Off the back of their first Sky Bet Championship success in 65 years, City will now welcome Blackburn Rovers to the ProAmpac Stadium on Tuesday 1 September (7:45pm KO).
Read all the key stats and information as well as the pre-match thoughts of both Tom Shaw and Imps’ midfielder, Conor McGrandles.
Opposition Information
Tony Mowbray’s side have had a mixed start to their Sky Bet Championship season, picking up four points from the opening three games starting with a 2-2 draw when travelling to promotion-hopefuls, Wolverhampton Wanderers on the opening night of the campaign. They then built on that, beating another promotion candidate, Middlesbrough, when coming from a goal behind to win 2-1 but most recently they welcomed QPR to Ewood Park and despite taking a one-goal advantage early in the second half, they went on to lose 2-1 with the R’s goals from both Paul Smyth and Jimmy Dunne.
It has been a quiet summer in East Lancashire with just two new faces in the building as well as the permanent signing of Moussa Baradji who spent last season on loan with Rovers from Swiss side, Yverdon. One of those new recruits is wing-back, Jayden Fevrier, who joined on a permanent basis from Stockport County having spent the second half of the 2025/26 campaign on loan in the second tier with Charlton Athletic, the 23-year-old has already got his first goal in blue and white after just five appearances as he scored the winning goal in his side’s 2-1 Carabao Cup round one success over Burton Albion.
Also scoring at the Pirelli Stadium that day was Icelandic striker, Andri Gudjohnsen who is entering his second season as Rovers number nine. The 24-year-old opened his account for the season in that victory over Burton Albion but has continued the fine form contributing to four goals in as many games. Scoring goals against both Wolves and Middlesbrough, he was rested in their 2-1 defeat in round two of the Carabao Cup before being reintroduced over the weekend where despite the result he provided the assist for Ryoya Morishita’s opener in his team’s loss to QPR.
Tom Shaw said: “This is a big test, an ex-Premier League champion coming to the stadium, it’s amazing and it shows how far this football club has come. Tony [Mowbray] has got huge respect from both myself and Chirs from his success and longevity to the way he sets his teams up, it makes it a big challenge for us coaches.”
First Championship win since 1961
It was a weekend of breaking long-standing records as after a 65 year wait to return to the second tier of English football, the Imps earnt their first win at the level since 1961 when travelling to face Bolton Wanderers. The 1-0 away success, courtesy of a Ben House header, was also the first time since 1984 that City took all three points from a trip to Bolton. Tom Shaw spoke about the magnitude of the result and how important it is to get a win on the board.
He said: “There was so much work behind the scenes particularly by the analysts, especially in the hotel on Friday night up until midnight and into the morning. Lots of work went in just to give the players the best chance of performing so I’m proud of everyone.”
He added: “I thought the players were exceptional and I thought we showed all our best bits during the 90 minutes so I’m really proud of them as well, how confident they were to go to Bolton and look after the ball so well and dig in the way we needed to get the result.”
Conor McGrandles’ Thoughts
Conor McGrandles was a pivotal part of the Imps’ historic 2025/26 title-winning season as he played 45 of the 46 league games in the heart of midfield. He’s been similarly important so far during the current campaign and with the unfortunate injury sustained by Tendayi Darikwa, it was Conor who inherited the captain's armband in Saturday’s success over Bolton Wanderers and in doing so, made his 200th appearance as a City player spanning over three spells with the club and he spoke about the pride that brings him but also how he’s now firmly focused on the challenge ahead in welcoming Blackburn Rovers to the ProAmpac Stadium.
He said: “I didn’t realise until after the game it was my 200th appearance but it was a special moment and I’m proud of the achievement and I’m now looking forward to many more.
“It seems like every single game in this division is a huge game and that’s why we wanted to get into this league and test ourselves against these brilliant teams and brilliant clubs. We know it’s never going to be an easy challenge, but every game is going to be something we look forward to.”
H2H
The last time Rovers made the journey to Lincolnshire was November 1972 in the first round of the FA Cup, a game which ended as a 2-2 draw forcing a replay. The goals for the Imps that day were scored by forwards, Percy Freeman and Brendan Bradley, the former made 152 appearances for the club scoring 64 goals over two stints at the club while the Northern Irish born, Brendan Brandley spent just one season in Lincoln making a total of 30 appearances and finding the back of the net 12 times. The visitors’ goals came from Tony Field as well as an own goal from City defender, Terry Branston.
Hosting Blackburn Rovers has proved successful in the past, particularly in the 1953/54 division two campaign which produced a historic result for both sides for very different reasons. A triumphant 8-0 success remains Rovers’ joint-worst loss in club history and it is also still City’s biggest winning margin in the second tier, the star of the show that day scoring four of the eight goals was legendary forward and Imps’ all-time top goalscorer, Andy Graver.
Match Information
City will once again sport their red and white striped home kit as they take on Blackburn Rovers at the ProAmpac Stadium - get yours HERE.
The referee for the evening will be Will Finnie with his assistants being both Richard Woodward and Aaron Hallam and to round out the officiating team the fourth official on the night will be Elliot Bell.
As always, legendary broadcaster, John Helm will provide the commentary for Imps+ and will be joined by Dean West - check out your streaming options HERE.
Get your tickets for the night under the lights HERE
