Focus is on Ferriby as history boys

go on their next giant-killing spree – the greying, wrinkled Cowley brothers and a bald, toothless Matt Rhead will be wheeled in front of a camera to relive their moment of triumph.

A single line on a news ticker in New York’s Times Square on Saturday night: “Lincoln shock EPL Burnley.” Truly, this was the shock heard around the world, and in forcing the ball over the line in the 89th minute, Sean Raggett wove not just his own name, but Lincoln City’s, into the rich and golden history of the FA Cup.

For Danny and Nick Cowley, meanwhile, beating Burnley is increasingly looking like the easy part. No sooner had the final whistle blown at Turf Moor than manager Danny and assistant Nick were being inducted into the curious, lightly gilded world of minor FA Cup celebrity. First, there was a trip down to Salford to appear on

Then it was back to the BBC yesterday for appearances on

and Then the deceptively long trek back to Lincoln for the sixth-round draw, which pitted them against Sutton United or Arsenal.

Somehow, in the middle of all that, they managed to find time to watch three videos of North Ferriby United, their next opponents in the National League tomorrow night. And despite becoming the first nonLeague side to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals since 1914 – when Europe was on the brink of war, George V was on the throne and Arsène Wenger was trying to put a brave face on Arsenal’s latest defeat by Bayern Munich – as the Cowleys survey the glittering road ahead, all they can see is more obstacles.

You suspect this is how they like it. Danny had actually been planning to make a swift exit from Turf Moor to go and scout North Ferriby’s game against Dover. He reckoned that if he got a move on, he could catch the second half. Eventually sanity, and the euphoria of victory, prevailed. But he was still resolutely looking forward rather than back.

“The focus is on Ferriby,” he said. “That’s the truth. We’ve got to analyse the Burnley game for Monday morning, and then we’ve got to watch at least three North Ferriby games. But everyone wants us to go on the telly. We’re going to have to work this all out.”

When you are focused on your target, no detail goes unheeded. Lincoln’s progress to the top of the Conference and the quarter-finals of the FA Cup owes a good deal to their use of advanced videoanalysis software, the like of which is almost unknown at non-League level.

Fitness is another priority, and despite going toe-to-toe with a Premier League team conditioned and prepared at lavish expense, Lincoln