The Bulls will be sick of the sight of Lincoln on the fixture list once the FA Cup match finally gets played on Saturday.
The two sides have had four attempts at playing the match after facing the Imps twice in a week in November. The pair will also play the return League fixture in February. The Imps hold the upper hand at present after beating the Bulls 3-1 in the League, but the 2-2 FA Cup replay at Edgar Street was more even.
The Imps will be without central defender Adam Watts after he damaged a knee on Monday. He faces a scan tomorrow but the results will not be known until next week, extending their defensive problems. Paul Green was Watts' replacement on Monday - for two minutes - for his first appearance in four months, while Danny Hone made his first Imps appearance of the season with the veteran Jamie Clapham and troubled Moses Swaibu both omitted from the squad. Wingers Mustafa Carayol and Albert Jarrett were both omitted from Monday's starting XI with Imps fans claiming a 'clique' had developed that was splitting the dressing room.
A team down the bottom of the table might consider the FA Cup an expendable competition when a backlog of fixtures already exists, but their opponents' own financial state puts an unusual edge onto the game. With the Imps also down the bottom of the table they need to win the game in order to spend the prize money on reinforcements so no prize money means no signings for one of our closest rivals. The Bulls certainly seem to be going to Sincil Bank to win with Stuart Fleetwood, currently with seven goals in his last 12 games, telling the Hereford Times the Imps hold no fear for them.
Lincoln City vs Hereford United, Sincil Bank, Saturday 8th January, 3.00pm.