ON paper, you wouldn’t get many takers for an Eastleigh win over mighty National League leaders Lincoln City at the Silverlake Stadium on Saturday (3pm).

But the Imps themselves have shown that anything is possible this season, becoming the first club to fly the non-League flag into the FA Cup quarter-finals in 103 years.

The Sincil Bank boys became the darlings of the nation when they seized what manager Danny Cowley described as a “one in a 1,000 chance” of beating Premier League outfit Burnley at their Turf Moor stronghold in round five.

The Imps eventually bowed out 5-0 at Arsenal but, unlike many fairytale Cup heroes, Lincoln have suffered minimal disruption to their league campaign.

They will roll up at Stoneham Lane on Saturday sitting proudly aloft the table, level on points with Tranmere Rovers but with a game in hand.

With just one automatic promotion place available, the stakes could hardly be higher for Lincoln as they look to reclaim the Football League status they lost on the last day of the 2010/11 season, beaten 3-0 by Eastleigh’s Hampshire neighbours Aldershot.

In the last five seasons as a Conference club, Lincoln have never finished higher than 13th, but the appointment of 38-year-old former Concord Rangers and Braintree boss Cowley last summer has emphatically changed all that.

Eastleigh manager Richard Hill, born 60 miles away from Lincoln in Hinckley, said: “I’ve got cousins who are Lincoln fans so I’ve grown up knowing about them and their demise was disappointing.

“But Danny’s gone in and been fantastic.

“He’s changed the squad a bit, but he’s still got players there from a couple of seasons ago who you'd never have thought would be anywhere near a team who’ve been top for as long as they have.

“He’s gone in, galvanised the club and given them belief.

“You’ve got to take your hat off to Danny for what he’s done. What they’ve achieved is down to him.

“They’ve had a great Cup run and I’ve seen it documented that they made just under £3 million from it. Good luck to them! Lincoln are a big club for goodness sake. They should be in the Football League, it's only right and proper.”

Whereas Cowley's Imps found fame as Cup underdogs, they will be firm favourites against mid-table Eastleigh.

Hill, though, does not see it as mission impossible for the Spitfires who, with the glaring exception of last weekend’s 4-0 drubbing at Dagenham, have been in good form of late, banking ten points from their previous four outings.

“It’s a tough game for us, but the lads have trained well and we’ve spoken about needing to get a bit of pride back after a disappointing performance last week,” said Hill.

“We’ve got a few tired bodies and niggly injuries and Saturday might come too soon for one or two. But it’s April – you’re meant to have sore bodies.”