Lincoln in the last four?

Lincoln’s magical journey began with a hard-fought fourth round qualifying win over Guiseley. The two sides drew 0-0 at Sincil Bank, but Cowley’s charges ran out 2-1 victors in the replay three days later.

Few would have predicted then that they would be rubbing shoulders with Champions League regulars just five months later.

Altrincham were seen off in the first round before Oldham Athletic became the first of four League clubs to be ousted by Lincoln’s band of heroes.

After holding Championship Ipswich Town, Cup winners in 1978, to a 2-2 draw at Portman Road, Nathan Arnold’s added-time strike won the replay and sent Lincoln into dreamland. They were in the fourth round for the first time in 41 years.

And it would get even better as eventual Premier League newcomers Brighton were completely humbled in the fourth round – not to mention the famous victory at Turf Moor.

“It was all a bit of a whirlwind,” Cowley recalled. “We ended up playing 63 games last season. We were playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday from December onwards.

“That schedule meant you never really had time to draw breath and consider what was happening, and looking back that was probably a good thing.

“But when you do look back, you realise we’ve had some amazing experiences: being on Match of the Day, Clive Woodward coming round my house for breakfast, being on The One Show and Football Focus coming round my house in Essex. It was a crazy time.

“In Essex, my next-door neighbour doesn’t know who I am, but in Lincoln everyone knows who I am. We’ve all had to get used to that. It’s been interesting and challenging at the same time.”

He continued: “A lot of people said it would be a distraction. We never looked at it like that. We felt the success we had in our Cup run gave us the confidence to finish the job in the league. We got used to playing big games and we had found a way of winning these big games.

“Now we’ve had a taste of it we, naturally, want more.”

Lincoln’s once-in-a-lifetime Cup run led to increased attendances at Sincil Bank and, alongside their promotion-winning campaign, helped the club sell 6,000 season tickets for 2017-18.

And while Cowley was overwhelmed by the plaudits his side received, he is more proud of the impact last season had on the city of Lincoln.

He added: “I think we’ll always be thankful to The FA Cup. It has changed all of our lives and most importantly changed the club’s life, and the city’s life.

“What it has enabled us to do is reconnect the local people with the football club.

“Our Cup run captured the local community’s imagination. We went from having 2,500 supporters at games to having 10,000.

“Forget the run and the media attention that went with it, that was the most important thing for us; that we were able to bring back the people of Lincoln.

“Some people say the magic of The FA Cup has gone. That certainly wasn’t the case if you lived in Lincoln last year. We felt it in abundance.

“There was a baby boom off the back of our Cup run, so if that’s not magic then I don't know what is!

“It’s something that we will forever be proud of, there’s no doubt about that.”