Sheffield Wednesday out to make Lincoln City's 'false position' worse and continue promotion push

The Owls have eight wins in 10 League One matches, a run that has put them into the heart of the playoff conversation heading into the final 12 matches of the season.

The playoffs are a format well known to this afternoon’s hosts Lincoln City, who lost in last year’s final and have failed to back it up, sat 18th in the table just four points clear of the drop zone.

It led Lincoln bosses to extend the dreaded ‘vote of confidence’ the way of Appleton, who worked with Moore at Blackburn and played alongside him at West Brom.

“Lincoln are a good team, they are playing at home and in terms of the league they are in a bit of a false position,” Moore said.

“Having got the experience I have in this league, you know you have to keep the performances coming because you never know what is around the corner. It will be a good game and we have to try and continue our momentum.

“Like us this season, they’ve had injury concerns which have disrupted their momentum. They’ve had patchy results and have been stretching for consistency.

“The expectations from the season before were big but sometimes you have to get that reality and step back a bit.

“I’ve no doubt they’ve learnt a lot last season but sometimes it’s in these moments you learn a lot.

“I don’t doubt Michael’s managerial abilities because I know him, I know what he’s capable of and how he sets teams up and how he runs clubs. He’ll get it right, I know what he wants to bring there.”

Level-headed as ever, Moore has refused to get carried away with Wednesday’s current run.

“I’m pleased we’ve given the fans something to cheer about and hone in on,” he said.

“But we always focus on the next game, which is here against Lincoln tomorrow. We have to keep going and building on our performances and getting consistency to our game.”