Michael Appleton offers his thoughts ahead of Lincoln’s visit from Sunderland at the weekend

Lincoln City boss Michael Appleton is ’looking forward’ to his side’s game against Sunderland on Saturday. 

Although Sunderland sit way above in the table currently occupying the final play-off spot, they are only one point clear of Sheffield Wednesday below them.

Furthermore, 18th placed Lincoln can not be underestimated as they come into this game on the back of a narrow defeat against league leaders Rotherham United.

At the start of the month they also overcame play-off contenders Sheffield Wednesday with a 3-1 victory and they are in decent form having also beaten AFC Wimbledon.

On top of this, they will be looking to create more distance between themselves and the relegation zone which they currently sit eight points clear of so it should be a big game.

Looking ahead to the fixture, Appleton told Sunderland Echo: “It’s a great game and everyone’s looking forward to it.

“From an atmosphere point of view, it will be like that Sheffield Wednesday game.

“They’ll bring a lot of fans down from the North East and they’ve got a newish manager in Alex. They massively need the points to keep themselves in the play-off positions.

“We’ve got to dust ourselves down and try and reproduce something similar to the second half [against Rotherham]. If we do that, we’ll give ourselves a chance.”

Lincoln are hoping they will have a strong team available for Saturday’s game including key defender Regan Poole who picked up a knock during the AFC Wimbledon game. Giving an update on his injury Appleton said: “Regan is a doubt for Saturday but, knowing how he’s recovered in the past, you never know. I’d say his chances are 60/40 against playing.”

The Verdict:

Looking purely at the table, this game would appear to be a fairly easy game for