Lincoln City boss Danny Cowley said that his Imps side “deserved to win” after progressing to the Checkatrade Trophy final last night.
The Sky Bet League Two side eventually progressed to the final – held at the National Stadium- on penalties after Luke Waterfall’s second half goal was cancelled out by Daishawn Redan.
Lee Frecklington fired home the winning penalty as Lincoln City secured their first ever visit to Wembley Stadium in their 133-year history.
“I thought we played really well, we deserved to win,” Cowley said. “We pressed them really aggressively. We were so brave with our work without the ball, we managed to suffocate them and they [the Chelsea under-21s] found it really hard to get out their half.
“It was an incredible effort from the players. The amount of energy they expended because you have to run really hard in the system we use.
“We created lots of chances and did great to score. We probably should have put the game to bed but with the second chance we did not do that.
“Credit to Chelsea, they have got some worldclass young players, they were always going to have their moment in the game. I didn’t think that they had many moments but they were always going to have one.
“Obviously they scored to make it 1-1. I was so pleased with ours that we went again, we could have won it in the dying moments.”
The former Braintree Town and Concord Rangers boss admitted that it was possible that luck would go against him once more, but feels the Club deserve their day-out and hopes they’ll be able to use their cup successes in the push for promotion to Sky Bet League One.
“Six times as a manager I’ve been a game away from Wembley and have not quite got there so I was thinking ‘I wonder if it’s me’, but credit to the players, they were brilliant.
“To be able to get to Wembley is brilliant. Now we need to use it as our springboard to help us win promotion.
