Imps’ match-winner hadn’t even heard of Hereford legend but will now join him in FA Cup folklore
SEAN RAGGETT knows he has just found himself in the middle of history as it is happening, but he has a confession.
“I’ll be honest I haven’t heard of him, it’s the first time I’ve heard of that – but it’s crazy to be put in that bracket. It’s madness isn’t it, just mind-blowing.”
He is talking about Ronnie Radford and quite probably the most famous giant-killing goal of all time (right).
Raggett realises he has just done something that could be remembered and repeated in 45 years’ time, just like the Hereford hero Radford, who scored in a 2-1 win against Newcastle United.
Yet at 23, his FA Cup knowledge is more limited, his own memories far more recent. He knows the competition writes football legend though, even if he cannot quite take it all in just yet.
“People are saying to me that scoring the goal in a game like that writes your name in the history books, and it’s hard to get your head around it,” he explains, with an almost bemused smile.
“My earliest memory as a kid was the FA Cup final, Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-0, when Ray Parlour curled that goal in the top corner.
“That’s my earliest football memory. It’s a great competition you love as a kid, and to be involved, to get this far and be in the quarter-final it is just unreal, it really is.
“It’s unheard of in modern day football for a non-league team to get to the quarter-final, so it’s crazy, isn’t it?”
Even in these surreal times, it is crazy. Lincoln City of the National League, 81 places below Burnley, are the first non-league team in 103 years to reach the last eight – where they will face either fellow non-leaguers Sutton or mighty Arsenal – of the world’s oldest, most glittering competition.
They did it by beating, in their hosts’ stadium, a team who have the third best home record in the Premier League. And it was no fluke – they were the better side. Their management team of Danny and Nicky Cowley created with almost military precision a game-plan designed to frustrate Burnley, and to exploit the innate complacency and confusion of dealing with opponents from a different world.
The plan – the dream – was to keep the game tight, to restrict the Clarets and exploit set-pieces, particularly at the end. Especially at the end, when there was little time to retaliate.
The dream became reality when Raggett forced the ball home, after central defensive
LINCOLN hero Sean Raggett could finally get the chance to see his beloved Arsenal live – from the best seat in the house.
His history-making FA Cup giantkillers were pitted against the Gunners in the quarterfinal draw, as the competition maintained