Michael Skubala believes tonight’s game against Exeter City is hard to prepare for, given Exeter’s recent managerial upheavals.
In recent seasons, we’ve been blocked by Gary Caldwell’s resilient but limited approach, with very few shots against but very few wins in the bag. It’s been hard for us, but he’s gone.
Dan Green came and went, and now Matt Taylor is in the hot seat. Taylor has never beaten Lincoln: he was the manager in charge when we beat them 3-0 back in 2018, and since then he’s overseen three 1-1 draws, twice with the Grecians and once with Bristol Rovers.
He was also the manager in charge of Rovers when we beat them 5-0 in that 2024 run, one where it could quite easily have been different on the day. In all but one of those games, he’s used a different formation, and he’s even used two different setups in his two games in charge this time out.
“(It’s) very difficult to prepare for because Matt, known him well over the few years he’s been in management, we’ve played against each other a few times, but a very good coach.
“(He’s got) lots of experience at different levels, but hard to plan for because he’s only been in a couple of games, but in the same sense, we know the principles that they try to apply.”
Those principles include playing possibly to a couple of our strengths, with a main man to keep quiet and deliveries into the box to be defended.
“They’re good at set pieces. You’ve got Jayden Wareham, who’s on 16 goals, so he’s a huge threat and scoring a lot of goals. They can go and beat Stevenage and get a draw with Wycombe.
“It’s another tough game in this league. It’s another tough game that’s going to be absolutely difficult for us to go and get the three points. We have to be on it, and like I’ve always said, if you come off the gas in any game at this level, you don’t win them.
“So, we’ve got to be ready.”
The Imps could match their record unbeaten run this evening by avoiding defeat against the Grecians. Michael Skubala has already surpassed his unbeaten league run from 2024, and we can match Danny and Nicky Cowley’s league run, 18 matches, from 2018/19.
Both of those runs saw us play Exeter City, although both times were at the Bank. If we could win, it would become only our second triumph at St James’ Park since 1997, when Lee Thorpe and Steve Brown gave us a 2-1 win.