Lincoln City chairman Steff Wright says Bolton Wanderers can be beaten in the FA Cup

By sparker

Lincoln City chairman Steff Wright believes the Imps can add their name to an illustrious list of FA Cup giant-killers after being handed a plum third-round tie at Premier League strugglers Bolton Wanderers.

Only five balls remained in yesterday's draw when Lincoln, who earned more than £100,000 from TV, prize-money and gate receipts after Saturday's 3-1 win at Northwich Victoria, were paired against former City midfielder Gary Megson's Trotters. The game will take place on the weekend of January 2/3.

The win saw the Imps progress to the third round for the first time in more than a decade – the last time they reached that stage, they were beaten 1-0 at home by Sunderland in 1999.

The cup draw followed TV coverage of City's former cup conquerors Kettering, who drew 1-1 at home against Leeds, and Wright hopes Chris Sutton's side can take inspiration from the Poppies.

"I was sitting there watching Kettering against Leeds yesterday and there is a similar distance, in leagues, between ourselves and Bolton," said Wright.

"On the day, it is 11 against 11 and it is a winnable game – any football match is winnable.

"It is a nice draw for us, the Reebok Stadium will be a great place for the players to play and for the fans to visit but from a footballing point of view, Chris Sutton will go and try to get a result.

"It was incredible the way the draw panned out as we could have drawn Manchester United and it was the most exciting draw I have ever watched, because we have stayed in the competition so long."

To read more of this story and for full reaction and analysis from the FA Cup draw and Lincoln City's victory at Northwich Victoria, buy today's Lincolnshire Echo.

To hear from Chris Fagan, who opened the scoring for Lincoln City at Northwich Victoria on Saturday, click on the media player below.