LANCASTER eased their cup woes on Saturday with a home FA Trophy victory over Hinckley United -- but it took an overdose of injury time to secure passage to round three.

City's recent FA Trophy record didn't inspire great confidence in their ability to overcome the Doc Marten's league outfit, and their performance in a lacklustre first half hardly inspired confidence.

The Giant Axe side's worst fears looked to have been realised on 64 minutes when their visitors took the lead.

Andy Lucas picked up the ball in midfield for Hinckley and knocked a good ball into the path of Jermaine Gordon, who expertly drew Thornley and chipped the ball into the net.

However, Tony Hesketh's men once again showed their character and hit back within seconds of the restart.

Andy Whittaker scored it in circumstances not dis-similar to his disallowed striker in the previous game against Altrincham.

Keeper Damien Beattie dawdled over clearing a backpass, allowing Whittaker to charge the ball down, control it, and score goal number 23 of the season.

The winner didn't arrive for more than half an hour, with Whittaker, not surprisingly, the man responsible.

Again he had to thank Beattie for his help. The keeper tried to clear a Colin Potts corner on his own goal-line, but was only able to knock the ball against the big former Bamber Bridge man and watched helplessly as the ball bounced over the line for the piece of luck which had eluded City on the same ground four days previously.

Lancaster City 2 Hinckley United 1