I’ve been waiting for the chance to play Lincoln City for quite some time. It is the only real chance of a Yorkshire/Lincolnshire derby, but there’s also a personal stake. My former university roommate and very close friend Matt is an avid Lincoln supporter, so there’s more at stake here than just a place in the semi-finals. But going a little deeper than one fans personal connection to this tie, there is a certain rivalry. It’s probably not well known this side of the Humber that Lincoln fans…well, they really don’t like us at all. Or at least they didn’t use to. See, living with a Lincoln fan for two years gave me a fascinating insight into how they see us. While we were riding high in the Premier League, Lincoln were pushing for the playoffs in League Two. They didn’t make it and by the time City were relegated from the Premier League for the first time, Lincoln fell into non-league. Their fans weren’t happy, especially as that was the season that Scunthorpe, another rival, also went up into the Championship. Odd really, considering that we spent the late eighties and early nineties yo-yoing past each other between Divisions 2 and 3, briefly meeting for some feisty clashes before going our separate ways once more.
The last time we met Lincoln competitively was in the 2003/04 season; we were heading for promotion under Peter Taylor – Lincoln won at their place, we stomped them at the KC. It’s fair to say that lot has changed since then, as now, we meet as equals vying for the chance to be one game from Wembley. Tasty.
Lincoln City are managed by former Blackburn, Oxford and Portsmouth manager Michael Appleton. He seems to be carrying on the good work that the Cowley brothers started and has them sat joint top of League One with City, having played one game less. That’s no mean feat considering their budget, but Lincoln are something of a sleeping giant; a team with a decent size fan base and a ground that with a little work could host football at a higher level. Michael Appleton plays attacking football and he relies on a formation that utilises wingers cutting inside, rather like Bowen/Grosicki did under Nigel Adkins and Grant McCann. As a result, they score a lot of goals and Jorge Grant out on the wing has 11 this season from the left flank. Add to that the 10 goals of young Irish striker Anthony Scully and another 7 from newly capped Welsh international attacking midfielder Brennan Johnson and all of a sudden you’ve got a potent attacking force that few teams have been able to stop. At the other end, they’ve conceded just 20 goals in the league, with ever present goalkeeper Alex Palmer keeping 11 clean sheets in the process, nearly one every two games. You’d better believe this is going to be a difficult one for our lads.

Player to watch: Brennan Johnson– The Welshman was capped in a friendly against the USA in November, so his stock is on the rise. Unpredictable, deadly from range and capable of hurting teams who switch off, Nottingham Forest loanee Johnson is almost certainly going to be a handful for our midfield.

Hull City Team News

Martin Samuelsen has finalised his move to Aalborg for the rest of the season, while Max Clark has returned to the club until the end of the season at least. He could start, given McCann’s penchant for change, but he has played little football for the last 11 months so may not be risked. Tom Eaves is due back in light training next week pending the all clear from physios, while Malik Wilks will be assessed ahead of the game after limping off towards the end of City’s win against Swindon.

Predicted Starting XI: Ingram, Emmanuel, Greaves, Burke, Elder, Smallwood, Docherty, Crowley, KLP, Wilks, Whyte.

Predicted score: Hull City 1- 1 Lincoln City (City win 3-2 on pens)