The Imps shot down by The Gunners as Arsenal head for Wembley

Saturday the 11^th March 2017

FA Cup Round Six

Arsenal 5 Lincoln City 0

Yesterday evening in north London reality came sharply back in to focus as the hordes of Lincoln City fans finally woke up from the Imp-possible dream. At the Emirates Stadium the gallant Imps finally ran out of puff and ran out of luck. The Lincoln Loco ran out of steam and the Imps are out of the FA Cup. The Gunners were worthy winners against the gallant Imps and after a nervous first half when they were unsettled by a combative Lincoln City outfit the Arsenal artisans turned on the style.

Its all over: Vanquished heroic Imps salute their fans at the end of the game

 Thanks to my good friend Kevin Oliver and his nephew Alan I was able to sit amongst the 9000 Lincoln City fans who made the match a very special occasion. This is how the day panned out.

Pre Match Communications: Some time ago I joined a couple of Lincoln City facebook fans forums. I now feel quite at home in these ‘banter’ pages. I have ‘met’ a number of Imps fans who have helped me with this project and I intend to keep in touch. My contact through the ether with Arsenal fans has been less prolific but I have enjoyed some dialogue with the Arsenal Scotland (@ArsenalScotland) twitter feed 6/10

Pre Match Pint: There is a local hostelry called the Drayton Park very near to the Emirates Stadium that is ‘away fans friendly’

Take courage to enter here! The Drayton Park pub next to the Emirates

This is a good facility and affords the visiting fan the chance to enjoy a small libation before the match. The pub was packed but the service was good with loads of bar staff on. The beer was pretty poor though with plastic glasses and keg beer de rigeur. I opted for the Guinness but even this had been overly chilled to within an inch of its life. You can also get a pint inside the ground before the match but the prices are inflated and the choice of beers very limited. 6/10

Programme: The programme is excellent. At £3.50 it is the most expensive matchday mag that I have picked up on the ‘The Road’ but it does contain a load of good stuff and despite being a bit pricey it is value for money.

 The pull out eight page stats section is an absolute joy for an old football anorak like me. This section includes Arsenal’s full FA Cup record from season 1889-90 to the present day. Indeed a good feature of this publication is that they have made a real effort to make it FA Cup focussed. There is a great 'text and pics' 7 page treatment of Arsenal’s 12 FA Cup wins 9/10

Ground: The ground is quite simply magnificent. The Emirates is a 60000 all seater stadium where every seat offers a great view of the action. We were ‘up in the gods’ in the Clock End of the Stadium and had a terrific vantage point.

Great stadium: Our view from high up in the Clock End at the Emirates

The pitch looked great. One thing I did notice about the playing surface is that it was well watered. In a move I have never seen before Arsenal turned on 8 huge sprinklers at half time to add a bit of zip to the grass.

Sprinklers on at HT: The Emirates ground staff grease up the surface for their superstars

Presumably Arsene Wenger insists on this additional watering so that his team, known for their slick passing play, can move the ball quickly on a slightly greasy surface 10/10

Atmosphere: The Atmosphere in the Clock End, where the Imps fans were housed, was rocking. Lincoln City had been allocated 9000 tickets for this fixture and they sold like hot cakes. The visitors from Lincolnshire were determined to enjoy their day out in London and were singing throughout the match. The shipping of goals in the second half did not dampen their enthusiasm and the tunes and chants continued to belted out with great gusto. I have been watching football for well over 50 years but I only have two matches to compare this game with in my frame of reference. In 2006 I was among 5000 Hearts fans who travelled to Prague to see if Hearts could miraculously overturn a 2-0 deficit from the first leg of a UEFA Cup tie away at Sparta. Last Summer (see blog post dated 23^rd June 2016) I was with the Ulstermen in Paris to see if Northern Ireland could somehow fashion a result against World Cup Champions Germany in the Euros. Neither Hearts or Northern Ireland succeeded and neither were expected to - so both sets of fans were there for the party and the occasion. This is exactly how it felt yesterday. The Imps were given a ‘one in a thousand’ chance by their own manager. Arsenal are habitually in the top four of the Premier League and for the last six seasons Lincoln City have been playing non league football. The chances of Lincoln City winning were remote. The fans travelled in hope rather than expectation. However, with the pressure of achieving a result off everyone could have a great day out and a good old fashioned bevy up. The match kicking off at 5.30 pm also helped the atmosphere in my opinion in that it allowed the Lincoln City fans a full afternoon of sampling the local brews before the game started.

More sprinklers? Imps fans take a comfort break on the way to the Emirates

On social media today there are loads of great pictures of the Lincoln fans carousing in central London but the best photo I found is the one above. On such a day it is essential that the drinking starts early … and then the inevitable happens and you just have to stop the car when nature calls. Whoever these guys in the photo are I salute you.    10/10

Scottishness: As has been reported on this blog, Arsenal do not have any Scots in their squad and have not selected a Scot to play for their team for 19 years. Hence not much Scottishness in their ranks. Lincoln City do not have any jocks in their squad at the moment either but they do have a number of Scots fans.

Montrose based Imps fan Darren Crosby holds the FA Cup aloft!  

One of their Caledonian massive is Darren Crosby from Montrose. Imps fanatic Darren has seen the Imps several times on this historic cup run and travelled even further than I did to see Lincoln City’s gallant effort at the Emirates. I was hoping to meet up with Darren yesterday but unfortunately it did not happen. We have resolved to meet up to go to the Gateshead v Lincoln City league match on Easter Monday. I reckon I have one more journey on the Lincoln Loco this season left in me! 4/10

Entertainment:

The first half was a very interesting football contest. Lincoln City competed well with Arsenal on all fronts. The Imps were passing the ball well but also diligent with their ‘off-the-ball’ work closing opponents down quickly when Arsenal had the ball. Some good defending and a couple of good saves from Imps keeper Farman kept Lincoln City in the match. It has been widely reported that Arsene Wenger is under pressure and with his job on the line he selected a virtual full strength team. The only ‘first choice’ omission was Mesut Ozil. It was a measure of how worried Wenger was becoming when he introduced Ozil into the action and substituted Oxlade-Chamberlain after only 27 minutes. The German world cup winner Ozil was eventually instrumental in turning around the Gunners’ fortunes. Arsenal took the lead on the stroke of half time when Theo Walcott netted from the edge of the box with the aid of a deflection. Before that came the moment when all Lincoln City fans held their breath and wondered for a split second if the ‘one in a thousand’ occurrence could happen. The Imps’ Nathan Arnold slalomed his way into the Arsenal penalty box. He then carefully placed a decent shot wide of the keeper’s body …. GOAL ???? … unfortunately not. The Arsenal keeper is the huge and athletic Petr Cech and the legendary custodian stuck out a big right hand and parried the ball to safety. An opening goal for the visitors at that stage would really have made the alarm bells ring. Half time Arsenal 1 Lincoln City 0

If only if only ..... Imps Nathan Arnold almost opens the scoring

The second half was a lot more comfortable for the mighty Arsenal. They have a reputation for playing so many short passes that it looks like they are trying to walk the ball into the net. On two occasions in the second period yesterday (the goals from Giroud and Ramsey) they did virtually walk the ball into the net. An own goal from Imps’ captain Waterfall and a wonder strike from the scarily impressive Sanchez completed the rout.

A truly iconic great manager shaking hands with some guy in a black suit

Lincoln City can be quite a physical team and in Woods, Hawkridge, Power and Rhead they have players who can ‘dish it out’. I did think that their best chance would be to get in a few meaty challenges to unnerve their famous opponents. The truth of the matter was that in the second half the Lincoln City players just could not get close enough to the Arsenal lads to foul them! Final Score Arsenal 5 Lincoln City 0 8/10

Match Day Catering: The pies on offer inside The Emirates included ‘The Gunners Steak and Ale Pie’. At £3.70 the culinary item was expensive. One bite into the pastry and the pie virtually disintegrated. Hot gravy leaking in all directions – not an edifying sight in any sense. Not particularly tasty either. 4/10

Value for Money: The admission price of £36.50. This was by a long way the most expensive ticket on ‘The Road’ so far. However, this was London, this was The Emirates and this was the quarter final of the FA Cup. So the price can be considered reasonable 8/10

The je ne sais quoi factor: A recurring theme in this category is meeting up with old friends. For the third match in a row I met up with my good pal and ex colleague Kevin Oliver. Great to meet up with Kev, his nephew Alan and indeed all of their travelling party from Lincolnshire yesterday.

The old pals re-united by 'The Road'. Me and Imps fanatic Kevin Oliver

Kev, Alan and their fellow travellers arriving at The Emirates

A day out in the big smoke is always a treat and yesterday to have the privilege of spending the day amongst the 9000 travelling fans from Lincolnshire was awesome. 9/10

Overall Road to Wembley from Scotland Rating 75/100

At this point I have to bid farewell to Lincoln City. I have really enjoyed my journey aboard the Lincoln Loco. The Imps have been such a big part of my life ever since the evening back in January when they beat Ipswich in a round 3 replay to ensure that Sincil Bank would be a stop on the Road to Wembley from Scotland. It will however be au revoir rather than goodbye. I have already committed to attending their Vanarama National League fixture in Gateshead on Easter Monday so I hope to catch up with Kevin and Alan again then. In any event I will be looking out for their results for some time to come and before the season is over I expect that they will reach Wembley in the FA Trophy and secure promotion back into the football league. Their future is in safe hands. With Danny Cowley at the helm the Imps are guided by possibly the most talented young manager in the British game. I just wish that my beloved Hearts would offer him the top job at Tynecastle!

So, the mighty Arsenal are now my team on the Road to Wembley from Scotland. In seven weeks time I will be seeing Arsenal again – at Wembley. The semi finals of the FA Cup are now played at the national stadium. The draw for the semi finals will be made at about 10.00 pm tomorrow night. Who will the Gunners play in the last four? Come back here on Tuesday to find out … and … keep reading.

Miles on the clock for this match  830

Total Miles on the Road to Wembley from Scotland so far 7733