It took Lincoln City a tense penalty shootout to defeat Morecambe for the second time in a week to progress to the Round of 16 stage in the Papa Johns Trophy on Tuesday night.
City were boosted pre-match by the return of club captain Tom Hopper, who made his first start since picking up an injury in September. The other four changes included the returns of goalkeeper Jordan Wright, Tashan Oakley-Boothe, Lasse Sørensen and Sean Roughan.
The first half began with Oakley-Boothe needing four attempts to start the game due to out of placed players. This rather comically forced referee Carl Boyeson to try the kick-off procedure again and again.
Both teams struggled to get a real foothold of the game throughout the opening stages, with many loose passes from multiple players.
In a half starved of clear-cut chances, Morecambe’s Caleb Watts getting in behind the Lincoln City defence proved to be a highlight. He lost control of a high ball over the top of the City backline, giving defender O’Connor time to clear his lines.
Morecambe seemed to have some joy down the right wing, with Connolly proving to be a tricky customer for The Imps, getting to the byline, and putting in a good cross that evaded everyone in the area.
The hosts eventually grew into the game, having several attempts from the edge of the area. Poole had a low effort from the right-wing slide into the side netting, before Sorensen had a driven effort end up off-target too.
The closest either side came to breaking the deadlock in the opening 45 minutes, was a Caleb Watts effort from 6 yards being blocked by Poole, before a combination of Wright and TJ Eyoma blocked a follow up effort from close range.
The first half finished with some Lincoln pressure ending with a Diamond effort that flew high and wide, before another Sorensen effort. His volley ended up with the same result as his previous.
The second 45 minutes saw a brighter start from The Imps, who started on the front foot. Vernam swung a dangerous free-kick to find the head of O’Connor, but his effort was straight at goalkeeper Smith.
City eventually took the lead in the 53rd minute as another free-kick this time found the returning club captain Tom Hopper, who poked home from close range.
City looked to double their advantage and keep the pressure on, but Vernam blazed over a 1 on 1 effort 5 minutes later. Matty Virtue also had an effort from the edge of the box, but his right-footed shot curled just over the crossbar.
Teddy Bishop returned to the side following injury, and was brought on as a substitute after an hour. However, he was immediately booked for pushing the ball away, delaying the restart of play. At this stage, City were in the mood to double their lead and following a sweeping team move, pushing the ball from left to right wing, Poole’s low cross found Vernam who had his shot deflected wide of the target.
The Lincoln-born winger would have been surprised how he did not score during the 90 minutes, as a similar effort from inside the penalty area was dragged wide.
Rather against the run of play, Morecambe found themselves an equalizer, through striker Cole Stockton, 20 minutes from time.
A cross from Connolly was cleared into a central position on the edge of the penalty area, where Stockton had time and space to drill a right-footed effort passed keeper Jordan Wright.
The game remained in the balance all the way to the final whistle, with neither side able to find a winner before referee Boyeson called for the penalty shootout.
Much to manager Mark Kennedy’s satisfaction, all four penalties that were taken by his players were successful, despite Morecambe’s keeper Smith, getting contact to Sanders and Poole’s efforts.
This ensured that Morecambe’s Shaw and captain Donald Love would rue their misses, as it ensured that Lincoln City came out on top to knock their visitors out of the competition, winning the penalty shootout 4-3.
The Imps will find out who their opponents in the next round are on Thursday, as the later stages of the competition become ever closer. Could Kennedy’s side be on the road to Wembley?