Peterborough United need to keep an old boy quiet at Lincoln City plus form guide, past matches and the man in the middle

​Livewire forward Joe Taylor moved to Posh from King’s Lynn in January 2022 and 14 months later he was helping Luton Town to victory in the Championship play-off final at Wembley. He scored in a penalty shootout.

The £500k transfer fee paid by the Hatters caused shock among the Posh fanbase as the 21 year-old had not started a single league game for their club.

His one goal for Posh arrived in a 2-0 EFL League Cup win at Plymouth.

Taylor spent the first-half of this season on loan at struggling League Two club Colchester, scoring 12 goals in 27 matches.

He was sent on loan to Lincoln earlier this month and has drawn a blank in his two games for the Imps so far. He missed three great chances in last weekend’s 0-0 home draw with promotion-chasing Derby after easily outpacing the Rams defence.

After joining Lincoln Taylor said: “It’s about game time for me and I know, with the striking injuries we have, there is definitely an opportunity for me to play games.

"As a footballer you always want to play at the top and for me to make that next step into League One is something I just couldn’t turn down.

"I had conversations with Mick Harford (Luton’s chief recruitment officer) and the gaffer at Lincoln and we felt me coming here was a massive opportunity for me to develop my game.”

The need for Taylor is obvious as Lincoln’s top scorer in League One is Danny Mandriou with just five goals. He is available tomorrow after serving a four-game ban for a second red card of the season in the Boxing Day defeat at home to Bolton.

Another old Posh player, midfielder Ethan Hamilton, has played in 27 of Lincoln’s 28 League One games this season.

Lincoln have drawn 10 League One games this season, the most in the division.

The Imps are playing under a new manager since Posh beat them 2-0 in a League One match at London Road in October. Mark Kennedy was sacked soon after that game and replaced by Michael Skubala, who was a coach and a caretaker-manager at Leeds United before moving to Sincil Bank.

CURRENT FORM

Lincoln haven’t won in their last nine competitive matches, eight of them in League One. They did gain two creditable draws in their last two matches though, scoring a 96th minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Wycombe and then holding Derby County to a goalless draw at home.

Lincoln are 12th and have drawn a League One high of 10 games this season. They have a solid defence with just 30 goals conceded, only one more than second-placed Posh.

PAST MATCHES

Posh have won their last three Football League games against Lincoln 4-0, 3-0 and 2-0 so expect a 1-0 success on Saturday!

Lincoln last won this fixture on New Year’s Day in 2020 when Jorge Grant, who would go on to join Posh 18 months later, scored a 90th minute winner direct from a free kick. Posh had opened the scoring in the first half through Ivan Toney, but it finished 2-1 to the Imps.

Posh have won nine and lost eight of 24 Football League games at Sincil Bank.

CROWD DETAILS

It could be a 10,000 gate at Lincoln tomorrow. Posh quickly sold their allocation of 1,900 tickets. Ticket sales had passed 9,000 in total by lunchtime on Thursday.

REFEREE

Experienced official Christopher Pollard will be the man in the middle for Lincoln v Posh.

He’s issued 62 yellow cards and three red cards in 14 outings this season and was in charge when Posh bowed out of the EFL Cup (v Stevenage) and EFL Trophy (v Chelsea U21s) last season.