They say things happen in threes, and technically, Lincoln’s striker situation only happened in two.
Tyler Walker was injured whilst a Lincoln player, as was Ben House. Jack Vale, we signed injured, expecting him to be perhaps three weeks away from the team. Three weeks have passed, and in further devastating news for the Imps, it’s now been revealed Vale has suffered a further injury and will not be imminently arriving at Sincil Bank. The third striker injury to be unveiled in September.
In his pre-match press conference ahead of Cheltenham this weekend, Mark Kennedy delivered the news we widely expected after he deflected a question about Vale on Tuesday.
“Jack had a couple of games for Blackburn, which we’d all agreed on to get his minutes up rather than him coming into us and us perhaps using West Ham and Cheltenham to get him 30 minutes,” our Head Coach said.
“He had an opportunity to play in-house games with his club, which was agreed by us. Unfortunately, he got a slight strain on Sunday in his game, he was going to be with us Monday, but he’s going to be out for a period.”
That’s a further blow given that we are without our two first-team strikers until Christmas and beyond, and it leaves us incredibly short of central attacking options. However, there is some good news for the Imps – Irish forward Danny Mandroui will play his first game in four weeks against the Robins.
“Danny is available,” Mark added when quizzed by Michael Hortin.
“He’s massive, he’s really tough, hates not playing as they all do, but he’s somebody who will push himself through the pain barrier; everybody’s threshold is different. It will be really good to get him back, especially in terms of team DNA.”
Mark also explained how the injury has given the younger players a chance to show what they can do, with one testing Fabianski from range on Wednesday night.
“If I go back three games ago, sometimes we’re looking at the bench thinking we’re not sure what we’ve got to change, we don’t know how Jovon’s going to do, Dylans not had loads of football. It’s great they’ve come and showcased their abilities.”
However, Mark confirmed it will be good to get Mandroiu, who started the season on fire, back in red and white.
“Danny will give us that added option again, whereas the last few games, we’ve just been filling the bench in terms of just getting the numbers.”
He may not be the only face returning to the Bank – Daryll Clarke was in the dugout for Port Vale at the tail end of last season, and he’s widely expected to be unveiled as the new Robins boss today, or over the weekend.
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