Shrewsbury Town set for a stern Imps test

Shrewsbury head to Lincolnshire for the clash under the lights looking to make it back-to-back League One wins and three straight victories in all competitions.

But Ricketts has warned Town to expect one of their toughest challenges of the season against Michael Appleton’s Imps, who won consecutive promotions under Danny Cowley – before he last month left for Championship Huddersfield.

Lincoln, one place ahead of Town on goal difference in 12th having played twice more, have high aspirations this season. And they are particularly strong on their own patch, where they have four wins from six this term, the eighth-best record in the league – including against Fleetwood and Sunderland.

“They certainly are having a go. They had a few real successful years and want to continue that. They recruited well, a lot of players, they have a big deep squad,” said Ricketts.

“They’ve certainly got real good competition for places.

“If you look at their results this year, they average two points per game at home. It’s certainly the big plus point for them.”

Lincoln, who beat Town at Wembley in the EFL Trophy final in 2018, made the decision in the summer to switch the fixture to Friday to give players more recovery time ahead of Tuesday night fixtures.

“We just want to put a performance in that gives us a chance of coming away from a hard place to go with something from the game,” added the Town boss.

“It would be a great result given their home form and the bit of momentum they’ve got. They had a blip but generally the momentum is really good. “It definitely is one of the toughest away games and we have to be ready.”