Lincoln City manager Danny Cowley has said that his squad have proved in recent wins, that they can cope with the challenges that they are faced with, after injuries to several first-team players.

Top scorer John Akinde, centre-back Jason Shackell, and midfielders Michael O’Connor and Lee Frecklington are all carrying injuries, with the latter going off at half-time in their dominant win over Port Vale.

Cowley on injuries

Danny Cowley has insisted that he won’t use the current injury worries as an excuse, but rather use it as motivation for his team’s upcoming games.

He admitted that it was inevitable that his side would pick up injuries eventfully with the busy schedule that they have been dealing with.

On the injuries, Cowley said:

“They (Akinde, Shackell, O’Conner and Frecklington) are all doubts, but we proved last week in the game against Scunthorpe and then the Port Vale game, that while we haven’t got a massive squad. The depth that we do have has got good quality and can cope with the challenges that present themselves.
“Injuries are part and parcel of competitive League Two football and we will try to deal with that as best we can.
“We’ve worked really hard to stay on the right side of the soft tissue injuries, but sometimes the contact injuries are harder to avoid. There’s not too much we can do in regards to that, but we’re not going to sit here and moan, we see it as a challenge.”

Cowley on Port Vale win

Last weekend saw Danny Cowley’s Imps put in a dominant performance to run out 6-2 winners over a faltering Port Vale side, recording their highest scoring away tally since the 1930s.

However, Danny has kept his feet firmly on the ground, ensuring that his side won’t get ahead of themselves because of one good win.

He said:

“We’re pleased to win, obviously to score six goals was an added bonus, but you only take three points and we’re pretty good at parking it quite quickly and moving onto the next one.”
“We know what the rules are in football, if you score six away from home, then it automatically makes the next game much more difficult, so we respect that and we embrace that challenge.”

Saturday’s result means Vale have now conceded 11 goals at home this, with only two sides having let in more.

Whilst Lincoln have now scored 15 away from home, more than any other side, giving them an impressive +10 goal difference, which is surprisingly better than their home record.

On the team’s success so far, Cowley said:

“We’re just living in the moment and that’s all it is; we’re really focused on what we’re doing, really focused on the process, really enjoying coming into work and being around a group with very high standards that work relentlessly hard day in day out.”
“We are certainly not looking beyond that, we know what the rules are and how quickly football can change, we’ve got to look after every day to give ourselves the best chance.”

Cowley on Cambridge

Cowley’s Lincoln side host a Cambridge team who sit second bottom in the league after a poor run of form that has seen them lose 6 and draw 1 of their last 7 games, most recently losing 1-0 to promotion chasers MK Dons.

They are also carrying the worst goal difference of -15, having conceded a massive 26 goals already this season. However, Lincoln failed to score against the Us last season, being held to goalless draws both home and away.

And Danny Cowley believes that their opponents have been unlucky not to get what their efforts deserve in recent games, warning against over-confidence.

On Saturday’s opponents, he said:

“When you look at Cambridge as a team, at their manager who is tactically very intelligent, they’ve got some excellent players. They had 18 shots against Crawley, then 23 attempts against MK Dons on Saturday, and were very unlucky not to come away with something.
“We are respectful of that, they have a very similar squad to last season and took 25 points from their last 15 games last year. We know that they are a really good team, and it’s a bit of an oddity that they’re in the position they are in.
“They look like a top ten team to me, sometimes this happens in football, but we are certainly not being deceived by their league position, because we know we are going to have a tough game come Saturday.”

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