Boss previews tonight's encounter with the current league leaders.

David Artell is predicting another tough meeting with Michael Appleton’s Lincoln City side this evening. The Alex lost 2-1 to the Imps in the League Cup to kick-off the new season and Artell says that his side learned a lot from that early lesson in being punished for making small mistakes.

Ahead of tonight’s game, Artell told crewealex.net: “They are all hard games in League One and tonight will be no exception.

“They are going really well and are top of the league. We always seem to be playing teams that are in the top six, so it is nothing new for us! They have set the early bar and that is what we are trying to reach in terms of consistency of results.

“They have been the best in the league so far and that is the challenge we have to rise to.

He added: “What we have to do is approach it like we did on Saturday (at Doncaster) and if he do then we have to fancy ourselves. Being a home will be no different, especially without the fans there and we have to play well to get something from it.”