Table topping Rochdale head to Sincil Bank

Lincoln City's aim for a first League win since October 10th will have a very big obstacle in it's way, table topping Rochdale. Although City haven't lost at home to Rochdale since the Imps returned to this division in 1999, we will certainly have to be at our very best just to get anything at all out of the game.

Lincoln City could easily take over Rochdale's position as the longest serving team in the division at the end of the season. The only two teams who have spent more time in this division than the Imps are Rochdale, who are challenging for promotion, and Darlington, who will have to perform near miracles to avoid relegation. Then again, unless we start winning, we won't have to worry about that at all.

Sutton has now been in charge at Sincil Bank for nine league games, that time in charge now includes failing to win in seven matches, a run that has taken the Imps down to 22^nd and just four points above the relegation zone. Spin it anyway you want but that isn't good enough by a long stretch of the imagination, especially as we now face our most difficult game of the season so far, table-topping Rochdale.

It won't be the first time they have come to Sincil Bank and looked like almost certain winners, in many seasons they have been chasing promotion whereas we have battled relegation, and the fact we haven't lost at home to them since returning to this division in 1999 says it all about how results don't always go the way you would expect them to go.

In the 10 meetings at Sincil Bank since 1999, seven of them have ended with a 1-1 draw, the others have ended with City wins of 2-0, 2-1 and 7-1. You'd have to go back to the final day of the 1996/7 season to find a Rochdale win at Sincil Bank, that day they denied City a Playoff place with a 2-0 win at City.

In what could easily turn out to be his penultimate appearance at Sincil Bank, Rob Burch will almost certainly start in goal. The skilled goalkeeper is the one reason we're not in the relegation zone and he will be aiming for his third clean sheet in as many weeks, although Crewe failing to get any of the 17 shots on target last week probably helped some way towards that.

Other than that, trying to guess at a Chris Sutton starting line up is near impossible. He hasn't once played the same starting 11 two games running since coming to the club, although he certainly has his favourites. As we revealed in a bit of research a few weeks back, the more of his loanee players that take part in the game, the more likely we seem to lose.

With it being a home match, Sutton is unlikely to go for the 5-3-2 formation that he played last week, meaning that based on Sutton's "the more loanees, the better" logic, Moses Swaibu will more than likely be dropped with Watts, Baker, Lichaj and Hughton all keeping their places.

The midfield will still be without Pulis and Torres, both of whom are injured, and Jamie Clarke could easily be placed back into midfield after a less than successful spell up front. If that is the case then Michael Gordon will again find himself on the bench, with Scott Kerr, Chris Herd and any one of the countless left wingers we have at the club.

Up front and I'm strangely finding myself wanting Lenell John-Lewis to start. He returned in last week's game at Crewe and came close to scoring once or twice, plus he scored twice for the reserves twice for the reserves in midweek, so would you bet against him starting against Rochdale? If he does, then he will more than likely be partnered by Delroy Facey.

Rochdale have been in spectacular form since Keith Hill took over as manager in 2006. As other teams, such as Bradford, were boasting about promotion credentials, Rochdale just quietly got on their work and turned from also-rans into one of the most consistent teams in the division.

Infact, Keith Hill could easily go down as the best manager in the division. In 155 games as Rochdale manager, he has won 70, an impressive haul by anyone's standards, especially as they've only lost 45 times since he replaced Steve Parkin just weeks after a 7-1 defeat at Sincil Bank. Hill has turned Rochdale into an exceptionally hard team to beat and they've won their last four games, the last two being by a 3-0 scoreline.

They are just a number of impressive results since Hill took charge, one of the more noticeable came in March 2007, a 7-2 victory away at Stockport County. Other good results this season include a 3-0 home win over Bury and one of the most eye-catching results of the season so far, a 4-0 away win at then top of the table Bournemouth.

Their squad will be relatively well known to City, not only just to the regular occurance of games between the two. Ciaran Toner used to play for the Imps, whereas David Flitcroft, the assistant manager, spent time at Sincil Bank during the 1990s. Nathan Stanton also used to play at Scunthorpe United.