Michael Appleton says Doncaster Rovers will be no pushover on Saturday despite their position in the Sky Bet League One relegation zone.
The Imps boss is expecting a tough game at the Keepmoat Stadium but is hopeful that his young squad will continue to pick up the points away from home.
He said: “They’ve not made the start they would’ve wanted or expected, we’ve got a young group and there’s an expectation on us.
“We know it’s going to be tough because they've got an ok home record, but we’ve got a pretty good away record over the past 18 months so hopefully that record continues.”
Lewis Fiorini and Sean Roughan have had a spring in their step during training this week after scoring for their countries during the international break, and Appleton hopes they can utilise their confidence in the league.
He added: “They both played 90 minutes on Tuesday and travelled back on Wednesday., clearly they’re both in a really good frame of mind and very very confident.
“It’s always good when it works out like that - they go away and have a good spell with their national team and come back and hopefully bring that confidence to their club football.”