Loan duo Grant Smith and Joan Luque have both been recalled from their spells in the National League and may be available for selection this evening.
The Imps face Accrington Stanley in the Checkatrade Trophy second round and now have two fresh faces they would like to appear.
Luque has been on loan at Bromley, but his game time has been limited to appearances from the bench. He’s made two starts for City, coming off the bench once and scored in the EFL Cup tie against Blackburn Rovers.
His spell with Bromley has been frustrating, he’s been restricted to just four appearances, two from the bench and two starts, without scoring. He’s out of contract in January and it makes sense for City to bring him back into the fold at this stage.
Smith’s recall is worrying in that it points to an injury to Josh Vickers. The current number one came off the pitch in tears this weekend against Carlisle and recalling Smith seems to suggest that the injury is a recurrence of the problems that have dogged his Imps career.
However, 25-year old Smith is a more than adequate replacement, having been playing regularly for Maidstone. He’s made seven appearances for them, keeping one clean sheet, but he has been allowed to play in the FA Cup meaning he’s cup tied.
He made six appearances for City whilst Josh was out of action last time, keeping two clean sheets in the process.
If the FA confirm their availability, both are highly likely to feature in Lancashire this evening, proper stuffing up my suggested XI from yesterday!
I noticed that Luques manager from Heybridge Swifts (Jody Brown) took up a new role at Grays a few days back. My guess is that is where is is heading…