DODGEY DRAW?

I had to endure the excitement and tension of the FA Cup Imps v the Tractor Boys on telly. We couldn't get tickets for Sincil Bank, where we may have witnessed Lincoln City getting into the FA Cup 4th Round; a rare occurence. Wonderful game. How does Rhead get away with it?

All credit to the Imps for their amazing energy and plan which floored Mick McCarthy's Ipswich Town, who were definitely under the weather. Who said the Cup had lost its magic? Ask the fans at Lincoln or Sutton United or Blackpool!

Round 4 is a significant step for the Non-Leaguers but they have been there before....though not a lot.

Lincoln made the 5th Round of the FA Cup in 1886-7, beating:-
Grantham (local derby) in Round 1      Middlesbrough after a replay R2
Gainsborough Trinity (local derby) R3
In R4 Lincoln and a club called Chirk both got byes
In R5 the Imps went OUT to Glasgow Rangers 3-0 AWAY What?!
Rangers went on to beat the Old Westminsters (old boys of the London school) and then lose in the semis to Aston Villa.
Villa then beat WBA 2-0 in the Final.
The Old Westminsters had previously beaten Partick Thistle in R5.
WBA had beaten Preston NE in the semis and Preston in R6 had beaten the Old Carthusians (regular readers will know about them).

Other successes in the Cup date back to 1953-4 losing to PNE in R4 who went on to lose in the Final to WBA....bit of a sequence here? They only played two matches, beginning in R3.

In 1960-1 in R3 they beat WBA (coincidence) 3-1 and then lost to the Blades (R4).
In 1975-6 they beat Boston (local derby) in R1, then Mansfield R2, then Aldershot R3 and in R4 lost to WBA (even more spooky...) 2-3 away on January 24th.

In early rounds the draw is "regional" but as the cup progresses we know it is drawn out of the velvet bag...or is it?