Lincoln City keeper Jamie Pardington is due to join AFC Telford United on loan.
Pardington, who was left off the EFL squad list, but featured in the recent squad picture, is third choice at City, and has found games hard to come by with Zach Jeacock and George Wickens in fine form. The latter plays in the league, the former in the cups, leaving 25-year-old Pardington out in the cold.
He’ll join a side we’re familiar with – Telford were regular opponents during our National League stay, with six meetings giving us three wins, two draws and a defeat. They are back in the National League North after winning the Southern League play-offs last season, although life has been tough for them. They’re currently fifth from bottom, with Peterborough Sports, Alfreton and Southport, all clubs we’re familiar with, below them.
We’ve also met them a couple of times in cup action. In 2009, we beat them 3-1 at their place in the FA Cup first round, Sergio Torres, Jamie Clarke and Aaron Brown on the scoresheet. We beat them by the same margin in the EFL Trophy in 2003, Francis Green, Marcus Richardson and Mark Bailey on the scoresheet. Perhaps most famously of all, they beat us in the FA Cup in 1984, a traditional giant-killing.
It’s not the first time we’ve done deals with Telford, the most notable perhaps being the loan swap of Kyle Perry and Rob Williams. Perry scored against Telford at their place for us in 2011, earning us a 2-1 win, but was on target for them against us later in the season. He bagged for them despite being a Lincoln player out on loan.
As for Pardington, he joined City in the summer of 2024, signing a two-year deal following his release from Cheltenham Town. He began his career at non-league side Rushall Olympic before being snapped up by Wolverhampton Wanderers in August 2018. He featured regularly for Wolves’ Under-23s and gained senior experience through a series of loan spells with Bath City, Stratford Town, Dulwich Hamlet and Mansfield Town, making first-team appearances in each.
After leaving Molineux at the end of the 2021/22 campaign, Pardington moved to Grimsby Town on a short-term deal and later had a spell in Northern Ireland with Larne, where he made his debut on the final day of the 2022/23 season.
He returned to England with Cheltenham Town in June 2023, featuring once for the Robins before a productive loan spell at Truro City. Pardington made his Cheltenham debut on the final day of the 2023/24 season, coming off the bench in a defeat at Stevenage that confirmed the club’s relegation.
Following his release that summer, he made the move to Sincil Bank, debuting for the Imps in the EFL Trophy against Manchester City Under-21s in November 2024. The following March, he joined Peterborough Sports on a short loan, continuing his pursuit of regular first-team football.