With Portsmouth coming to Sincil Bank this weekend, it is time to pick through another trio of players who have represented both them and Lincoln City.
As ever, the categories are not necessarily a definitive judgement on the player’s entire career. The Good is fairly self-explanatory. The Bad usually recalls someone whose time with us did not quite work out, while The Ugly is about a spell, situation or debate that was a little more complicated. It certainly is not a comment on anyone’s appearance!
This time around we have a current Imp, somebody unfortunately associated with one of the bleakest periods in our recent history, and a title-winning striker who divided opinion perhaps more than almost any Lincoln player of the last decade.
The Good: Reeco Hackett
Reeco Hackett arrived at Portsmouth in January 2020 after catching the eye with Bromley, but his path into the Pompey side was not immediate. He returned to Bromley on loan and also spent time with Southend United before establishing himself properly at Fratton Park during 2021/22. Across his Portsmouth career, he made 79 appearances in all competitions, scoring 11 goals, including seven in 60 League One matches. There were flashes of the player we would later see at Lincoln, particularly his ability to carry the ball, attack defenders and contribute from wide areas, but he was never quite as influential for Pompey as he has subsequently become for us.
Lincoln signed Hackett for an undisclosed fee in June 2023, and his development since then has been significant. He scored seven league goals in his first season, including that superb strike against Northampton Town which won the League One Goal of the Month award, before adding another four in 2024/25. His best campaign came last season, when he scored 11 league goals and 12 in all competitions as we won the League One title. By the time of the Middlesbrough game last weekend, he had reached 119 appearances and 23 goals for City in all competitions, comfortably surpassing both his Portsmouth appearance and scoring totals.
There is perhaps no better example in this feature of a player whose career has moved forward after leaving one of the two clubs. Portsmouth had a useful League One winger, but Lincoln have seen Hackett become an established senior player, a regular source of goals and someone important enough to earn a new contract running until 2029. He has also become a Saint Lucia international during his time with us, scoring twice in his first three appearances, and at 28 he looks to be playing the best football of his career.
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