Lincoln City have been eliminated from the FA Cup after a 5-0 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in the quarter-finals of the competition.
The Gunners secured their place in the semi-finals at Wembley courtesy of goals from Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud, Alexis Sanchez, Aaron Ramsey and an own-goal from Lincoln captain Luke Waterfall.
A promising start
Lincoln came into this game with huge confidence, after producing remarkable displays against the likes of Ipswich Town, Brighton & Hove Albion and most recently Burnley to get to this stage of the competition. Not only this, but they are also top of the National League and in the semi-finals of the FA Trophy.
Following their embarrassing 5-1 defeat to Bayern Munich on Tuesday night, Arsenal looked noticeably low on confidence in the early stages of the game. A good run from Hector Bellerin created their first big chance of the game but Ramsey could not convert from inside the area.
Paul Farman has been an influential figure in goal for the Imps so far this season and he made a big save around 15 minutes in. He managed to tip Walcott's volley onto the post to keep the away side level.
Arsene Wenger came into this game under huge pressure and he was forced into making his first substitution with 27 minutes gone. Mesut Özil replaced Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who was struggling with an injury.
It was just moments after this that Lincoln had their biggest moment of the game. Matt Rhead's superb hold-up play allowed Nathan Arnold some space to run at the Arsenal defence. He beat Laurent Koscielny with ease before being kept out by a superb save from Petr Cech.
The away side continued to frustrate the home side until first-half injury time when they finally got the breakthrough. Lincoln struggled to deal with a corner and Walcott was on hand to put Arsenal in front with the aid of a deflection off Sam Habergham. This saw the Gunners go into the break with a fortunate lead.
A gulf in class
The home side came out for the second-half and drastically improved from their first-half display. It took them around 10 second-half minutes to double their advantage through Giroud. A superb passing move from the home side involving Walcott, Sanchez and Bellerin ended in Giroud tapping into the net to make it 2-0.
The gulf in class between the two sides was beginning to show and Lincoln's FA Cup dream was officially over minutes later as Arsenal got themselves 3-0 in front. It was clever play from Sanchez as he played in Kieran Gibbs on the overlap before Waterfall diverted the ball into his own net. It was tough on the Imps who had competed so well with Arsenal in the first-half.
Lincoln really began to struggle to keep up with the pace of Arsenal's play as they began to find more and more space in-behind the Imps' defence. Arsenal made it 4-0 in the 72nd minute courtesy of a classy finish from Sanchez. Bradley Wood missed a vital challenge which gave Sanchez space on the edge of the area to curl an effort into the bottom corner from 20 yards out.
It was starting to become embarrassing for the away side just moments later as Ramsey made it 5-0 and had the 9,000 away fans fearing the worst. Sanchez clipped it into the back post for Ramsey who rounded Farman with ease before walking it into the net.
An incredible journey
Despite the score, there is no doubt that Danny Cowley's side can hold their heads up high after being the story of this year's FA Cup. They were the first non-league side to reach the quarter-finals of the competition in a whopping 103 years.
Their attentions will now turn to York City in the FA Trophy where they have two legs to book their own place at Wembley. With the recent addition of Peterborough United striker Lee Angol and some other loan additions, the Imps also have a great chance of finally returning to the Football League.
As for Arsenal, the victory is unlikely to take much pressure off manager Arsene Wenger who still remains unpopular with a number of Gunner's supporters. However, the FA Cup remains their only chance of winning silverware this season and their supporters will now be looking forward to the draw.