The Imps head to the seaside on Tuesday night to play Blackpool as they seek progression to the third round of the Carabao Cup, writes Kyle Fox.
Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw’s side progressed through the first round of this competition thanks to an impressive performance away at Derby County. Two goals in the first 25 minutes of the match put the Imps 2-0 up before Sammie Szmodics pulled one back for the home side on the stroke of half time with a terrific volley which added a lot of jeopardy to the second half as Derby pushed for an equaliser. That fortunately never came meaning Lincoln won and progressed to the next round. Since then, the Imps have lost both of their opening Championship fixtures, meaning they have now lost consecutive league games for the first time since the final two games of the 24/25 season.
Blackpool, on the other hand, have fared better so far in terms of results. They are currently still unbeaten in all competitions, a run which started with them defeating Lincoln’s local rivals Grimsby Town in the first round of the EFL Cup. Goals from Ennis, Bowler and Kouassi secured them a 3-1 victory in that game.
The Tangerines have been fairly active during this summer’s transfer window with both incomings and outgoings. They signed Ilmari Niskanen following the expiration of his contract, who impressed in League One last season with Exeter after he amassed a massive 13 assists in the league plus two more in the FA Cup last campaign. Although he has not featured since the victory over Grimsby, he started the game but was forced off 33 minutes into the game through injury.
Dion Charles and Jordan Williams have joined on loan from Huddersfield and Portsmouth respectively, with midfielder Finley Munroe also joining on loan from Middlesbrough. Goalkeeper Luke Southwood has come in from Bristol Rovers for an undisclosed fee to support Bailey Peacock-Farrell in that department. Midfielder Karoy Anderson has also been signed for an undisclosed fee from Charlton following a loan spell he had at Blackpool in the second half of last season.
But, a huge loss for Ian Evatt’s side this season will be the now Huddersfield Town striker Ashley Fletcher after he scored 21 goals for the Seasiders last campaign, with 15 of those coming in the league. Goalkeeper Franco Ravizzoli has gone to Leicester City with Ryan Finnigan heading to Dundee FC for a fee. Centre back Dan Sassi and former captain James Husband both left the club following the conclusion of their contracts.
Blackpool Form
As previously mentioned, Evatt’s team began with a clinical display in their cup victory over Grimsby, scoring three goals from four shots on target. They have since followed that up with a 1-1 draw in their first league fixture at home to Wycombe Wanderers. It was a game which the home side largely dominated after conceding from a set piece just seven minutes into the match. They managed 21 shots with seven of them being on target, creating 2.37 xG in total compared to Wycombe’s 11 shots, only four of which were on target, totalling 1.29 xG.
Their most recent clash came against Stockport County. Similar to the Grimsby game, they scored twice from three shots on target throughout the match. Both goals came from similar scenarios, getting the ball forward quickly from the goalkeeper to get in behind Stockport’s defence as quick as possible. They managed that very effectively on two occasions and scored from both of them, one of the goals was actually assisted by goalkeeper Peacock-Farrell – who ended up as man of the match for that plus the eight saves he made. Blackpool’s clinicality also won them this game as Stockport had 28 shots in total, nine of them on target which created an xG of 2.91 compared to Blackpool’s 1.68.
The Tangerines will be hoping for a more positive campaign this time round as despite the fact they finished 13th last season, they were in the relegation picture for a large part of it. Evatt’s side only began to pull away from that battle right at the end of the season. During their last nine games, they only lost once, winning seven and drawing once.
Intriguingly, Blackpool ended last season with 13 clean sheets which placed them seventh in that table even though they ended in 17th for goals conceded per match with 1.40. Going forward, they ranked 15th for goals per match ( 1.20), 22nd for xG (46.3) and 19th for shots on target per game (3.30).
Previous Meetings
These two teams have met many times in recent years in League One action, with the record of results being very close between the two. Four victories for Blackpool, four for Lincoln and three draws over the course of the last 11 meetings. The latest one came back in February when Lincoln convincingly beat Blackpool 4-0, prior to that the Seasiders were unbeaten in four games against the Imps.
The hosts have lost just once in their last six home games against City, that victory came back in 2020 when Lincoln were 3-2 victors. The most notable meeting between the two sides was of course they League One play off final in 2021 when Blackpool won 2-1 and gained promotion to the Championship.
Blackpool vs Lincoln City Referee
The referee in charge of this fixture is Harry Wager, an official who has a very limited amount of EFL experience. He had not refereed a game above National League level up until late December 2025 when he took charge of Colchester’s 4-1 victory over Newport in League Two.
Since the beginning of last season, he has still spent the majority of his time in the National League, with 13 of his last 25 matches being in that division. The rest have been in League and League Two. Across those 25 games, he averaged 4.24 yellow cards per game alongside 20.8 fouls a game. He issued five red cards in total and awarded eight penalties.
His first time ever officiating a game involving a Championship team came earlier this month when he oversaw Watford’s 1-0 victory over Crawley Town at home in the first round of the EFL Cup.
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