It was a pleasure for us to see Arsenal's world-class players first-hand, says Lincoln boss Danny Cowley

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James Benge11 March 2017

Lincoln manager Danny Cowley hopes his side emerge stronger from their FA Cup adventure after their creditable display in defeat to Arsenal.

The Imps, the first non-league side to reach the last eight of the FA Cup for 103 years, emerged from the Emirates in sizeable credit despite the one-sided nature of the 5-0 scoreline.

Indeed the result may have been very different had Lincoln’s resolute defence been able to hold Arsenal at bay for only a few more minutes, Theo Walcott slotting home in first-half stoppage time.

Olivier Giroud, Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey added gloss to the scoreline in the second half, with an own-goal from defender Luke Waterfall adding to Arsenal’s winning margin.

At full-time Lincoln’s players, who had defeated Ipswich, Brighton and Burnley on their path to the quarter-finals, were treated to an ovation from the Emirates crowd, in particular the 9,000 travelling fans who stayed home to salute their Cup heroes. It is a moment that Cowley will not forget in a hurry.

"I thought we did really well for the first 45 minutes," he told BBC Sport. "It is very hard to get negative against them because they have such world-class players. At 45 minutes I thought we had limited them in chances and we were hoping to get in 0-0 but they got the goal.

"Arsenal were frightening in the second half and for us it was a pleasure to see world class players first hand. It felt like Arsene Wenger had brought 15 players on. If we can learn from this experience today and throughout this FA Cup journey we will be better players and better people.

"The best [time in this run] was at the end, sharing a moment with our supporters. Our supporters were word class. They were brilliant. We are winners and don't like losing but when we can draw breath we will be proud."

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