THIRD DIVISION PLAY-OFF SEMI FINAL
Terriers skipper Efe Sodje is in confident mood ahead of tonight's second leg at the McAlpine Stadium having played a starring role in the first leg, and the Nigerian international believes he is something of a lucky talisman when it comes to promotion campaigns.
"I've won promotion at every club I've been at, but this is my first time in the play-offs and I want to be a winner," he said. "I honestly thought I could hang my boots up until July because I thought we would go straight up.
"But we are in the play-offs now and there's a massive determination amongst the lads to go through and finish the season off with promotion.
"It was a great team display but we know that we will need another at home to finish it. I don't want to be pushing any buttons too early, but if we play in the second leg like we did in the first then we will be very hard to beat."
However, one man determined to put a spanner in the works is Ben Sedgemore. The midfielder, who was an unused substitute on Saturday, was distraught after the 2-1 first leg defeat but consoled himself by watching younger brother Jake gain promotion for Shrewsbury on Sunday.
Jake was one of the spot kick heroes as they beat Aldershot to return to the Football League at the first time of asking and now Ben is hoping for a family double.
"Huddersfield would do wrong to write us off as not having a chance," said the 28-year-old.
"We have defied the odds all season and one thing they shouldn't think they have done is won the tie, as it's only half time.
"They know we caused them problems and created a few chances, which gave us the belief to go there and get a good result.
"If we can it would be a great family double. I am delighted for Jake and Shrewsbury as the pressure on them during the shoot-out was unbelievable. My dad smokes a pipe and I think he must have got through three bucket loads of tobacco!
"Hopefully we can avoid spot kicks tonight but he's laid the challenge down now and I might have to volunteer."
With away goals not counting double then if the tie is level after the end of 120 minutes it will be penalty kicks to decide the winner. Sedgemore may have his wish and if he does he can't say that he isn't prepared.
Lincoln boss, Keith Alexander has had his troops practicing penalties although he admits practice may not make perfect when the pressure is on. "You can practice all the kicks you want but it's about handling the pressure at the time," he said.
"I might have five names in my head who I think should take a penalty if the need arises, but it's all about who has the confidence at the time. We practice free kicks and corners all the time and we weren't very good at dealing with them on Saturday were we?"
However, Alexander is still upbeat and looking forward to an anticipated crowd of around 23,000. "I'm sure it will be a fantastic occasion, but I think it should lift both sets of players," he added. "We still have a chance of going there and getting the result we want. No one thought we would go to Scunthorpe and win at the same stage last season, but we did."
