Lincoln City skipper Luke Waterfall said it was no coincidence that the Imps overturned Ipswich Town at Sincil Bank, having impressed in the original tie, a 2-2 draw at Portman Road.

Nathan Arnold’s last-minute goal gave the Imps a famous victory and heaped more pressure on Town boss Mick McCarthy.

Town are now without a win in the FA Cup since January 2010 and Waterfall said: “We deserved to win. That’s two games now, it’s not a coincidence,” declared Waterfall to the Lincolnshire Echo.

“In the first game you could say we took them by surprise. People probably thought they would come here and out-play players but no, not with this group of players. We were confident.

“The lads are buzzing in there but we’re not overly surprised – we thought we could do a job. It’s brilliant, what a great night.”

Waterfall added: “I’ve said it number of times now, this is not a non-league club, it’s a club that should be in the Football League.

“Look at the fanbase we can attract. We’ve got great fans and we want to keep them here and keep the good times going.”

Meanwhile, Lincoln manager Danny Cowley, who worked wonders at Braintree Town – leading the part-timers to the National League play-offs in his only season at the helm – was delighted, adding: “We said after the first game that they (Lincoln players) played like Championship players but that didn’t mean they were Championship players.

“But that’s two games they’ve done that now. They went toe to toe with Championship’s players again. What an incredible achievement and what a great night.

“Over 180 minutes, I thought we deserved to go through. That’s testament to the players and the standards they are setting.

He then added, with his tongue in his cheek: “I’ll let them enjoy this for an hour but we’ve got Dover coming up on Friday.

“They’ll have a recovery day tomorrow, then we’ll plan for that game. That’s the way it has to be. I’m not interested in moments, I want sustained success. We want to get this club out of the division.”