Lincoln City are currently out in Spain, preparing for a friendly against Leyton Orient, and while the Stacey West can’t send a journalist, BBC Radio Lincolnshire can.
Rob Makepeace is out with the squad, watching them train and updating fans back home, and there is good news on the injury front.
Some supporters may have been alarmed this weekend when the Imps faced Boston United without Ryley Towler, Ben House and Callum Elder. It’s never good to start a season with injuries, but the absences were explained away. All had taken minor knocks in training, not enough to rule them out of a league game, but sufficient to let them sit out the first friendly of the summer.
If there were any doubts as to the veracity of those claims, they’ve been dispelled. Reporting from beside a pool with a sangria in hand (probably), Rob has revealed that those three all trained under the warm Spanish sun today.
While Rob didn’t mention Josh Honohan, he is expected to be fit for the start of the season, although he isn’t likely to appear against Orient, with Grimsby possibly the first chance we’ll get to see the former Shamrock Rovers man in action. Freddie Draper wasn’t mentioned: we know he missed the end of last season with an injury, but he is expected to be in action over the summer.
James Collins is not. He’s still recovering from his ACL injury, sustained in the last defeat City suffered in any competition. His return is not expected until some time during the season, but he remains an integral part of the Imps squad and an important figure in the dressing room.
Tomorrow could see the Imps bump into title-winning boss Michael Skubala. Bristol City play at the Pinatar Arena in the morning, facing beaten play-off finalists Stockport County. They’ll vacate, and in will come the title-winning squad he oversaw, ready to face Ritche Wellens’ Leyton Orient side.
That will be the last friendly the Imps have until a week on Tuesday, when we visit Blundell Park for our regular-as-clockwork game against the Codheads. It will be nice for the people of Grimsby to see a big club, and we’ll surely delight them by taking a strong side to give their autograph hunters a chance to get some proper football stars to put pen to paper.
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