SEAN RAGGETT recalls the day he took on his Arsenal heroes — then got stopped from entering a pub because he did not have a match-day ticket!
The Portsmouth defender, 26, was a star of then non-league Lincoln’s FA Cup run to the quarter-finals in 2017.
Sean Raggett was barred from an Arsenal pub after helping Lincoln stun Burnley in the FA Cup in 2017 – setting up a clash with the Gunners
He scored a last-minute winner to topple Burnley at Turf Moor and set up that clash at the Emirates.
After locking horns with the likes of Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud live on TV, he was brought crashing down to earth at a boozer outside.
He said: “My best pal is an Arsenal fan and we’d arranged to meet up afterwards in this pub near the stadium.
“There was a bouncer at the door asking if I had a ticket from the game and I answered, ‘No, I haven’t’. He insisted I couldn’t go in.
“I told him, ‘I haven’t got a ticket because I was just playing centre-half in the game!’
“I was there wearing my Lincoln tracksuit, carrying my boots and Laurent Koscielny’s shirt he had swapped with me!
“He finally let me in but I had to put a coat over my tracksuit as the pub was for Arsenal fans.”
The irony is, Raggett is a lifelong Arsenal fan and two nights before that match, SunSport arranged for him and team-mate Nathan Arnold to meet Gunners legend Thierry Henry.
Raggett said: “Henry was my hero growing up because, when I was a kid, I was a striker.
“As soon as I heard his voice I melted. It was the most nervous I had been in my life. It was surreal.
“What I loved about it was that after he did an interview with us for The Sun, I thought he’d shoot off but he walked around with us and even took us on to the pitch.”
Lincoln held out until the stroke of half-time when Walcott got the breakthrough and Arsenal then ran out 5-0 winners.
Raggett’s overriding memory of the game was Ozil’s display as he prepares to face him again. He said: “I’ve always been a big fan of his although he gets criticism.
“When we were playing them, every time I looked up he was in loads of space yet I never saw him move.
“He kept getting into so much space but didn’t look like he was doing anything.”
That FA Cup run elevated Raggett and he was snapped up the following season by Norwich. But niggling injuries have frustrated his progress.
After an injury-hit loan spell with Championship Rotherham last season the centre-back is finally getting a run of games at Pompey, who are now just two points behind the automatic promotion spots in League One.
Raggett is philosophical and said: “Yes, I’ve been a bit unfortunate with injuries that have set me back a little bit.
“But now I’m happy to be playing every week and we’re challenging at the top of League One.
“If you told me that’s where I’d be just over three-and-a-half years ago when I was still playing for Dover in the National League, I’d have snapped your hand off.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
