Lincoln City play Doncaster Rovers tomorrow afternoon in a pre-season friendly, before visiting Oakwell to play Barnsley in the early evening.
Two games in a day is certainly unique, and the matches have been planned to give as many players as possible 90 minutes.
With Andrei Coubiș available to feature, we can put out a couple of strong sides, even if they will be peppered with younger players. Donald Iyama and Charlie Parks have had plenty of minutes over the summer, while trialist Matt Smith is also expected to feature.
In the aftermath of the 5-1 defeat at Blundell Park in midweek, Chris Cohen outlined the strategy the coaching staff will employ across the two matches.
“We’ll fill the bench with some younger players, some youth players and some of the players that you saw around the squad today who didn’t get many minutes,” he said in his post-match interview.
“We’ll have two teams go to two different venues. Me and Tom, the coaching staff and the rest of the group will go to both games.”
Tom Bayliss and Ben House both missed the Grimsby clash, and while the former has seen pre-season minutes, the latter has not been on public display. In fact, the Imps have only played two open pre-season friendlies in the UK in the last 21 days, and this weekend, it’ll be two in six hours.
“It’ll be a good day because lots of times in pre-season some players miss out on getting 90 minutes,” added Chris,
“This Saturday, everyone is going to get 90 minutes, which will hold them in good stead going into the real stuff next week.”
The big hope from City fans is that Andrei Coubiș gets some minutes, as he has already appeared for Universitatea Cluj in Europe. Fans will also hope to see Bayliss and House, as we complete 180 minutes ahead of the Carabao Cup game against Derby County next weekend.
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