City are looking to extend their Sky Bet Championship unbeaten run to five games as they make another journey down south to Ashton Gate to face Bristol City on Tuesday 15 September (7:45pm KO).
Read the pre-match thoughts of both Tom Shaw and Dan Oyegoke on top of all the key stats and information ahead of the game against the Robins.
Opposition Information
Bristol City have had an overall positive start to the season, picking up 10 points from their opening six games courtesy of a draw against Birmingham City as well as wins over Portsmouth, Preston and Burnley. Those results are sandwiched either side of losses against Millwall and Southampton respectively. The Robins have only played twice so far at Ashton Gate, losing 2-0 on the opening weekend when hosting Millwall after going down to 10 men early with Adam Randell being dismissed after 36 minutes. Their other home outing was a successful one when welcoming Pompey and emerging as 2-1 winner, Lorent Tolaj opened the scoring before Jason Knight doubled the advantage, that was enough to put them out of sight with Marezi scoring a late consolation goal from the spot.
The Robins have spent a significant amount of money on improving Michael Skubala's front line and included in those reinforcements is the aforementioned Lorent Tolaj. The Swiss national joins off the back of an exceptional Sky Bet League One season with Plymouth Argyle where he featured in 35 games, scoring 21 goals and turning provider for another eight. He has currently featured six times for his current club, netting twice and assisting on one occasion so far.
Also strengthening the attacking force of the Robins is PFA League One Players’ Player of the season and Sky Bet League One Golden Boot winner, Dom Ballard. He has so far scored twice during the 2026/27 campaign including the final goal in his side’s 3-1 victory against Preston North End but most notably he scored an unbelievable backheel volley in the Robin’s 2-2 draw with Birmingham City, touted by many as an early contender for goal of the season. Ballard joined Bristol City on a permanent deal from Leyton Orient after a prolific goalscoring season, netting 23 times for the O’s despite them only finishing just one place and three points above the drop zone.
Shaw said: “They’ve got individual quality; they’re fluid in the way they play so we’re going to have to be aware of some of their key threats, Michael knows how we work and what we go after but we’re very difficult to stop when we get to full throttle and our ambition tomorrow are to play the Lincoln City way to try and cause some real problems.”
Two in two at Deepdale for Freddie
Freddie Draper was the man who came off the bench and sealed all three points for the Imps on Saturday with his 81st minute header earning his side their second league success of the campaign. However, he isn’t unfamiliar to a goal at Deepdale as he also managed to bag a goal on his only other visit here in the FA Youth Cup and Tom Shaw spoke about how pleased both himself and the team are pleased for the Imps’ number 34.
Shaw said: “He’s an endearing footballer, he gives everything for Lincoln City, and he gives everything for the team. He does a lot of hard yards and takes a lot of hard hits, so everyone has been desperate for him to get his number, and it was an amazing goal.
“We’re very pleased for Fred and we have the feeling it could be the first of many but the work he does away from the penalty area has been amazing, so he’s got to keep that side of his game up and hopefully we can get him under the crossbar.” amongst the players it helps us all a lot as we can learn from him and he’s got a lot of time for the younger players.”
Dan Oyegoke’s Thoughts
Oyegoke joined City on deadline day from Italian outfit, Hellas Verona and made his first appearance in the Carabao Cup tie against Bournemouth before making his first league start in the Imps’ victory over Preston North End and he spoke about life so far at Lincoln City and how well he is setting in.
Oyegoke said: “When I was on the call with everyone from the club it was clear to me that it was the best call I’d ever had, the best conversation I’ve had with football people about football and the direction the club was going in. You can see what kind of club it is, and you can see the beautiful people inside and around it so, it was a no-brainer for me.
“The fan noise makes me want to run a bit further, it makes me want to work harder, go and score a goal. Even against Preston, the fans came out in their numbers, it was crazy to have that support, it was like a home game at times.”
H2H
It has been just four years since City made the trip Southwest to face the Robins as in November 2022, the two sides met in round three of the Carabao Cup and it was the Imps who advanced on that occasion. Matty Virtue opened the scoring within six minutes before Ben House doubled the advantage sending City into the break with a two-goal lead. The pressure didn’t relent with Paudie O’Connor scoring a third early into the second half before the hosts scored an 80th minute consolation via Tommy Conway.
Prior to that encounter, the last time the Imps travelled down to Ashton Gate and came away victorious was in 1982 with a narrow 1-0 win. It was Glenn Cockerill who scored the only goal of the game giving City the win in the third-tier contest, roughly 10 minutes before the break. Cockerill played over 700 games in the football league, including two stints in Lincolnshire, the first of those he made 71 appearances and then went on to make a further 115 in the second period, scoring a total of 35 goals over the six years at the club.
Match Information
City will sport their esports-inspired third kit as they clash with the Robins - HERE.
Tim Robinson will be the man in the middle for Tuesday evening with help from his assistants Jacob Graham and Jacob Lehane and the fourth official for the evening will be Matt Corlett.
Legendary broadcaster, John Helm will be joined by Paul De Garis to provide the commentary for Imps+ at Ashton Gate - check out your streaming options HERE.
