Lincoln City’s promotion charge has drawn praise from a rival manager, with Steven Schumacher admitting the Imps’ consistency has set the standard in League One.
Bolton Wanderers boss Schumacher has effectively conceded ground in the race for the top two, but in doing so, he has highlighted exactly why Lincoln City have put themselves in such a commanding position.
Speaking after another frustrating result for his side, Schumacher pointed not at Bolton’s shortcomings alone, but at the level City and Cardiff have reached across the campaign. While Bolton remain in the mix on paper, the tone of his comments suggested a recognition that the automatic promotion picture is becoming increasingly clear.
“I would argue Lincoln have been outstanding,” said the former Plymouth Argyle boss.
“They have gone 20 games unbeaten and they have only conceded three goals in their last 10 games. That is, to me, outstanding, not many teams do that in a season. They have been brilliant.”
A 20-game unbeaten run is historic in Lincoln terms, and conceding just three goals in ten underlines the defensive control that has underpinned everything. George Wickens broke a record for the most minutes a Lincoln keeper has gone without conceding a goal, a testament to the whole defence.
“Those two teams absolutely deserve to be where they are. They have opened up a cushion on us, and we have been good, but not good enough to sustain that consistent presence and pressure on them.
“We have been guilty of too many draws. That’s the bottom line, and as I say, why we’re third and not even higher up the table.”
City are now 15 points clear of Bolton, and with nine to play, it feels like a huge gap. Bradford City are not quite out of it, 16 points behind, but the race for the top two does look a little more comfortable for us. Almost all neutral observers would have us down as a Championship side next season, but we’re not a fanbase likely to go overboard too early.
As for the Trotters, they face Doncaster and Port Vale next, before a horrible run of matches which sees them play Plymouth, Stockport, Cardiff, Huddersfield, Luton, Bradford and Stevenage, all teams with something to fight for. All City need to do is match their results in four of those games to be assured a stab at Championship football next season.
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