Chris Cohen explained how he wants Lincoln City’s defenders to protect former Fulham keeper George Wickens after another superb performance by the big stopper.
Wickens kept his first Championship clean sheet at Bolton Wanderers yesterday, making six saves as the Imps grabbed the first points of the season. Signed from Fulham for a fee thought to be around £150,000, the 24-year-old is closing in on 100 appearances for the Imps and is growing in confidence.
When asked about the keeper in the post-match press conference, Chris admitted that while the outfield players might take a little time to bed in, George can be relied on to make those big saves.
“I just think we’ve got so many players that are going to showcase themselves, and it’s going to take time, and it’s not going to be perfect,” Chris said after the game.
“We understand that away from home we’re going to have to have a lot of performances like that to win games. And to do that, you need your goalkeeper. George has made big saves for this football club ever since he’s come, and we expect him to do that.
“We don’t want him to do that because we want to protect him and hopefully not have as many shots on our goal as he may have had today.
“But when needed to step up, he’s done that relentlessly, and we’re excited to see him play at the level.”
Match winner Ben House was also eager to praise his teammate. House grabbed his second goal of the season, a glancing header from Callum Elder’s long throw, but he saw Wickens make a late save from Josh Sheehan’s free-kick to keep the game level.
“George is a top keeper,” said House.
“We know we need him and he made some amazing saves. He’s an amazing, amazing top keeper.
“But credit to everyone. We all dug deep and everyone put in a shift to get the win.”
Wickens gained his first senior experience during loan spells with Wealdstone and Ross County before joining City from Fulham in July 2024.
He played a key role in our 2025/26 promotion, keeping 19 clean sheets to share the League One Golden Glove and earning a place in the division’s Team of the Season alongside Tendayi Darikwa, Sonny Bradley and Jack Moylan.
His four assists also equalled Ederson’s record for a goalkeeper in an English league season, and he subsequently signed a new three-year City contract with the option of a further year.
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