Lincoln City’s Paudie O’Connor has stated how his side should be confident ahead of their clash with West Ham.

The League One side face our Irons in the third round of the Carabao Cup in, what will be, a massive game for them in terms of the opposition as well as financially.

They already triumphed over Premier League competition this season, beating Sheffield United on penalties in the last round. Their captain, Paudie O’Connor, did concede that “it’s probably a bit of a step up,” playing the Hammers compared to Sheffield United. “but we know we’ve got quality in the building.”

“We’ve got nothing to fear,” he told BBC Radio Lincolnshire, “especially being at home.” The Imps have had a decent start to the season, sitting in 13th in the 3rd tier but they are only 4 points away from a play-off place.

“We’ve gone to places like Bristol City, Sheffield United, and Southampton and given a very good account of ourselves on all three occasions, so there’s no reason why we can’t do the same on Wednesday.”

However, their manager Mark Kennedy shared the same confidence but admits that his side “need to be at their absolute best” to get through. “It’s an outstanding team coming to our home stadium,” he continued. “We are looking forward to it. They have an incredible manager, huge history and we are going to have a full house. But we go into every game believing we can get a result. Tomorrow be no different.”

Historically, West Ham do have a knack of being on the wrong end of an upset in the domestic cups but David Moyes will be keen to make sure his side progresses while also rotating the squad. It’s vital that we don’t underestimate Lincoln if we are to continue our League Cup campaign, while they’ll be looking to create a night that will go down in their club’s history.

By Charlie Bass