FORMER York City striker Richard Pacquette is expected to be handed his Lincoln debut against his old team at Sincil Bank tomorrow.
Pacquette, 28, made Lincoln the 18th club of his career this week after ending a second spell with Maidenhead United having started the season with Hayes & Yeading.
The Dominican international’s last game saw him score a New Year’s Eve brace of goals for Maidenhead in the Blue Square Bet South against Basingstoke but he only managed four goals in 18 league outings for Hayes this season.
Between starting out at QPR and joining Lincoln from Maidenhead this week, Pacquette has also played for MK Dons, Stevenage, Dagenham, Mansfield, Fisher, Brentford, Farnborough, St Albans, Hemel Hempstead, Hampton & Richmond Borough, Worthing, Havant & Waterlooville, the Minstermen, Eastbourne and Hayes.
He has not yet netted against City, however, in three matches since leaving Bootham Crescent – two for Eastbourne and the other for Hayes during Gary Mills’ team’s last league win on the road in October.
Pacquette could be joined tomorrow by another former Minsterman as midfielder Will Hatfield is currently on trial at Sincil Bank with the view to a move from Leeds United, as is his Elland Road team-mate Sanchez Payne.
Imps boss David Holdsworth was renowned for operating a revolving door policy at previous club Mansfield and has overseen a busy week since the reopening of the transfer window at the weekend.
Along with Pacquette, 20-year-old Colwyn Bay winger Danny Lloyd-McGoldrick has also been recruited, following on from the arrival of Telford centre-back Rob Williams, who made his debut during the 3-1 defeat at Grimsby on New Year’s Day.
Another defender Carlton Watson was brought in too yesterday after being released by Nottingham Forest and Holdsworth is running the rule over Leicester goalkeeper Adam Smith as well, with Paul Farman having returned to his parent club Gateshead, leaving Joe Anyon as the only senior shot-stopper on the books at the moment.
Former Sheffield Wednesday defender Richard Hinds, meanwhile, has had his registration cancelled having started at Grimsby on Sunday and Danny Hone has extended his loan at Barrow until the end of the season. Josh Gowling is available again after serving a one-match suspension.
Strikers Kyle Perry and Luke Medley have also departed with the former joining Telford and the latter returning to parent club Kidderminster, while fellow forwards Francis Laurent and Andy Hutchinson are currently crocked.
Top scorer Sam Smith, who has netted eight times in 2011/12, has returned to the fold though after a six-week injury lay-off, having been used as a 77th-minute substitute against Grimsby.
Former Minsterman Simon Russell also came on as a second-half substitute in that match, having only managed one goal in 23 appearances since his summer switch from Cambridge.
Russell could start tomorrow, however, if Holdsworth cannot agree an extension to Conal Platt’s loan stay from Cambridge.
Lincoln are the second-lowest marksmen in the division, averaging less than a goal per league game with their season’s return of 26 just one better than Telford’s tally.
The Imps have, however, found the net in all of their last ten home matches since a 2-0 defeat against Kettering on September 10.
Holdsworth’s team ushered in 2012 with a second successive defeat to Grimsby following on from a 2-1 home loss to the Mariners on Boxing Day and are now 17th in the Blue Square Bet Premier standings just four points above the relegation zone.
The Sincil Bank side have also only won one of their last six league games – a 2-0 victory at Forest Green before Christmas.
Match facts
THIS is City’s first Conference trip to Sincil Bank, but they made a total of 37 Football League visits between 1929 and 2003, a run which produced eight wins and nine draws.
Their most recent victories at Lincoln were 2-1 in 1998/9 when Marc Williams netted both goals and 3-1 in 2001/2 with Michael Proctor (2) and Chris Brass on the score-sheet.
City’s last trip was on August 30, 2003, when they went down 3-0. It was the first defeat of that season which had started with four straight wins and the side lined up as follows: Ovendale, Edmondson (Downes), Wood, Hope, Merris, Cooper, Dunning, Ward, Bullock, Nogan (Parkin), George (Stewart).
Players who have appeared for both clubs include John Hawksby, John Mackin, Tommy Spencer, Steve Richards, Colin Alcide, Andy Leaning, Justin Walker and Scott Kerr.
It happened on January 7
1956: In the third round of the FA Cup, City beat Second Division (Championship) Swansea Town 2-1 at the Vetch Field. Clive Colbridge and Arthur Bottom were the scorers watched by 25,636.
1961: City and Norwich City drew 1-1 at Bootham Crescent in the third round of the FA Cup. Billy Hughes was the marksman and the crowd was 9,463.
1967: Bottom of the Fourth Division City drew 1-1 at Third Division Middlesbrough in a third round FA Cup tie in front of 20,573 at Ayresome Park with Andy Provan on the score-sheet.
1978: Peter Scott and Gordon Staniforth (penalty) netted in a 2-0 home win over Newport County in Division Four watched by 1,971.
1995: A 4-0 win at Chester City with Paul Barnes, Scott Jordan, Jon McCarthy plus an opponent on the score-sheet and City were mid-table in the Third Division (League One).
2006: James Dudgeon was the scorer in a 1-0 win at Crawley Town and City were in the top half of the Conference.
Compiled by Dave Batters
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