Chippenham Town made history by defeating League One Lincoln City to reach the second round of the FA Cup for the first time in their 135-year history.

A first-half goal from Joe Hanks and a resilient defensive display was enough to confirm the club’s biggest ever giant-killing.

The full-time whistle sparked joyous scenes as both fans and players celebrated an unprecedented achievement for the Bluebirds.

The Imps had arrived at the Thornbury Surfacing Stadium as the highest ranked side Chippenham had ever faced in the competition.

The scale of the challenge facing the Bluebirds was shown by the three divisions and 78 league places between the two clubs ahead of kick-off.

While Chippenham were hovering just a point above the National League South relegation zone, Lincoln were just five points off the League One play-off places.

However, Chippenham were boosted by the return of Hanks, Eddie Jones and captain Spencer Hamilton to the starting line-up after illness.

The League One team looked to make their quality count early on and dominated possession throughout the match.

Despite their control of possession, a heroic defensive display from the home side stunted their efforts in the first half.

Meanwhile, the Bluebirds posed a constant threat on the break when they were able to venture forward.

In the 42nd minute, the first save of the game was made by Lincoln’s Jordan Wright, who pushed Hanks’ shot wide of the post.

Hanks had been played clean through but was unable to convert the game’s best chance.

However, just a minute later Hanks had a second bite at the cherry and this time made no mistake, burying the chance with a delightful back-heeled finish.

The second half was a tense affair as Lincoln pushed on, desperate to avoid a giant-killing.

Town goalkeeper Will Henry was forced into a string of impressive saves to keep the visitors at bay.

First, he tipped a point-blank header onto the bar in the 48th minute, before getting down bravely at the feet of Matty Virtue to deny him with just 17 minutes remaining.

Just three minutes later, Henry tipped a powerful Regan Poole header over the bar before Lincoln controversially had a goal disallowed from the resulting corner, due to a foul in the build-up.

After that, Chippenham dug in and prevented any other scares to continue their cup run into uncharted territory.

Henry praised the defensive resilience of the performance.

The goalkeeper said: “The whole squad put an absolute shift in today and that’s proven by the result.

“We managed to keep a clean sheet as well, so they deserve all the plaudits."

Chippenham will hope that they can pull off yet another shock in the second round.

Henry added: “We’ll just keep dreaming with each game. Let’s focus on the draw and go from there.”