The champions of the EFL Trophy in 2017-18, Lincoln City will travel to Valley Parade on Tuesday to face Bradford City in their second match of this competition.
The Imps hung on to a 3-2 win against the Manchester United Academy squad in their opening fixture of this tournament, while Bradford have failed to make it beyond the group stage of the EFL Trophy in their last three campaigns.
Match preview
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A solid start to the League Two season hit a sour note this past weekend for Derek Adams and his Bradford City side.
The Bantams were uncharacteristically sloppy against Leyton Orient on Saturday, losing 2-0 and suffering their first defeat of the year.
They let themselves get pushed around throughout the 90 minutes of that game, failing to cope with their opponent's physicality, firing six shots in total with only two on target.
Before that match, Bradford had been clinical in the final third with nine goals in their first four games and sitting on top of the table.
While moving into League One is still a real possibility and the primary focus, they will want to put on a better showing at this tournament than they did a season ago when they came in third in their group.
If they want to advance beyond the group stage for the first time since 2017-18, they would be best served to win their matches within 90 minutes, having lost their opening two fixtures at this competition last season on penalties before losing their final match 3-1 to Oldham Athletic.
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A team that looked destined to win this trophy for the second time in club history saw their dreams of glory dashed in the cruellest of fashions as Lincoln City squandered a second-half lead before losing in a penalty shootout in this competition a season ago.
Before that defeat, this team looked unstoppable, particularly in the knockout portion of the tournament, scoring four goals in both their second and third-round matches before surviving a nail-biting penalty shootout in the quarter-finals.
More than six months after that defeat, this group will hope that their journey will last a couple of steps longer this time out, but they are not in very good form at the moment.
Michael Appleton has seen his side struggle through the first five games of their League One campaign, currently sitting in 20th in the table, just a point above the relegation zone.
On Saturday, they were too slow out of the gate for a second successive match, conceding twice in the opening 25 minutes, the second straight game in which they had allowed an early goal.
In their opening match of this tournament, they came out flying to a 3-0 lead before the game was even an hour old, dominating the Red Devils youth side with seven shots on target, and a similar performance on Tuesday could see them through the second phase.
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Team News
Andy Cook is on a roll to start the season, with the 30-year-old Bradford striker leading the team with five goals in all competitions, including a hat-trick against Stevenage, while Lee Angol notched a brace in their 2-1 win over Oldham Athletic.
Goalkeeper Richard O'Donnell has faced 10 shots in his last two matches, conceding four goals, while Paudie O'Connor and Charles Vernam scored their first goals of the season in their victory over Mansfield Town.
Adams chose the same starting 11 from their previous match this past weekend, with Fiacre Kelleher and Caolan Lavery coming on as substitutes on Saturday.
Anthony Scully led the way for the Imps in their opening match of this tournament with a hat-trick, and he scored twice in the knockout rounds of this competition last season, including their only goal in their semi-final defeat to Sunderland.
Remy Longdon is hoping for a bit of redemption this season as he was the only player to miss a spot kick in their semi-final loss against the Black Cats, while Tayo Edun is the only other player besides Scully to score a goal for this team in league play so far in 2021-22.
Sam Long made his first start in goal this season in their opening game of this tournament, replacing Josh Griffiths, while Adam Jackson started against Oxford in defence instead of TJ Eyoma.
Liam Bridcutt started in midfield over Lewis Fiorini, Lasse Sorensen took the spot of Conor McGrandles, with Teddy Bishop and Hakeeb Adelakun starting alongside Scully in attack, replacing Longdon and Dan Nlundulu.
Bradford City possible starting lineup:
O'Donnell; Ridehalgh, Canavan, Kelleher, Foulds; Crankshaw, Songo'o, Vernam; Cooke, Cook, Gilliead
Lincoln City possible starting lineup:
Long; Bramall, Montsma, Eyoma, Poole; Longdon, Bridcutt, Fiorini; Scully, Bishop, Adelakun
We say: Bradford City 1-2 Lincoln City
Bradford have had a much better start to their domestic campaign, but Lincoln have already got the opening day jitters out of the way in this competition and won.
The Imps are relying heavily on Anthony Scully, but he has delivered so far and has shown in the past that he can carry this team on his shoulders.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Lincoln City win with a probability of 37.61%. A win for Bradford City had a probability of 35.76% and a draw had a probability of 26.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lincoln City win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.04%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.23%) and 0-2 (6.53%). The likeliest Bradford City win was 1-0 (9.74%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.66%). The actual scoreline of 0-3 was predicted with a 2.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Lincoln City would win this match.
