Tom Shaw believes Lincoln City can take on West Ham United with confidence as the clubs prepare to meet in the Championship at Sincil Bank tomorrow night.
When West Ham visited Sincil Bank in the League Cup three years ago, it was a chance for City to test themselves against higher-level opposition. A 1-0 defeat was seen as brave, and still rates as the best performance since we began rating in 2021.
Tomorrow night’s meeting comes with league points at stake, reflecting how far the Imps have travelled since that cup tie, but a 1-0 defeat will not be met with quite the same joy.
City head into the fixture looking to respond to Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Sheffield United, and speaking ahead of the game on Imps+, Tom reflected on the work that has brought City to this point and stressed the role supporters can play in helping us compete with the Hammers.
“I was on the staff that night. I think their goalkeeper got man of the match, and I thought we gave a really good account of ourselves in the cup.
“We spoke about it this morning, everybody’s differing journeys to get to the point where we’re playing West Ham in a league game. It’s amazing. It’s taken a lot of dedication by the staff and the players to get to this point. It’s a football club that’s had an ambitious strategy for the last few years, has managed to execute it and has got us to this point.
“The supporters have played a huge part in it, and they’re going to have to tomorrow night as well. Our fans have energised the players. We went on an amazing journey last year together, and we made Sincil Bank a very, very difficult place to come and try to get a result.
“That’s the feel we want to try to create tomorrow night. We’ve got a massive part to play in that, and we need everybody at the top of their game, on and off the pitch, tomorrow to get a result against West Ham United.
“But yeah, a reality check for everybody: we’re playing West Ham in a league game. The club’s come a long, long way, but we really fancy our chances against what is a strong team.”
West Ham’s quality presents another stern test, particularly after City were punished by the Blades despite competing well for spells at Bramall Lane. Having said that, Middlesbrough and Southampton have quality and at times, struggled to show it.
However, Tom’s focus is also on how we can develop our own attacking threat, with the head coach keen for the players to approach these fixtures with growing confidence.
“There are some individuals everybody knows about, who I don’t really need to name, and they carry a real threat around the goal. We’ve talked this week about how we thought we competed pretty well at Sheffield United. It was just three moments against two top players where you give them half a yard and they’ll punish you, so there’s been a lot of talk about that.
“Then we’ve got to grow into this league with our threat now. We’ve come up with a lot of questions to be answered, probably about the group, the squad and the club, and how it will be at this level. We’ve shown we can compete. We’ve had some brilliant results and some top performances, and we’ve got to grow our confidence and grow our threat now.”
Tom wants City to build on those encouraging performances by giving opponents more to worry about going forward. He stressed that developing our attacking threat must go hand in hand with retaining the solidity that has brought us success.
“We can never go away from the stuff that’s given us success. We’ve got to be very solid and continue to be, but we want to pose a little bit more of a threat. A little bit more confidence, a bit more on the strategy side from the coaching staff about how we can hurt these opponents, and perhaps focus on that for a period of time.
“We don’t want to be the plucky underdog. That doesn’t suit us, doesn’t fit us. It’s not the mindset of this group of players or staff. Again, as we’ve said in every interview, we’re aware of what we’re coming up against, but we want to go after them. We want to go after every game in our way, and we’ve got to grow that a little bit now. We know that.”
Chris and Tom are looking for City to combine the solidity that has brought us success with a greater threat when we have the ball. With the supporters helping to make Sincil Bank a difficult place to visit, the aim is to turn a fixture that underlines the club’s progress into another opportunity to put points on the board.
It’s certainly not going to be easy, but it promises to be a memorable night at the Bank, hopefully for the right reasons.
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