Lee Mitchell is looking for signs of progression from their 3-1 defeat to Sutton Coldfield Town in late September as they welcome the Royals to Lincoln Moorlands on Sunday 10 March.

City have started 2024 strongly, and performed well in their narrow defeat to Sporting Khalsa, and Mitchell is hoping the Imps can continue to build through to the end of the season.

Mitchell said: “The players and the system we played last time against Sutton Coldfield is not what we do now. I think we’re at a different level, it’ll be interesting to see because it was such a long time ago. 

“Every club at this level is managing player’s injuries and their availability. I don’t expect the game to be the same this time, they’re a good side, you’ve got to give them respect. 

“They’ve come up and they’ve held their own and been very competitive, so they’re not a team to take lightly by any stretch. I’m looking forward to seeing how we perform now compared to what we did last time against them, because there should be a clear progression.”

March is a key month for Mitchell’s team with City scheduled to have six matches throughout the period.

He added: “I think the next four games are key. We’ve got Sutton Coldfield, Sheffield, Northampton and Solihull Moors who are all around that mid-table mark at the minute and they’re all trying to finish as high as they can along with ourselves. 

“They are the games you need to be winning, and you need to be competitive in them. They’re the key games for us that we mark, it’ll be tough and competitive but we’ve got to take advantage of the two home games.

“This month is a key month for us to see where we finish in this league, there’s a big chunk of games here where we’ve got to start picking up points.”

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