City suffered a Halloween nightmare at Christie Park on Saturday afternoon as they slipped to a 3-1 defeat against Morecambe.

The home side took the lead in the 19th minute when Stewart Drummond headed home after the Imps' defence were caught out by a quickly-taken corner and the lead was doubled three minutes before the break when Phil Jevons slotted home a penalty after a combination of Danny Hone and Moses Swaibu sent the former Grimsby striker sprawling in the area.

Having started the second half brightly, some hesitant defending nine minutes after the restart gave Neil Wainwright the chance to set Paul Mullin up for number three and although Rene Howe grabbed one back for the Imps against his former side with 10 minutes on the clock, the damage had already been done.

City's afternoon was made all the more worse when loanee Eric Lichaj was shown a straight red card following an 83rd minute clash with Laurence Wilson on the half-way line.

Match report by John Vickers at Christie Park:

With loanee Nathan Baker injured in training, Moses Swaibu was recalled to partner Adam Watts in the centre of defence for this Coca-Cola League 2 encounter against Morecambe at Christie Park.

With Stefan Oakes also missing due to a hamstring strain, a switch to a 4-4-2 formation saw Chris Fagan return to the starting line-up alongside former Morecambe striker Rene Howe. Although suffering from a slight groin strain, loanee Sergio Torres was named on the bench following his return from Peterborough United whilst goalkeeper Rob Burch wore the captain's armband.

Late October sunshine greeted the two teams as they were led out by referee Paul Tierney and it was the Imps who got things underway.

It was a pretty quiet opening to proceedings as both sides took their time and five minutes had already elapsed when a good piece of defending from Eric Lichaj saw him clear a cross out for the game's first corner which was duly headed away at the near post by Rene Howe.

Chances at goal remained at a premium as the quarter-hour mark approached with Garry Hunter firing well over for the hosts whilst a deflected Chris Fagan shot was easily claimed by former City 'keeper Ben Smith between the Morecambe sticks.

In the 17th minute a long Lichaj throw-in ended with Danny Hone winning a corner for City but Cian Hughton's delivery from the quadrant was poor and the hosts easily cleared the danger.

Two minutes later play switched to the other end and the Shrimps showed the Imps how it was done as a quickly-taken flag-kick saw the ball whipped in from the attacking left and there to meet the cross was Stewart Drummond who had the easy task of heading past Rob Burch.

City looked for a quick response with Khano Smith testing his namesake Ben whilst good link-up play between the Bermudan international and Howe saw the former play a ball across the box only for the onrushing Hughton to slide in and divert his shot into the side netting.

At the other end an unmarked Paul Mullin headed a Craig Stanley free-kick a foot wide of the target before Laurence Wilson dragged a low shot out for a goal-kick after he was released by Phil Jevons.

A stray Hunter pass saw City gain a corner on the half-hour mark but Hughton's deep delivery just evaded Howe and Hone at the back post whilst Morecambe's response saw Jevons curl a 25-yard effort six feet wide of Burch's left hand upright.

As the game ticked into its 41st minute a weak header back from Hone saw Jevons latch onto the loose ball and as Hone and Swaibu both challenged him for possession, the former Grimsby striker went to ground with referee Tierney having no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Jevons duly sent Burch the wrong way from 12 yards to double his side's advantage.

City were certainly up against it as the Fourth Official indicated that a minimum of two minutes were to be added on and after these passed without incident, the half came to a close.

HT: MORECAMBE 2 IMPS 0

A double switch at the break for the Imps saw Aaron Brown and Sergio Torres replace Khano Smith and Danny Hone. The substitutes slotted in on the left with Lichaj moving across to right-back.

Torres was quickly in the action, winning a free-kick in the attacking third of the pitch and when Hughton swung the ball in Danny Adams nodded behind with the resultant corner being hammered away for a throw-in by the Shrimps' defence.

City certainly started the second half brightly as they looked to get themselves back into things early on but some hesitation in defence nine minutes after the break saw the home side extend their advantage. A ball into the City box saw Torres try and bring the ball under control but after the ball squirmed away from him it fell to Neil Wainwright whose ball into the six-yard area was easily hammered home by Paul Mullin.

The Imps responded with a long-range Pulis effort being palmed behind by Smith before Brown drilled a left-footed shot a foot over the bar as the hour mark approached.

A good piece of defending by Andrew Parrish saw him get a block in on a Howe effort after the City striker was picked out by Lichaj and before the resultant 64th minute corner was taken, Jamie Clarke came on for Chris Fagan in a straight swap up front.

Play remained centered in the middle third as the clock ticked on, with City struggling to make an impact in the attacking third, a Clarke effort which crashed straight at Adams being the only half-chance of note during the following stages but with 10 minutes on the clock, Clarke managed to get past Adams and after looking up, he picked out Rene Howe who planted a firm effort into the roof of the net to give the Imps a glimmer of hope.

Temperatures threatened to boil over in the 83rd minute when Eric Lichaj and Laurance Wilson clashed on the half-way line. Referee Tierney was quickly on the scene and decided that the City man's involvement was serious enough to earn punishment and brandished a straight red card at the Aston Villa loanee.

Players from both sides squared up to each other with Wilson and Bentley both seeing yellow for the home side whilst Jamie Clarke was also cautioned for his part in the fracas and before the resultant Morecambe free-kick was taken, Wayne Curtis and Michael Twiss replaced Paul Mullin and Phil Jevons for the home side.

A man down, City had four additional minutes to try and salvage something from the game and midway through these added stages, home full-back Danny Adams was booked for taking too long over the taking of a throw-in whilst substitute Wayne Curtis joined him in the book for a foul on Shane Clarke.

These stoppages did nothing to aid the Imps' cause, however, and when referee Tierney blew for full-time it brought an end to a disappointing afternoon on the coast for the travelling City fauthful.

FT: MORECAMBE 3 IMPS 1

TEAM SHEET

LINCOLN CITY
1 Rob BURCH
6 Danny HONE
5 Moses SWAIBU
22 Adam WATTS
28 Eric LICHAJ
25 Cian HUGHTON
19 Shane CLARKE
23 Anthony PULIS
27 Khano SMITH
10 Chris FAGAN
18 Rene HOWE

subs
3 Aaron BROWN (for HONE h/t)
21 Sergio TORRES (for SMITH h/t)
15 Jamie CLARKE (for FAGAN 64)
4 Janos KOVACS
8 Richard BUTCHER
11 Scott KERR
20 Paul MUSSELWHITE

GOAL: HOWE (80)

BOOKING: J CLARKE (84)

SENDING OFF: LICHAJ (82)

MORECAMBE
30 Ben SMITH
3 Danny ADAMS
5 Jim BENTLEY
6 Craig STANLEY
8 Garry HUNTER
10 Phil JEVONS
11 Neil WAINWRIGHT
16 Stewart DRUMMOND
19 Laurence WILSON
21 Paul MULLIN
22 Andrew PARRISH

subs
9 Wayne CURTIS (for MULLIN 84)
7 Michael TWISS (for JEVONS 85)
2 Darren MOSS
17 Aaron TAYLOR
18 Mark DUFFY
23 Henry McSTAY
12 Scott DAVIES

GOALS: DRUMMOND (19), JEVONS (42 pen), MULLIN (54)

BOOKINGS: WILSON (84), BENTLEY (84), ADAMS (90+2), CURTIS (90+3)

REFEREE: Paul Tierney
ASSISTANTS: Michael Denton & Nicholas Greenhalgh
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Robert Jones

ATTENDANCE: 1,701 (198 City supporters)