Bolton Wanderers boss Steven Schumacher knows Lincoln City well – we are the only team he has faced more than three times as a manager, and not beaten.
Michael Appleton got the better of him once, in January 2022, while Mark Kennedy’s Imps bagged a draw and a win. Michael Skubala has been in the opposite dugout twice as well, winning once and drawing the other encounter.
It’s a record for the former Stoke City boss to attack tomorrow, when he sits in the opposite dugout to his former number two at the Potteries, Chris Cohen. There might be familiarity in the opponent and personnel, but the occasion is alien – Lincoln City in the automatic promotion places, holding off their more illustrious opponents.
Schumacher was very complimentary of City in his pre-match press conference, published on the Trotters’ official site. He admitted we’re where we are on merit, which is pretty accurate.
“They (Lincoln) have been consistent for a long time, that’s why they are where they are in the league and they’ve proved they are one of the best teams in the league, but we have got ourselves in a good vein of form lately as well, we’ve played well and got some big results so we go there with confidence and try and execute our game plan, cause them a few problems and see where it takes us.”
There will be some familiarity beyond the Chris Cohen link – Bolton also have Ethan Erhahon on their side, who will know our weaknesses and strengths, just as we’ll know his.
One of our strengths is our togetherness, something that Schumacher also picked up on in his interview.
“I know their coaching staff really well and they have this momentum, they have a good group of players who look as if they are all together, they’ve got some quality and experience in the team and they never know when they are beaten, so they deserve to be there, they are there on merit and we won’t take them lightly, we can’t show them too much respect, we have to go there and put it on them and see if we can come away with the three points that we need.”
It certainly feels like Bolton need the three points more than we do, since they’re six points behind and have played a game more. Losing to us would give them a mountain to climb, whereas a win would reel us a little closer and give them momentum going into the game.
It’s certainly going to be one we’ll remember for many seasons, and hopefully, it will continue Schumacher’s poor record against Lincoln City.