This Saturday brings the final home game of Lincoln City’s astounding League One campaign, with Wycombe Wanderers tasked with facing the newly crowned champions, writes Kyle Fox.
It is sure to be a party atmosphere inside Sincil Bank, a celebration that the visitors will hope to dampen slightly in order to give themselves the best chance to break into the top ten and finish the season strongly after recently securing their place in League One for next season. Their most recent outing sealed their fate for this campaign: an extremely disappointing 1-0 defeat at home to a Blackpool side that has struggled this season. Wycombe utterly dominated that contest, racking up 15 shots, six of which were on target, along with 70% possession and five big chances. However, they failed to convert any of their pressure or chances into a goal, which was crucial. Their opponents managed just one shot on target, which came in the second minute, but they did not score from it as they found their winner through a Luke Leahy own goal to snatch an important victory.
The Chairboys started the season poorly under Mike Dodds, managing only a single win in their first eight games, with two draws and five losses in the other results. The only positive from the first ten games of the season under Dodds was their progress through the early rounds of the EFL Cup, where they beat Leyton Orient and Bromley away from home. After that poor run, Dodds was dismissed on 18th September 2025, with his last game in charge being a 2-1 loss away at Peterborough. He was replaced by their current manager, Michael Duff, who kick-started his reign with a 2-0 home victory over Northampton. That was the start of a run of one league defeat in ten games (with the other results being five wins and four draws), which came away at Wimbledon in his second league fixture. During that run, he also guided the side through another round of the EFL Cup in his second game in charge, defeating Wigan away before being knocked out in the next round at home to Fulham. Additionally, they won consecutive games in the EFL Trophy and progressed in the FA Cup.
Immediately after that period, they lost three games in a row: knocked out of both the EFL Trophy by Northampton away and the FA Cup due to a heavy defeat at Exeter, before losing to Plymouth at home in the league, all within the span of a week. Duff’s team won only one game throughout December across all competitions, a 1-0 victory against Bolton at home in the league on 20th December. They were beaten convincingly 4-0 away at Luton, before picking up two impressive draws: away at Plymouth and at home to Cardiff on New Year’s Day.
Wycombe’s Form
More recently, since the turn of the year, their results picked up again until early March, starting with that draw against Cardiff. In the first 12 games of the new year, they produced seven wins, three draws, and two defeats, with big wins over Doncaster, Stevenage, and Burton as part of this run that put them in the conversation for an outside shot at a playoff position. The dip in form they have experienced lately can be traced back to the result that ended this positive spell: the loss away at Bolton, where they were defeated due to goals in the 88th, 91st, and 96th minutes. Since that result, including that game, they have won only twice in their last nine games (away at Cardiff and at home to Port Vale), while losing six times and drawing once. They currently sit 19th for league form over the past six games (1W, 1D, 4L) and 18th for form over the previous ten games (3W, 1D, 6L). Their form away from home has been a huge issue all season as they sit 17th for away results (4W, 9D, 9L). They have conceded a minimum of two goals in each of their last three away games while also failing to win any of their last four matches.
Curiously, Wycombe ranks highly in many underlying statistics: they are 8th for goals per match (1.4), 6th for shots on target per match (4.6), 5th for set-piece goals (18), and 5th for touches in the opposition’s penalty area (1,056). They are also strong in several defensive numbers, such as: 5th for clean sheets (14) and set-piece goals conceded (11), 7th for goals conceded per match (1.2), and 6th for xG conceded (49.7). Interestingly, they rank 6th for average possession (53.3%) and 4th for accurate long balls per match (27.4).
Fred Onyedinma is a key player for the Chairboys and is arguably one of the best players in the division, having scored ten goals and provided two assists in the league this season. Alongside him, Cauley Woodrow is another high-quality player at this level and a key performer for the visitors, with eight goals and four assists in the league. January loan signing Nathan Lowe has also been a revelation since his arrival, contributing four goals and two assists in just 12 appearances. Defenders Dan Casey and Jack Grimmer, plus midfielder Luke Leahy, have all been top performers for Duff’s side this season.
Team News:
Wycombe has had some bad luck with injuries of late, with the latest being Nathan Lowe, who was forced off after just 14 minutes in their last outing against Blackpool. He left the game in a boot and is confirmed to miss this fixture. Defender Dan Casey has been absent since early March, with Anders Hagelskjaer also out since the end of February. Caolan Boyd-Munce has been sidelined since early April, while Swiss striker Bradley Fink and forward Alex Lowry have not played since late March. Captain Jack Grimmer has not featured since Easter Monday.
Once again, due to the focus on the achievements the Imps have had this season, the team news became an afterthought, despite an extended pre-match press conference. However, it is likely that the squad will remain the same for Saturday after there were no fresh injury concerns from either the Doncaster game or the pre-match press conference. Michael Skubala did also reveal that we may see rotation now that the title has been confirmed.
Predicted Wycombe XI:
Norris, Harvie, Skura, Taylor, Huggins, Leahy, Morley, Woodrow, Vidigal, Quitirna, Onyedinma.
Previous Meetings
The last meeting between these two teams came back in November and was, of course, the last time Lincoln City lost a game in the league. After a poor display in the first half that saw the Imps go into half-time 2-0 down, a returning Jack Moylan helped spark a comeback when he was subbed on at half-time. Freddie Draper and Justin Obikwu were also subbed on in the second half and both scored to level the game before Grimmer found the winner in the 88th minute.
Including this game and prior to it, in previous meetings, Lincoln have a poor record against Wycombe. The Chairboys are unbeaten in the last four meetings with three wins and a draw, which also included the last meeting at the LNER Stadium in November 2024, which ended 3-2. Despite the bad record against them, Lincoln did actually win consecutive games against Wycombe in 2023. The first one, in April, ended in a 2-0 victory for the Imps, with one of the goals being the famous Lasse Sorensen halfway-line goal, and the next one was the 3-0 win at home in August.
Before those two matches, Wycombe were unbeaten in the previous eight meetings between the two in both League One and League Two, with three wins and five draws.
Prediction
Lincoln 2-1 Wycombe
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