While they were never overly threatened by relegation, Shrewsbury Town looked set to fall to a disappointing finish in League One, with just 39 points from 37 outings.
However, Steve Cotterill’s side have since posted two particularly impressive results to climb up the table, firstly thrashing Morecambe 5-0 on home turf with Daniel Udoh and Luke Leahy helping themselves to braces before Ryan Bowman capped off a strong showing with a 70th-minute goal.
The Shrews then faced the unenviable task of travelling to league leaders Rotherham United last time out, and an Udoh goal quickly followed by an Angus MacDonald red card for the hosts put them in a good position, before Elliott Bennett and Bowman secured an eye-catching three-point haul with second-half strikes.
Thanks to arguably their two most impressive results of the campaign, Cotterill’s men have quickly leapfrogged several teams, including Saturday’s visitors, to rise to 16th spot, and they will now look for a third straight win to continue their climb.
Lincoln, meanwhile, will aim to move back level on points with their hosts, having had an underwhelming campaign by their own standards after reaching the playoff final last time round.
Despite that, the Imps have seemingly taken positive steps in recent weeks, given the toughness of their schedule, firstly recording wins over Sheffield Wednesday and AFC Wimbledon either side of a defeat to Ipswich Town.
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Michael Appleton’s team were then narrowly beaten 2-1 away at leaders Rotherham after a valiant effort, as Tom Hopper’s 81st-minute goal was not enough to salvage a result.
The Imps most recently hosted sixth-placed Sunderland last Saturday, and, having held the playoff-chasing side to a goalless stalemate, they will look to kick on with a victory at the weekend.
Having quickly dropped from 16th to 18th, despite their relatively pleasing past month, Appleton’s men will aim to return to winning ways to move back level with the Shrews and potentially above Cambridge United, depending on other results
