After losing their first three matches, Hamrun Spartans will be aiming for their first three points as they take on Lincoln Red Imps of Gibraltar in match day 4 of the league phase of the UEFA Conference League at the National Stadium on Thursday, kick-off at 18:45.
The Spartans suffered back to back 1-0 defeats to Jagiellonia in Poland and Lausanne-Sport at Ta’ Qali before losing to Samsunspor away from home. The performances in the first two matches were positive ones although Hamrun were erratic up front.
Although, on paper, Hamrun Spartans and Lincoln Red Imps are more or less on the same level, this will definitely be no easy game as the latter have already collected four points in a 2-1 win at home over Lech Poznan of Poland and a 1-1 draw away from home with Rijeka of Croatia. They are currently twenty-second – position which would enable them to reach the knock-out stage. Hamrun, on the other hand, are only one of three teams without any points along Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia and SK Rapid of Austria
This is Lincoln Red Imps’ second experience at this level, having qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Conference League in season 2021/22.
Last season, Lincoln Red Imps and Hamrun had met in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League with the Gibraltar side defeating Hamrun 5-4 on penalties and eventually made it to the play-offs of the UEFA Conference League where they were eliminated by Larne.
This season, they entered the UEFA Champions League where they eliminated Vikingur but were then eliminated by Red Star Belgrade. In the UEFA Europa League, they managed to eliminate FC Noah on penalties but were then eliminated by Sporting Braga.
They are currently fourth in the National League of Gibraltar on 22 points from eight matches but have three or four games in hand, compared to the top three teams – St. Joseph (28 points – 11 matches), Mons Calpe (27 pts – 12 matches) and Lions Gibraltar (25 pts – 12 matches).
Hamrun Spartans vs Lincoln Red Imps will be controlled by North Macedonian officials, namely referee Jovan Kachevski, assisted by Goce Petreski and Darko Jovcevski and fourth official Igor Stojchevski. Video Assistant Referee is Gianluca Aureliano and Assistant Video Assistant Referee Daniele Paterna.