In the last decade or so, Lincoln have been promoted from non-League, played in an FA Cup quarter-final, been to Wembley a few times and won a first trophy there. Yet Saturday is being branded as the club’s biggest game in 65 years.The Imps sit second in League One and host third-placed Bolton at Sincil Bank. Win and it opens up a nine-point lead over the chasing pack for the automatic promotion spots.
If it happens, there would be a long way to go of course – 15 games would remain – but it would send fans into dreamland in anticipation of a first second-tier appearance since 1961. Yet for head coach Michael Skubala, there is a call for calm.
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Michael Skubala won Sky Bet League One Manager of the Month for January
“Whenever a big team comes to town and both are second or third, it’ll always feel like a bigger game,” Skubala tells Sky Sports. “But, for me, we just do what we do and we just try and go after the next three points.”There are still 48 points left to play for in this league – and we’ve done absolutely nothing.
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Lincoln sit in the second automatic promotion spots
“The beauty and the difficulty of football is that it can turn really quick. So we just need to concentrate on this next game, which is worth the same as last week’s three points.
“Of course, it’s an exciting game and there’ll be a packed crowd, so it’ll be a good atmosphere. But it’s all worth the same to me.”
There is every reason to believe Lincoln can get over the line though. The Imps are on a 13-game unbeaten streak in League One – branded one of the most challenging divisions to get out of due to its sheer competitiveness.It has been nearly three months since Lincoln last lost a league game – but that unbeaten run has taken them from outside the play-off spots to right in the mix for automatic promotion.
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Lincoln have not been beaten in League One since November 22
Skubala’s side were struggling for consistency in October and November – so what has changed?”We want to play quick,” the Lincoln boss says. “We’re a front-footed, aggressive team.”And sometimes that takes time for players to understand how to do that in the way that we want to do it here – and they develop into it.”It’s just the nature of coaching. Sometimes…
2026-02-13 10:00:00
