It would have been interesting, for the FA cup neutrals at least, if Arsenal had reached halftime without scoring against Lincoln City, because up until THeo Walcott did score the opening goal in first half stoppage time we had struggled for fluency and penetration while the visitors were looking confident, solid and dangerous. In fact they had come closest to scoring befgore that with Cech forced into a very good save after 29 minutes.
That was probably a lot to do with the recent records of the respective sides and I would not have been surprised to hear booing from the home crowd if it was all square at the break. As it was the goal from Theo produced a collective sigh of relief and set us up for a dominant second half in which the Arsenal players were able to play with more freedom and show the gulf in class.
We did that and did it well. Although I feel a bit sorry for Lincoln it was just what the doctor ordered for Arsenal. As we turned the screw more and more, Giroud added a second from close range in the 53rd minute and then an own goal from an Alexis cross put the game to bed.
Alexis with a super curler and then a very cool Ramsey showed great feet to beat the keeper and make it five. Yes it was against a non-league side but we got through a tough test in the first half and we won the game well to reach the FA cup semi-final.
Bob.