Lincoln stun Burnley in historic win
London, Feb. 18: Sean Raggett scored an 89thminute winner as nonleague Lincoln City stunned Burnley 1-0 on Saturday to claim one of the biggest upsets in the history of the FA Cup.
Eighty-one places below Burnley in the English football pyramid, fifth-tier Lincoln prevailed when centre-back Raggett squeezed a header over the line following a late corner at Turf Moor.
“I’m lost for words. It’s mad. I can’t believe it!” Raggett, 23, told BT Sport. “Crazy. A non-league side in the quarter-finals, in modern football. It’s unheard of.”
Lincoln become the first non-league team to reach the FA Cup’s last eight since Queens Park Rangers in 1914.
They are the eighth side from below England’s four fully professional divisions to have beaten topflight opposition since World War II and only the second to have done so since 1989.
“We said it was a one-ina-100 chance and thankfully we got that opportunity,” said Lincoln manager Danny Cowley.
“The last eight of the FA Cup sounds pretty good. We work hard on our corners and our free-kicks and we are mightily proud of the players.”
Burnley drew 1-1 at home to runaway Premier League leaders Chelsea last weekend and have beaten Liverpool and champions Leicester City on home turf this season.
Lincoln join Hereford United, who toppled Newcastle United in 1972, and Sutton United, conquerors of Coventry City in 1989, among the ranks of the FA Cup’s nonleague giant-killers.
Sutton, also of the fifthtier National League, will hope to pull off another upset when they host Arsenal on Monday.
Burnley manager Sean Dyche made six changes and it was quickly clear that his side were in for a scrap as Lincoln’s Nathan Arnold squared for Jack Muldoon to sweep a firsttime shot over the bar.
“They used everything they needed to use,” Dyche told the BBC.