THE GOOD TIMES JUST DON’T STOP FOR THESE SUPER IMPS
Cowley’s heroes hold nerve to see off Chelsea starlets – and land Wembley debut...
A SNEIL Diamond’s Sweet Caroline blared out over the tannoy at a delirious Sincil Bank last Tuesday night, Lincoln City defender Sam Habergham and his teammates could rightly have felt that ‘Good times never seemed so good’.
After all, the Imps had just reached Wembley Stadium for the first time in their 134-year history in the most dramatic way possible – by winning a heartstopping penalty shoot-out against Chelsea U21s in the Checkatrade Trophy semi-final.
That followed last season’s National League title triumph and an incredible run to the FA Cup quarter-finals, knocking out Premier League side Burnley in the fifth round, before going down to eventual winners Arsenal.
There was one big disappointment last term – getting knocked out by York in the FA Trophy semi-finals. It meant missing out on a trip to Wembley, though that has now been put right.
Oh, and the Imps are chasing promotion in League Two in their first season back in the top 92 in six years.
Since Danny Cowley, 39, and his brother Nicky took the managerial reins at Lincoln just under two years ago, it has been an incredible journey.
Habergham, more than most, knows how the manager and assistant tick. He played under them for a year at Braintree and then followed them north.
It means the 25-year-old leftback isn’t surprised by their success – and is just glad they’re leading Lincoln’s charge.
“I think the key thing is just how hard they work, day in, day out,” said the former England C man.
“They are relentless. They won’t stop until they get to where they want to get to – and I think it will be the top level.
“I’m lucky to have worked with them these last two years and I’m hoping it will continue for a long time to come.”
Sustained success attracts attention in football and there was talk that Championship side Barnsley were interested in the Cowley brothers after losing boss Paul Heckingbottom to Leeds.
However, Habergham isn’t losing sleep over the chatter that is only likely to mushroom if the managerial double act keep churning out spectacular results.
“There’s always going to be interest in managers and players if you do well,” he said. “We have to take the positives from it.
“We are just concentrating on what we can affect now. We’ve got some big league games coming up and we all want to get back-toback promotions.”
Having that Wembley trip on April 8 in the bag is a plus, though the Imps didn’t find it easy against Chelsea’s young stars at a packed Sincil Bank.
It looked as though Lincoln would crush the Blues early on as they hemmed them in, but the Londoners were no soft touch.
Indeed, it took until the 72nd minute for the hosts to make the breakthrough, skipper Luke Waterfall powering home a header at the back post from Neal Eardley’s superb cross.
Agonising
Sincil Bank erupted, but the game was back on a knife-edge just six minutes later as Daishawn Redan clinically thumped home.
In the last seconds of the match, Lincoln powerhouse Michael Bostwick headed agonisingly wide of the post– and so it was on to penalties.
Habergham was the first to go, but saw his spot-kick superbly touched on to the underside of the bar by Chelsea keeper Marcin Bulka. The ball bounced down and out and it was difficult to tell if it had crossed the line.
“It might have just crept over,” said Habergham, “but luckily it didn’t matter – the boys stepped up and delivered under pressure.”
Indeed, they did. Elliott Whitehouse, Ollie Palmer, Matt Green and Lee Frecklington all scored to give Lincoln a 4-2 success after Chelsea’s Ethan Ampadu hit the post and sub Jacob Maddox was denied by Lincoln’s loan keeper Ryan Allsop.
“Since the start of the competition, we’d set our sights on Wembley,” said Habergham. “To produce the performance we did was really good.
“We knew we would have to do that against a very strong Chelsea side with some of the best young players in the world.
“Some of them will do really big things, and for us to beat them was a really special night. The fans certainly enjoyed it.
“It’s great to be part of the first Lincoln side that’s got to Wembley. It’s such a big club and a lot of other clubs have been there.
“Personally, I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve been there to watch games, but never played there. We’ve got 11 games before that, but when it comes round
everyone will enjoy it. I’m sure the fans will come in their droves as they did last year on our cup run.”
Automatic
The Imps await the winners of the semi-final between League One high-flyers Shrewsbury and League Two strugglers Yeovil (Feb 27), but that must be put on the backburner as they focus on their promotion assault.
Heading into the weekend, Lincoln lay ninth in League Two, two points off the play-offs and six adrift of automatic promotion. There is all to play for.
“It’s a really tight league,” said Habergham.
“Every game, whether you are playing against a team at the top or bottom, you know you have a chance of winning but it will be a difficult afternoon. There are no easy games.
“We will try to be consistent. If we can do that, we can push ourselves towards the play-offs or perhaps sneak into the automatic places. “We want to have a chance.” After the last 18 months, who would bet against more good times?