‘It’s nowhere near as appealing this time’ – Imps fans are split after Ipswich cup draw

October 21, 2019 Gary Ipswich, Lincoln City, Twitter Reaction 1

Courtesy Graham Burrell

7th January 2017; the original Impvasion. A National League team went to face off against a Championship side and bagged an unlikely draw. Ten days later, the giant-killing was completed and history was made.

A little under three years later and the same two teams are drawn against each other in one of the plum ties of the FA Cup First Round. This time the giants have taken a step backwards and the killers have taken huge leaps forward. Lincoln City will go to Portman Road on equal terms in the hardest possible tie of the First Round.

Why the hardest? Well, Ipswich are top of League One so it wasn’t possible to get a harder game. To be drawn away compounds it and even worse, we were the first out the bag. I remember watching the draw last time, sat in the bar at the club as those two balls were the first out. Funny, how history repeats itself.

Back then my first words were ‘shit draw’, without hindsight I thought it was elimination and disappointment. This time around my first words were exactly the same. I wanted a trip to a non-league side, or perhaps a tie at home. what I did not want, at all, was an away trip to a side above us in the table.

We had our day three years ago, it’s another club’s turn to have the limelight, but we still have a game to go and play, one we’ll hope to be in with a chance of winning but it’ll be a big ask. Doubtless, the talk heading into the fixture will be about the previous FA Cup tie, but let’s not forget this will simply be a precursor to the league fixture. The draw has highlighted how far we’ve come but will lead us to reminisce about a time that has quickly become history despite still feeling so fresh.

Am I the only one disappointed with the draw? I think not.

Although having said that, there are plenty of people who see the positive side to going back to Portman Road.

1 Comment

  1. I remember back in about 2008, for three straight years we drew one of the top three sides in league one each time and went out early on. Forest, I think and Port Vale. We never got that easy non-league side at home

Comments are closed.