Eastleigh broke Lincoln City hearts as they struck an last minute winner to beat their Vanarama Conference rivals 2-1 at the Silverlake Stadium today in the FA Cup first round.
A dominant first half performance saw Craig McAllister give Eastleigh the lead at half time.
But after the break the Imps were a far different prospect and Spitfires’ stopper Ross Flitney’s pulled off a series of heroic saves to keep his side in lead, before substitute Delano Sam-Yorke slotted home with just over 15 minutes to play.
Then, in the closing moments, just as the replay seemed most likely, the magic of the cup was alive and kicking, as Ben Strevens buried a shot inside the box to send the 873 crowd into raptures of celebration, sending the Spitfires into the second round for the first time.
The first half saw Eastleigh feast on a glut of chances, but only find the net once. It was apparent almost immediately from kick off that the Spitfires were far superior and confident in possession.
Among the chances they had within the first seven minutes, McAllister clattered a header from a Jai Reason corner against the bar and another effort saw Will Evans head narrowly over.
On nine minutes the veteran forward, McAllister, opened the scoring, heading home from eight yards after Dan Spence delivered a whipped cross.
Prior to that, as Lincoln continued to leave their keeper Paul Farman open to the Eastleigh attack, the stopper pulled off a splendid save as Reason slammed at goal from inside the box.
Throughout the half, the Eastleigh pressure continued. Every long ball, through ball and cross seemed to cause the vulnerable Imps backline a world of trouble to deal with.
Other efforts on goal saw James Constable drag a 25-yard shot past the post and Reason fizz a low effort across goal. A series of corners then saw the fragile Imps only just preserve the close score-line.
The visitor’s scarcely troubled Eastleigh custodian Flitney, and the Spitfires defence, until first half injury time, as Marcus Marshall flashed a dangerous ball across the six yard box.
Other than that Marshall hit a shot into the side netting and Sean Newton hit an effort well over from range.
Lincoln came out a team transformed after the interval, creating several chances to level.
Hamza Bencherif headed into Flitney’s hands from a Sean Newton cross and, the travelling side were dangerous again, as Alan Power pulled a reaction save out of the Spitfires custodian. The best of those early second half openings saw Jordan Burrow fire painfully over from five yards.
After a scrappy period, Power then hit a low ball powerfully across the face of goal. Bencherif failed to latch on and it bounced harmlessly away. Seconds later Tom Miller’s close range header was superbly kept out by Flitney.
With 24 minutes left Lincoln were still piling on the pressure. Burrow missed a brilliant opportunity from an excellent Newton cross, volleying over.
Eastleigh were struggling big time to settle into the half. And despite the Spitfires’ brave defending and the heroics of Flitney, Lincoln were level in increasingly difficult and wet conditions.
Freshly on substitute, who came onto replace Burrow, Sam-Yorke, darted through, breaking the offside trap and slotting in the equaliser with 18 minutes left.
With eight minutes left, Conner Robinson darted off the right wing and connected with a Newton cross and should have scored, but his right footed effort went past the left post from close range.
As the game came to a close it looked increasingly likely a replay would be needed to settle this tie.
However, Ben Strevens had other ideas as he sent the Silverlake into celebration as he placed a Ben Wright cut-back into the net.
That was pretty much Eastleigh’s only clear-cut chance of the second half. Lincoln will feel gutted not to take anything away from this clash.
Eastleigh: Ross Flitney, Dan Spence, Michael Green, Craig Stanley, James Constable (Yemi Odubade 73), Jai Reason (Chris Todd 89), Craig McAllister, Stuart Fleetwood (Ben Wright 84), Ben Strevens, Will Evans, Paul Reid (c). Subs not used: Jack Midson, Tony Lee, Hussien Heidari, Josh Helm.
Lincoln City: Paul Farman, Tom Miller, Sean Newton, Hamza Bencherif, Alan Power (c), Jordan Burrow (Delano Sam-Yorke 70), Arnaud Mendy, Conner Robinson (Sahr Kabba 88), Marcus Marshall, Nat Brown, Thierry Audel. Subs not used: Karl Ledsham, Jake Caprice, David Preece.
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