It took former Fulham youngster George Wickens a bit of time to settle in when he signed for City after rejecting a contract to remain with the Premier League side to sign a four-year contract. He made his Lincoln City debut in the 3-2 win at home against Burton Albion on the 10th August 2024.
MOTM POLL: Who was your Man of the Match in the 1-0 win away at Northampton Town last night? CLICK HERE to vote or do so at the bottom of the page!
cdhIMP posted the following on the 100% Imps forum yesterday: “I was one of a few that was critical of George in his first 30/35 games, based on his save percentage being incredibly low compared to other keepers in the league.
However, George finished the season strongly, and he started this season in sensational form.
If he carries on this form over the rest of the season, he will be a hot commodity next summer.
Keepers are sometimes only noticed when their form is bad, so I wanted to say how delighted I am that George has found form and long may it continue.
The moral of the story is to give young players new to the city and to the division time to settle, as progress isn’t always linear.”
More views from the forum:
mikeosullivan: “Yes, agree with this. I was also critical in the first half of last season because he basically was not saving anything, according to his stats.
He looks a much more confident keeper this season so far, with only one goal (the second last week) where he might be said to have not done well enough.
I think he will get even better once David Preece takes over fully as GK coach. That is nothing against Scott Fry, but Preece is a top coach who I think will take all our keepers up a notch.”
Sincilbanks: “His positioning for the save when we gave the ball away dreadfully was brilliant. He realised there was no one else from the opposition in the box and so closed his near post down much more than usual. This might seem like a simple thing, but he also had to sprint back to his goal and take up a position ready to save.
He did all that and assessed the situation correctly, making the save possibility much greater by adapting his position. It was a fierce shot that still needed stopping, and his reflexes were excellent, but his positioning meant he just had to throw a strong arm at the ball rather than dive and cover the gap that is often left at the near post when keepers try and cover both the shot and the cross”
Northampton Town (a - 19/08/25): Who Was Your Man of The Match?
Draper
Draper
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Hackett-Fairchild
Hackett-Fairchild
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Wickens
Wickens
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