Town manager Paul Lambert has no doubt that there will be a reaction from his players when the Blues face Lincoln City at Sincil Bank on Saturday in the wake of Tuesday’s 4-1 defeat at Doncaster, their first League One loss of the season.
Lambert says no one’s been too downcast about the result at the Keepmoat Stadium with his side having made a decent start to the match before gifting the home side most of their goals.
"We spoke yesterday, the first 30 minutes was as good as we’ve played all season then we stopped doing what we’re good at and got ourselves into a little situation where we couldn’t achieve it,” he said.
"But that’s going to happen, they’re going to have to see games through and be big enough to be take the knock-backs. They’re never downbeat, that’s for sure.”
He says he’s after a reaction from his players against the Imps, who are third, one place behind the Blues on goal difference, and expects to get it, even if that won’t necessarily bring about a positive scoreline.
"That’s it, and I’ve got no doubt we will, no doubt,” he insisted. "We don’t know the result or anything like that but I’ll certainly see a reaction.
"In the first 30 minutes of the game at Doncaster I thought we were really good, really good.
"We just stopped doing what we were doing and we allowed them to really come at us and we never really got in about them in the second half. They dominated us in the second half and we never really touched them.”
He says the players are fully aware of the position and that while he isn’t planning to make changes after one poor performance, that would be likely to change after a second.
"They know the situation, they know it wasn’t good enough, the second half especially,” he said.
"They know and they understand it, they understand where I’m coming from. You perform like that as an individual then you won’t play, and everybody knows it.
"You have to perform and that’s football. You’ll find yourself in the team and then you can find yourself out of the team [if you don’t].”
In addition to a reaction to Tuesday’s match, the Blues will be looking for a very different result to last year’s corresponding fixture at Sincil Bank when they were beaten 5-3.
But Lambert says that game isn’t particularly in his thoughts: "We’re a different team from last year, a totally different team. I don’t have any revenge in my mind because we lost up there 5-3.
"No, it’s a different game, different circumstances, no fans, nothing, no stress really. We go there and we’ll try and play the same way we’ve been playing and try and rectify Tuesday night by winning tomorrow.”
Lambert says Lincoln, whose league home record this season reads won three and lost one, 2-1 to Bristol Rovers a fortnight ago, will prove tough opposition but equally the Imps will be given a tough game by his side.
"They’ve started very well, like ourselves,” he said. "It’s a hard game for us and it’s a hard game for them as well.
"We play differently from how we did last year. They’ve started well but seven games is nothing really, the season doesn’t really settle down for a few more weeks.”
Lambert has said there won't be wholesale changes to his team so Tomas Holy - who might have been one of those concerned about his place following the Doncaster match - is likely to continue in goal with David Cornell waiting in the wings for his Town league bow.
Skipper Luke Chambers will make his 345th league appearance for the Blues, edging one ahead of Jimmy Leadbetter, at right-back with Stephen Ward potentially returning on the left if fit.
If the veteran former Wolves man is not yet ready after his achilles injury then Myles Kenlock will continue.
At the centre of the defence Toto Nsiala and James Wilson will continue with Luke Woolfenden and on-loan Arsenal youngster Mark McGuinness again set to be among the subs.
In midfield, Lambert may swap Emyr Huws for Teddy Bishop, who was used from the bench at Doncaster, and return to the trio - Bishop, Andre Dozzell and Jon Nolan - which impressed in the opening few games.
Up front, Oli Hawkins seems set to start in the central role after his groin problem having been a substitute on Tuesday, while Lambert is unlikely to risk Alan Judge if the Irishman is still feeling the hamstring problem he reported earlier in the week.
That could see on-loan Borussia Mönchengladbach forward Keanan Bennetts handed his first Town start on the right with Gwion Edwards, League One’s joint-top scorer alongside Lincoln’s Jorge Grant, likely to start on the left, however, Freddie Sears will be hoping to keep his place in the XI and Jack Lankester will also be looking for a first league start since January 2019.
Lincoln manager Michael Appleton, whose side beat Plymouth 2-0 at home on Tuesday, concurs with Lambert that the Blues aren’t the same side they were last season.
"They are different [to last year],” he told Lincolnshire Live. "I think they have got more legs in the team, they’re a bit more youthful.
"They’ve still got experienced players. They’ve got lots of players, a big squad. They’ve got the finances and the luxury to be able to do that.
"And after Tuesday’s result, they’ll be chomping at the bit to do something about it. We’ll have to be mindful of that, but if we start the game on Saturday in a similar way to Tuesday, we’ll give ourselves a good chance.”
Striker Callum Morton is out with a shoulder injury, while the game will come too soon for left-back Max Melbourne, who has a quad problem.
Central defender Adam Jackson will be given a fitness test but is not expected to be ready to be involved against the Blues.
Overall, Town have the edge historically having won seven games between the teams (six in the league) with four (two) ending in draws and five (four) won by the Imps.
The teams last met at Portman Road in January when Woolfenden’s first Town goal a minute before half-time saw Town to a 1-0 home win and back to the top of League One.
The central defender nodded Luke Garbutt’s free-kick from the right into the net off keeper Josh Vickers to secure a deserved three points for the Blues.
At the end of December at Sincil Bank the Imps won a topsy-turvy game 5-3. Harry Anderson put the home side ahead on six, Garbutt levelled for Town in the 32nd minute before Tyler Walker restored the home side’s lead in first-half injury time.
A Harry Toffolo own goal restored parity in the 59th minute before Walker’s second made it 3-2 on 72, then Bostwick added a fourth in the 79th minute.
Will Keane pulled one back for the Blues four minutes later but Jake Hesketh cemented the Imps’ win in injury time.
Following the match, Town boss Lambert kept his squad in the dressing room for an hour for a meeting in which he said there were some "home truths” told.
The sides also faced one another twice during November last year in the FA Cup first round with the Blues winning the replay 1-0 at Sincil Bank.
Judge’s first Town goal deep in injury time ended the Blues’ 15-match winless run in the tournament and avenged the defeat to the Imps in the same competition in January 2017. The tie appeared destined for extra-time when the ex-Brentford man swept home at the far post.
Ten days prior to that, the teams played out a 1-1 draw at Portman Road in the initial tie. Walker put the visitors ahead on 37 and, after the Imps goalscorer had seen a second-half penalty saved by Will Norris, Dozzell curled home an equaliser 79th minute.
Town defender Wilson will be facing his old club, the defender having spoken about having had a tough time with the Imps last season.
Blues midfielder Nolan was with Lincoln between June 2013 and January 2016, making 64 starts and 11 sub appearances.
Town keeper-coach Jimmy Walker was with Lincoln in the same role prior to his stint with Sunderland before joining the Blues.
Former Blues loanee Tayo Edun, who joined the Imps from Fulham in January, made four starts and three sub appearances for Town in the first half of 2018/19, netting a debut goal in the opening day win against Blackburn Rovers.
Lincoln midfielder Brennan Johnson, who is on loan from Nottingham Forest and scored his first senior goal in Tuesday’s victory over the Pilgrims, is the son of 1990s Blues striker David.
Saturday’s referee is Kevin Johnson from Weston-super-Mare, who has shown 14 yellow cards and no red in five games so far this season.
Coincidentally, Johnson’s last Town match was the 1-1 FA Cup first round draw with the Imps at Portman Road last season in which he booked Flynn Downes, Armando Dobra and one of the visitors.
His only Town game prior to that was the 5-0 victory at Bolton in August last year in which he booked Edwards and one home player and also awarded the Blues a penalty - for handball - which James Norwood converted.
Squad from: Holy, Cornell, Chambers (c), Donacien, Ward, Kenlock, Nsiala, Wilson, McGuinness, Woolfenden, Dozzell, Bishop, Huws, Nolan, Judge, Lankester, Edwards, Bennetts, Sears, Hawkins.