Ellis Chapman 17 appearances, 0 goals

It’s hard sometimes with Ellis, the ex[ectancy heaped upon him by the previous manager had us believing we’d got a wonderkind on our hands, several million pounds worth of talent on a collision course with top-flight football. That’s not to say we haven’t, but only in fairytales do those journeys happen overnight. We’re in that difficult period with him where he’s going from boy to man and just settling in. He’s not the exciting kid anymore who we applaud for settling into the man’s game, but he’s not the fully-fledged player he can become. The greatest compliment that I can pay him right now is this; he’s looked every inch a first team player this season. Not the best in the squad, by no means the worst either. He’s just integrated into the side and always looked capable of holding his own.

For some, that’s not enough. For those with a bit more of a grasp of how things work, it is to be expected. Look at some of the other big players for us this season, like Joe Morrell. He’s been great for us, a huge find, but Ellis is four years behind that. When Joe was Ellis’ age, he was on loan in the National League. There’s plenty more to come from Ellis, he’s had a solid if perhaps unspectacular season and as long as we can tie him to a deal, he’s still on course to play much higher than League One.

Ben Coker 1 appearance, 0 goals

It’s odd for me not to have a picture of a current Lincoln player, but such is Ben’s limited exposure to Imps’ action that I can’t show you what he looks like. You’d be forgiven for not knowing, he’s been anonymous since coming here, he signed injured, he then got injured again as he came close to recovering and aside from appearing as we beat Rotherham in the EFL Trophy, he’s as rare as hen’s teeth.

Since joining Cambridge on loan he’s made a grand total of zero appearances and I can’t help but think it’s ‘next stop, National League’ for the left back. It’s a shame, I was massively excited for his arrival, but I don’t think he’s going to be Football League fit without a season outside the top four divisions to get him back up and running.