Saturday's opponents are the third different Accrington side to represent the town in the Football League and City have played against all three at some point.

The original Accrington FC were formed in 1878 and soon became one of the prominent clubs in Lancashire. They played just once against the Imps in March 1886 when they sent a team over to play us and won 4-3. Founder members of the Football League in 1888 they resigned after losing a Test Match in 1892/93 preferring to play in the more local Lancashire League rather than the Second Division of which Lincoln were members. The fixture list for 1893/94 had Accrington down to be the Imps' opponents at John O'Gaunts on Boxing Day with City travelling north-west on January 13th.

The second Accrington were formed in 1891 and took the name of Stanley Villa before changing to Accrington Stanley in 1893. They played locally until moving up to the Lancashire Combination and in March 1921 were one of 14 clubs unanimously elected to form the new Third Division North of the Football League, along with Lincoln.

The first meeting between us occurred on December 17th at Sincil Bank. Tom Rippon scored for us and Tom Green for the visitors in a 1-1 draw. Teams generally played each other in consecutive weeks at this time so our first trip to Peel Park was the following Saturday and Green was again on target along with John Hosker as we lost 2-0.

We failed to score in the next three meetings losing twice with the only goalless draw between the sides occurring in Lincoln in April 1923 and also lost 3-1 in January 1924 to make it six games without a win for us. The 1924/25 season saw us win for the first time and we completed the double. Frank Whitfield (with his only Football League goal for us), James Heathcote and Harry Pringle were on target in our 3-0 home win whilst Harry Andrews and Jos Barratt scored in the 2-0 away win.

Both games in 1925/26 finished as 3-1 home wins, Andrews scoring a hat-trick at Sincil Bank - a feat he repeated the following season in our 4-0 home win with Stan Sayer scoring the other goal. Andrews was again on target at Peel Park later in the season but John Jepson scored for Stanley as we drew one apiece.

1927/28 saw a rare City FA Cup run as we reached the Third Round. We knocked out Accrington 5-2 away in the First Round with goals from Billy Dinsdale (2), Harry Pringle, Charles Bosbury and that man Andrews again. Both League games again went the way of the home side, 1-0 at Accrington and 3-1 at Sincil Bank.

The next four seasons saw us only lose once (5-3 at Peel Park in April 1931 when future Imps Harold Riley (with three) and George Whyte on the score sheet) whilst we won five including 5-2 in December 1930 with goals from Phil Cartwright (2), Tom Maidment, Walter Lax and Billy Dinsdale. Whyte was also on the score sheet for Accrington that day and 5-1 in March 1932. Whyte and Riley were on the score sheet for us this time along with George Beel (2) and Allan Hall. Both these games were at Sincil Bank. The 3-3 draw between us in September 1929 saw the slightly unusual occurrence of six different goal scorers with William Ellis, Harry Pringle and Harry Roberts on target for us with Arthur Hawes, Bill Hamilton and Jack Pears for the visitors.

After our promotion in 1931/32 we didn't meet for two seasons with Accrington winning 3-0 at Peel Park in October 1934. We then went on to win seven of the remaining nine games we played until the out break of the War. One of the other games was another three all draw at Sincil Bank again with six different scorers! Jack Calendar, Richard Deacon and Whyte scored for us whilst Walter Reynolds, Bob Mortimer and Bill Tyson replied for Accrington. Amongst our wins was a 6-0 on the opening day of the 1935/36 season. Michael Burke twice (his only Football League goals for us), that man Whyte again, Johnny Campbell and Albert Green were the scorers. The final meeting before war broke out was at Peel Park in February 1939 and Jim Moir was unlucky to score a hat-trick for the home side only for us to score four through Walter Ponting (2), Joe Clare and Campbell to win 4-3!

We met just twice during the emergency war competitions losing at Peel Park, 2-1, in April 1946 and winning 5-1 at Sincil Bank in May that year.

The return of peacetime football brought a switch in fortunes between the sides as we only won three times in the final 10 Football League meetings. Harry Parr and a Sam Kearney penalty were the scorers in the 1-1 draw at Sincil Bank in November 1946 before one of our highest scoring games ever saw us lose 8-4 at Peel Park in May 1947. Tom Cheetham scored three times for us along with one from Jimmy Hutchinson but Stan Mercer matched Cheetham with three, Walter Keeley and Norman Smith scored twice with one from Reg Edwards making the eight for Accrington.

The 1947/48 season saw us win our second Northern Section title and Accrington were the only side to do the double over us winning 3-2 at Sincil Bank on Christmas Day, Hutchinson with our two whilst Mercer scored twice for Stanley (one a penalty) and Dennis Smith the other and 2-1 at Peel Park two days later. Mercer again scored a penalty along with Tom Butler. Billy Bean scored for us.

In 1949/50 and 1950/51 both sides won at home with the biggest win occurring at Sincil Bank in March 1951. A crowd of 10,745 saw hat-tricks from Andy Graver and Johnny Garvie plus two from Roy Finch and one from Willie Windle earn us a 9-1 success. Bill Mellor scored Stanley's consolation goal.

The 1951/52 campaign saw another City title success and also our final ever League meetings with the second Accrington side. They were one of just four sides to avoid defeat at Sincil Bank, drawing 2-2 in November 1951. Jim Forrest scored both Accrington goals (the only ones he scored for them) with the slightly more prolific Garvie and Graver getting ours. Graver was again on target twice, along with Finch, in our 3-1 away success later in the season. George Glaister (with his only Stanley goal) was on the mark for the home side.

Whilst we remained in the Second Division through out the rest of the 1950's, Stanley continued to struggle and by the time we next met in a First Round Football League Cup tie at Sincil Bank in September 1961 they were in financial trouble. Mike Tracey scored the only goal for us and before the season had ended Stanley had resigned from the Football League.

The current Stanley were formed in 1968 and the 2006/07 season was their first in the Football League.

The game at Sincil Bank in September saw us win 3-1 and Stanley finish the game with nine players. Martin Gritton put City ahead after six minutes and Mark Stallard doubled the lead after 40. Stallard put us three up after 69 minutes and when three minutes later Michael Welch was dismissed for a second booking it looked game over. Gary Roberts gave our visitors a glimmer of hope when he pulled one back in the 82nd minute but we held on and the miserable night was completed for Accrington when Peter Cavanagh received a second yellow for a last minute foul on Stallard. The game at the Fraser Eagle Stadium later in the season twice saw City take the lead through Lee Beevers after 15 minutes and Scott Kerr after 56 but both times we were pegged back by Andy Todd in the 23rd minute and Paul Mullin in the 74th.

The matches in 2007/08 between the two sides saw the Imps chalk up a comfortable double with a 2-0 Sincil Bank success being following by a 3-0 away win. Dany N'Guessan and Louis Dodds were the men on target in Lincoln whilst the victory in Accrington in February saw City pick up their fourth successive League win. Goals from Stallard, Beevers and substitute Ben Wright secured the points in front of a crowd of just 1,281, the lowest known attendance for a League game between the Imps and a team from Accrington.

In 2008/09 the Imps found themselves a goal down at the break at Sincil Bank but a storming second half performance saw them net five times with substitutes Adrian Patulea (2) and Ben Wright joining Aaron Brown and Lee Frecklington (penalty) on the scoresheet whilst the return fixture saw skipper Scott Kerr net his only two goals of the season in a 2-0 win to complete a second successive League 'double'.

The current Stanley's first League victory over the Imps came at the beginning of last season with the match, City's first away game of the campaign, being settled by a Darran Kempson header shortly after half-time. At Sincil Bank the Imps made it four wins out of four over Stanley on home soil courtesy of a stoppage time Kempson own goal after Steven Lennon had cancelled out a first half Robert Grant strike.

Earlier this season, two two teams met at the Crown Ground on a Friday night in September; the hosts emerging as comfortable 3-0 victors with the Imps having substitute Scott Kerr sent off in the 71st minute.

Adapted from an original article by Gary Parle