Guy Owen

Danny Cowley has called Lincoln City fans the best supporters in the league as The Imps prepare for a sell-out against Coventry City at Sincil Bank tomorrow afternoon.

The club confirmed earlier in the week that all tickets had been sold for tomorrow’s game (November 18) with a crowd of over 9,500 expected at Sincil Bank.

Spirits are high in the city after The Imps came from a goal down to thrash Crewe 4-1 last Saturday with a fantastic second-half performance.

Cowley said: “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; they’re the best supporters in the league and I know that Coventry will come with numbers on Saturday and we’re expecting a big atmosphere.

“Why I think the supporters are the best is because they’re the most influential out of all the supporters in the league and I think ours have the biggest influence on the team.

“For us to be playing Coventry City in front of a packed out Sincil Bank tomorrow is brilliant and we’ve had to work really hard to get the club into this position.

“It’s brilliant. We said to the players this morning about how much belief the people of Lincoln have in them and how they’re getting behind them and following them.

“For a club that’s just come out of non-league football to sell-out on a Monday before a Saturday game is absolutely amazing and says everything about our supporters.”

Coventry boast the league’s meanest defence, conceding only nine goals in their first 17 games, keeping 10 clean sheets in the process.

Cowley believes that the four goals Lincoln scored in their last game will give his side confidence.

“It’s nice to score the goals, he said. “You always have your doubters and people who criticise rightly for being short of goals and you have to find ways of answering those criticisms and that’s what we’re trying to do.

“It’s six goals in two games for us but at the same time but we can’t get ahead of ourselves.”

Harry Anderson limped off at the end of the Crewe game after his two goals, however Cowley has kept very tight-lipped about whether the winger will start tomorrow.

“He could be, might be, he should be,” said Cowley. “We’ll have to wait and see until tomorrow.

“He just tweaked his quad on Saturday towards the end of the game but we’ve had to wrap him up in bubble wrap, because he’s a modern day footballer, and we’re hoping he’ll be available tomorrow.”

The first 522 parking spaces of the new Lincoln Central Car Park have been officially opened to the public.

The pay-as-you-exit car park, part of the £30 million Lincoln Transport Hub scheme, was given an opening ceremony this morning (November 17), off St Mary’s Street, two months ahead of schedule.

The first four floors of the car park opened at midday, with free parking until midnight.

The opening came just in time for the Christmas lights switch-on at 7pm featuring Gogglebox star Sandi Bogle and former X Factor signer Andy Abraham joining Danny and Nicky Cowley.

Some 522 car parking spaces are available with 117 more spaces to be opened next week.

The full 1,000 spaces will be opened just before Christmas with the price of parking starting from £1.60 an hour and 24 hour parking will cost £7.80.

Lincoln Transport Hub will also see a brand new bus station, improvements to the railway station and pedestrianising Sincil Street to Lincoln High Street.

City of Lincoln Council leader Ric Metcale, told The Lincolnite:”I am delighted [that the car park is opened two months early], it’s much needed car parking spaces right in the city centre.

“It was always our aspiration for the car park to be on before Christmas, but we were quietly determined to get it open in time for Christmas as we know we get a huge increase of people coming in to Lincoln for Christmas shopping and the Christmas market.”

Kate Ellis – Strategic Director for Major Developments at City of Lincoln Council, said: “It’s really exciting, whilst we still have a few bits and pieces to finish, I think that it’s really important to be open for the Christmas period.”

David Reid, operations manager at Willmott Dixon said: “We are delighted to have brought forward the first phase of the Transport Hub car park ahead of schedule in order to support the Sincil Street and city centre businesses at the start of the Christmas shopping season. It marks a key milestone in this exciting project which we are proud to be part of.

“We have continued to work in partnership with City of Lincoln Council to ensure this scheme is state-of-the-art and meets the needs of local people, helping the project to make a huge difference to Lincoln’s regeneration.

“We have also progressed training on the site, where a number of local young people have been able to experience what it is like to work on a construction site first hand; learning from our experienced site team.”