By Our Football Staff

A huge FA Cup upset is on the cards after the draw for the third round matched Ipswich Town with non-league Lincoln City.

Experts say that with a bit of luck, or a fluke “worldly” goal, Ipswich could sneak a shock win against the part-timers and progress to the fourth round for the first time since 2010.

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Ipswich’s cup record matches this year’s league form under manager Mick McCarthy – woeful. He insists on ridiculing cup competitions and taking loyal fans for granted by fielding inexperienced sides because he would rather concentrate on the league… which has not gone well.

In recent seasons, Town’s FA Cup record has seen them fall at the first hurdle to Portsmouth, Southampton, Preston, Hull, Aston Villa and Chelsea. The League Cup record is worse, with embarrassing defeats to Crawley, Stevenage, Carlisle and Northampton.

The stage is set, therefore, for a sure-fire win for Lincoln when the match is played at Portman Road in early January. A look at Lincoln’s recent form, in all competitions, is slightly different to Ipswich’s stuttering season. The Lincoln results are:

W W D D W D W W W D W W W W W

Meanwhile, Ipswich have failed to strong two wins together all season, are languishing in 15th position in the Championship with relegation a real danger, and in McCarthy have a manager who, when asked how could things improve, said: “By keeping playing the way we are.”

An Ipswich fan said: “It’s all very predictable – we will get dumped out of the cup by non-league opposition so we can concentrate on relegation.”

But there is always the chance of a cup upset, with Ipswich sneaking a win by catching Lincoln on an off day. Bookies have made Lincoln, a team made up of postmen, a fishmonger and a shoe salesman, red-hot favourites for the tie.

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