By Nathan Jackson
August 1 2006

One of the more interesting first team selection on Saturday will be which Imps goalkeeper starts against Notts County. Rayner has been in sensational form over pre-season and that form has caused Marriott to state in the press that he is extremely worried by the tall goalkeeper.

Rayner has only ever made 5 first team appearances for the Imps, conceeding 4 goals in that time but now more than ever, has his best chance of securing regular first team football. Rayner has long been in Marriott's shadow and the fact Rayner has only ever played when Marriott has been injured or suspended says it all about former boss' Keith Alexander's selection choice, infact, there was very rarely a substitute goalkeeper on the bench. However, after falling injured at the beginning of the summer, Marriott's first team place has seemed less secured after several impressive performances from Rayner.

Ironically, Marriott's level of performance compared to Rayner is that in the recent friendly against Leicester, Simon kept a clean sheet in the first half before Marriott came on and within 2 minutes, City's 3-0 lead was down to 3-2 and it eventually finished 3-3. Rayner's impressive performances are also believed to have impressed John Deehan who is pushing for the Canadian keeper to keep Notts County's strikers out on Saturday afternoon.

There are many advantages that each keeper has over the other so let's look at what each keeper has that the other.

Has the experience with over 300 games for the Imps and was trained by a Premiership side.

On his day, is the best goalkeeper out of the Championship.

Know's how to shout "away" at the top of his lungs.

Has a genuine passion for the club.

Taller by several inches and that could prove vital on crosses.

He can actually catch the ball without looking like he's going to drop it.

Distribution has improved and arguably surpassed Marriott's "wait until all their defenders are back in position".

Very rarely parries the ball and more importantly, when he does, it doesn't go straight to an opponent.