LDV Vans Trophy Northern Section Second Round: Lincoln 3 Blackpool 1 By Chris Reece

POOL'S hopes of winning a trophy this season ended on Tuesday night when they crashed out of the LDV Vans Trophy at the first hurdle.

The home side always looked the more likely to progress as Pool failed to adapt to the bitterly cold conditions at Sincil Bank.

The Imps took a two minute lead through an unlikely source. A thrown-in met the head of ex Blackpool player Lee Thorpe who's flick-on found three Pool defenders staring at the ball in front of their own goal. But in his attempts to clear, John O'Connor headed it into his own net!

With the pitch hardening Pool defended a number of clear-cut Lincoln chances as they searched for a second.

Lincoln then had the ball in the net with a similar effort to the goal but this was ruled out by the referee and Blackpool survived.

At the other end Pool also had a goal disallowed. In one of many Blackpool counter-attacks, a ball was played directly into the Imps' box.

Brett Ormerod was first to react and struck what would have been his twelfth goal of the season but it was disallowed for offside.

Minutes later, Pool midfielder Phil Clarkson also thought he had scored but Lincoln keeper Chris Day pulled off a superb reaction save.

The home side were unsettling Pool's central defence to the frustration manager Steve McMahon.

On the other hand Blackpool's attacking play towards the end of the first half was good and were not afraid to go forward and keep possession. Pool did eventually get the break-though, although they had to wait until after the interval to get it. Influential winger Paul Simpson's shot was parried by Chris Day and Brett Ormerod swept home the equaliser. But as Pool stepped up the pressure, at the other end Lincoln scored their second very much against the run of play. Tony Battersby scored after some excellent work down the right side by Paul Smith.

Not long after Lincoln put the game beyond the Seasiders with a goal by Lee Thorpe. He struck past keeper Phil Barnes on the penalty spot, to come back to haunt the team who let him go early in his career.

As Blackpool's heads dropped, realising the game was lost, the Lincoln midfield regained control and limited Pool attacks to such an extent that Imps keeper Chris Day had little to do in the remainder of the game.

The temperature dropped further making the game scrappy and chances were sparse for Lincoln as well as Pool.

The final whistle signalled an end to Blackpool's cup ventures for this season. Defeats to Norwich, Telford and now Lincoln mean the Tangerines will have to put Wembley dreams aside for now and concentrate on reaching that all important play-off place in the league.

Team: Barnes, Coid, Jaszczun, O'Connor, Hughes, Simpson, Collins, Clarkson Ormerod, Murphy.