IMPS RIP UP THE HISTORY BOOKS
Lincoln become the first non-League side to reach quarter-finals in 103 years
AROUND 3,000 Lincoln City fans were still singing from the away end at Turf Moor half an hour after referee Graham Scott had blown the final whistle to indicate that FA Cup history had been made.
They chanted the name of club legend Graham Taylor and serenaded their new management team of brothers Danny and Nicky Cowley to the tune originally meant for Yaya and Kolo Toure. Loudest of all, they bellowed out ‘City ‘til I die’ in a way that made the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.
Thanks to Sean Raggett’s 89thminute header, Lincoln are the first non-League side since 1914 to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals and Wembley is only one match away.
Premier League Burnley, 81 places above them in the league pyramid, were meant to be a step above their previous conquests, Ipswich Town and Brighton, Sean Dyche’s men having beaten nine top-flight teams including Liverpool and champions Leicester on their home patch.
Yet Lincoln’s victory was no fluke. They restricted Burnley to halfchances and centre-forward Matt Rhead got the better of a running battle with Joey Barton that eventually led to the Premier League player shamefully trying to fake injury to get his rival in trouble.
Fittingly, the late winner resulted from a well-worked routine from the training ground. Sam Habergham’s corner was headed back across goal by skipper Luke Waterfall and Raggett, 23, a signing from Dover Athletic at the start of the season, applied the finishing touch from close range. England squad goalkeeper Tom Heaton tried to claw the ball away before it hit the net but goal-line technology ruled it had already crossed the line.
Five minutes of added time saw goalkeeper Paul Farman, head to toe in pink, spread himself to save from Andre Gray. The celebrations at the end were a sight to behold.
‘You didn’t want it to end,’ said Danny Cowley, his voice hoarse from the strictly teetotal post-match celebrations because of an upcoming midweek game at North Ferriby in the National League.
‘Our supporters are Premier League. They have had limited success in recent years and to share it with them was special.
‘Anyone who thinks the magic of the FA Cup has disappeared obviously hasn’t been to Lincoln in the past six or eight weeks.’
Goalscoring hero Raggett added: ‘What we have achieved is unheard of in modern-day football. It’s unbelievable and hasn’t really sunk in. It was a battle, which is what we expected. We saw Burnley as a really good version of ourselves. I knew my header was in and was a bit surprised it took the lino a while to give it. At one stage, I thought he wasn’t going to give it and was getting ready to run back into defence. Maybe he was just wanting confirmation from the technology.’
Apart from a few glory years under the late, great Taylor before he went on to better things with Watford, Aston Villa and England, Lincoln has always been regarded as a footballing backwater, and they’ve been out of the Football League since 2011.
But under the Cowleys, a pair of West Ham fans who are threatening to rival Alistair and Jonny Brownlee as England’s most popular sporting brothers, not only Lincoln but the most famous knockout competition in the world has been transformed.
Burnley boast the third best home record in the Premier League but never looked superior.
‘It’s the first time we’ve been favourites for a long time,’ admitted Dyche, and his players couldn’t live with it. Indeed, Lincoln should have taken the lead after five minutes when Jack Muldoon skied a clear chance over from close range.
Burnley had half-chances but nothing that seriously threatened. Farman saved comfortably from Gray and Barton, Gray miskicked in front of goal and centre-forward Sam Vokes was less effective against Lincoln than he had been at Euro 2016 playing for Wales.
The sideshow between the barrelchested Lincoln striker Rhead and Barton was endlessly fascinating. At one point, Barton was riled to the point of standing on Rhead’s foot then recoiling as if the Lincoln man had struck him in the face.
‘I am not sure what he was thinking,’ said Rhead. ‘He backed into me and trod on my foot, which is part and parcel of the game. I have stretched my arms out to the referee and he has walked into my arms.
‘We had a little bit of a battle through the game. He is obviously a great player but we are a big side and we try to use that to our advantage. If we can get a few players wound up, that is part and parcel of my game.’
Once Dyche sent on Ashley Barnes for Vokes 18 minutes from the end, Burnley built some momentum but Lincoln broke out to force a couple of corners and win the game.
‘It was their first chance and they scored,’ said Dyche, part of Chesterfield’s team that reached the semifinals 20 years ago. ‘The madness of football is if we took an early chance, it changes everything,’
But it’s Lincoln who are through and on a run of one defeat since St Stephen’s Day. ‘I’m an Arsenal fan so I’d like them next,’ said Raggett.
Before then, however, the mighty Imps have work to do at North Ferriby on Tuesday night.