursday.
With the current aggregate score being 0-0, it is all to play for as Danny Cowley’s men travel to St James' Park today.
9,509 fans witnessed the Imps draw against Exeter at Sincil Bank last Saturday and with almost 400 Imps packing out the away area at St James’ Park, Danny Cowley has urged the Lincoln fans who are travelling down to get behind the team.
“We’ll only have a small number of supporters there, which is unfortunate but that’s the way it is,” said Cowley.
“They’ve got a huge role to play. They’re going to have to sound like three-and-a-half thousand. That’s what we’ll be asking of them. They’re going to have to really get behind the boys and I’m sure they will.”
Recent Form
There has been no change to The Grecians’ recent form, apart from Saturday’s draw at Sincil Bank. Prior to this Exeter had an impressive record in the league towards the end of the season with three wins and two draws out of their last six.
Finishing fourth in the Sky Bet League Two table meant that Paul Tisdae’s side just missed out on automatic promotion by four points, with Wycombe Wanderers finishing above them.
Exeter’s last defeat came away from home at the end of April when Stevenage put three past highly rated goalkeeper, Christy Pym.
Last six prior to the play-offs: WDWDLW
Last six including the play-offs: DWDLWD
Last six position in form guide prior to the play-offs: 6th
League position at the end of the season: 4th
Manager’s comments
Tisdale is now the longest servicing manager in the top four English Football Divisions following Arsene Wenger’s last game in charge of Arsenal last weekend. The Grecians’ boss has now been in charge of Exeter for almost 12 years.
Tisdale told press that his side have no extra names on their injury list following their trip to Sincil Bank. “No one was injured from Saturday which is really good news and Troy Brown has had another week training. He’s close enough to be selected which poses a decision for me,” said the Exeter boss.
“That’s what you want as a manager, players who are in the team playing well and players not in the team training well. We are still without Lee Holmes, but apart from that, we’ve got a pretty well functioning team at the moment.
“I think we all know it will come down to the second half of the second game, it often does. You have to make sure you are in the game and you need to respond or make your advantage pay.”
Previous Meetings
With last Saturday’s match ending 0-0, the fans experienced a much different game in April when the Imps won 3-2 with goals from Danny Rowe and Matt Green. Ollie Palmer wrote the headlines as he scored a late winner to claim the three points for City.
In the season’s earlier meeting, Exeter claimed three points with a 1-0 win at St James Park. Reuben Reid was the only name on the scoresheet in front of 3,980 fans.
One to Watch – Christy Pym
In the last Imps vs Exeter preview, Jayden Stockley was the one to watch for Exeter due to his outstanding scoring record this season. However, following the first leg Christy Pym was one of the visiting side’s stand out players.
The 23-year-old pulled off a fantastic save in the first leg and has become a real fan favourite since coming through the Grecians youth academy in 2012.
Pym has played 52 games in all competitions this season and has an impressive 15 clean sheets to his name.
The highly-rated young goalkeeper picked up Exeter City players’ player-of-the-season award and in 2014 he was called up to the England under-20s team for a friendly match against Romania. Pym has since received two further calls up at that level.
This season the six-foot shot stopper also picked up six accolades at the club’s annual end of season awards.