Lincoln City return to the newly refurbished and renamed ProAmpac Stadium on Saturday afternoon for the first time since lifting the League One trophy, writes Kyle Fox.
Portsmouth are the visitors, and both sides are looking to claim their first league victory of the campaign after suffering opening-day defeats. It was heartbreak for Lincoln, as they were just a few minutes away from claiming a point away at Middlesbrough before a 91st-minute winner, courtesy of striker Will Lankshear, was enough to secure all three points for the home side.
Pompey, on the other hand, went ahead in their home fixture against Queens Park Rangers through a Terry Devlin wonder strike from outside the area 15 minutes into the match. The away side then equalised 18 minutes later through Ilias Chair, before Koki Saito fired Rangers into the lead on the 40-minute mark. Chair then scored his second and QPR’s third of the half to complete his brace and secure the win for his side.
Portsmouth have been busy in the transfer market this summer, with eight new arrivals so far during the current transfer window. They began their business at the start of July by bringing in central midfielder Odin Bailey following the expiration of his contract with Stockport County. Young attacker Eoin Kenny was brought in from Dundalk for a nominal fee, while Estonian midfielder Rocco Shein was signed from Norwegian top-flight side Fredrikstad. Serbian striker Marko Milovanovic was acquired from Spanish second-tier side UD Almeria, while Polish goalkeeper Daniel Bielica joined from Eredivisie side NAC Breda.
Eighteen-year-old New Zealand prospect Luke Brooke-Smith signed from A-League outfit Wellington Phoenix, while Abu Kamara was brought in on a permanent transfer from Hull City after previously spending a season on loan with Pompey during the 2023/24 season, when Portsmouth won the League One title. Centre-back Benjamin Arthur and Ryan Kavuma-McQueen have come in loan deals from Brentford and Chelsea, respectively.
Portsmouth Form
John Mousinho’s men have been beaten 3-1 in consecutive games to open this season. Their opening fixture of the campaign was a defeat away at newly relegated West Ham United in the first round of the Carabao Cup. Portsmouth were beaten convincingly that day, with a brace from striker Valentin Castellanos and Jarrod Bowen adding a third.
Portsmouth also took the lead in this game when Adrian Segecic opened the scoring on 33 minutes. However, it only took the hosts ten minutes to reply, as they scored two goals in two minutes to establish a lead going into half-time. Castellanos then scored the third and final goal on the 50-minute mark, early in the second half. The second loss was the aforementioned result against QPR.
Last season, Pompey managed to finish eight points clear of Oxford, who finished in 22nd place and occupied the final relegation spot. They managed to recover from two really poor spells of form at different points in the campaign. One spanned from mid-September to early December. That run of 15 games included nine defeats, four draws and just two victories. The other run began in late February and lasted until early April, during which they were winless for eight games. Five of those ended in losses, while the other three were draws.
Saturday’s game is likely to look very different to Lincoln’s previous game against Middlesbrough, with Mousinho’s side placing second for accurate long balls per match with 25.4 and sixth for accurate crosses per match with 4.80 during the 25/26 season. It demonstrates similarities between how both sides will want to play, with Pompey much more willing to play long when compared to Middlesbrough.
Previous Meetings
Portsmouth have a very good record against Lincoln in recent years. The two teams have met often during League One clashes in recent seasons, before Pompey were promoted to the Championship in 2024.
The most recent, and also the most notable, meeting between the two came at Sincil Bank in April 2024, in a game where Lincoln needed a win to secure a play-off place. They faced Mousinho’s side, who had already been crowned champions prior to the game. Lincoln missed a penalty, while the visitors scored twice late on to secure the victory and end Lincoln’s hopes of reaching the play-offs.
The results from the last nine meetings stand at seven wins for Portsmouth, two draws and just a single victory for Lincoln, which came in a 1-0 win away at Fratton Park thanks to a Morgan Rogers winner.
Pompey are unbeaten against Lincoln in their last six meetings and have not lost at Sincil Bank since March 1980. Lincoln have only beaten the visitors six times in the 28 previous meetings, with seven draws and 15 Portsmouth wins making up the remaining results.
Lincoln v Portsmouth Referee
The referee on Saturday is Tony Harrington. An experienced official who spent the majority of last season refereeing Premier League matches, alongside a couple of Championship and League Cup fixtures too.
His most recent appearance came last weekend when Bradford faced Peterborough in a League One clash where he handed out four yellow cards. Harrington also issued a red card to Peterborough’s centre-back David Okagbue for two yellow card offences.
Throughout his career, he has taken charge of 334 games up until now and has averaged 3.13 yellow cards per match. He has awarded 96 penalties and has issued 44 red cards in total.
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