Carshalton Athletic dumped City out of the FA Carlsberg Trophy on Wednesday evening with a Paul Vines hat-trick securing a 3-1 win for the home side.

A scrappy opening period appeared to be heading towards a stalemate but this changed when referee Tim Robinson spotted a foul on Robins' skipper David Ray by Jean-Francois Christophe in the area seven minutes before the break.

Vines sent Joe Anyon the wrong way from the resultant penalty and four minutes later the striker beat the City stopper to a free-kick to head his side into a 2-0 lead.

The home striker bagged his third of the game 11 minutes after the break when he latched on to a long ball over the top before drilling past Anyon with substitute Jake Sheridan's last minute effort proving nothing more than a consolation strike.

Alan Power replaced the injured Jamie Taylor in the starting line-up for this FA Carlsberg Trophy Second Round Replay tie against Carshalton Athletic at the War Memorial Sports Ground as the Imps looked to book themselves a place in the last 16 of the competition.

Amongst the substitutes, meanwhile, was the recalled Josh Gowling whilst scholar Reece Thompson found himself involved in the first team squad for the first time.

City kicked off and it was a pretty quiet opening to proceedings with both sides taking their time to settle into things. A seventh minute Carshalton which was cleared by the Imps' defence being the only highlight of note in the early stages.

A deflected Luke Pidgen effort saw the home side win another corner on the quarter hour mark but Joe Anyon safely gathered as a header came in from 12 yards. City's response saw Conal Platt do well to win a throw-in but the Robins' back-line cleared with ease.

An incident-free opening quarter continued, although as things progressed the Imps were starting to get themselves into the game as they looked for an opener with Alan Power curling a 25-yard effort over the bar following some patient build-up play.

Power then drilled a low effort wide as City pushed forward in numbers again whilst Tyrone Thompson tested Nick Hamann and Sam Smith was flagged offside as he looked to latch on to a clever Power throughball.

Despite the pressure, City had Joe Anyon to thank in the 33rd minute when he got down well to save from Luke Nolan whilst at the other end Smith tested Hamann with a rasping effort from 20 yards.

Carshalton's response saw them win two more corners and shortly after the second of these was half-cleared, home skipper David Ray swung and missed in the area as Christophe pressed. Referee Tim Robinson, however, spotted a foul by the City midfielder and, much to the disbelief of everyone in the ground, awarded a penalty. Paul Vines stepped up and duly sent Anyon the wrong way from 12 yards.

Four minutes later, Christophe was harsly penalised for another foul, albeit this time midway inside his own half but, when the ball was swung into the danger area, Vines beat the advancing Anyon to the ball with his header bouncing a couple of times before nestling in the bottom of the net.

City's response saw Thompson test Hamann from distance before Power drilled an effort wide for the last action of a disappointing opening 45 minutes.

HT: CARSHALTON 2 IMPS 0

Jake Sheridan replaced Simon Russell before the second half got underway and the Imps were quickly forced to defend a corner as the home side looked to put the game beyond City.

With rain starting to sweep across the ground, the Imps started to take the game to their hosts with their first corner of the game coming along in the 53rd minute but Platt's delivery was poor and the Robins' defence was able to clear.

At the other end, a long 56th minute ball forward from the home side saw Vines get the wrong side of the City defence and the striker did the rest as, after he brought the ball under control, he drilled a low effort past the exposed Anyon to complete his hat-trick.

In a bid to inject some impetus up front, teenager Reece Thompson was brought on for for Conal Platt and he was quickly in the action, testing Hamann after the 'keeper failed to hold a ball into his area.

Karlton Watson was cautioned for a 63rd minute foul before Paul Robson was forced to clear a dangerous cross behind for a corner which was easily cleared by the City defence.

Shortly afterwards Vines flicked a ball on for Hamici to test Anyon from just outside the box whilst at the other end good work from substitute Thompson saw him put the home defence under pressure

Josh Gowling for Christophe was City's last change in the 73th minute whilst a minute later Tom Davis replaced Craig Tanner for the home side a minute later. Gowling's introduction in defence saw Watson pushed forward.

Chances in the attacking third for the Imps remained limited, however, with a lame Power effort failing to warm Hamann's gloves and in the 86th minute Reece Thompson was booked for a foul on Ricardo Joseph close to the corner flag.

City were given a glimmer of home in the final stages when Sheridan curled in an effort from just inside the box. Three added minutes were then indicated by the Fourth Official but these soon elapsed with the hosts securing their passage into the last 16.

FT: CARSHALTON 3 IMPS 1

MATCH FACTS

LINCOLN CITY
1 Joe ANYON
26 Paul ROBSON
2 Karlton WATSON
32 Matthew PEARSON
3 John NUTTER
34 Tyrone THOMPSON
27 Jean-Francois CHRISTOPHE
12 Conal PLATT
15 Simon RUSSELL
8 Alan POWER
14 Sam SMITH

subs
36 Jake SHERIDAN (for RUSSELL h/t)
28 Reece THOMPSON (for PLATT 58)
5 Josh GOWLING (for CHRISTOPHE 73)
17 Nicky NICOLAU
31 Adam SMITH

GOAL: SHERIDAN (89)

BOOKINGS: WATSON (63), R THOMPSON (86)

CARSHALTON ATHLETIC
1 Nick HAMANN
2 David RAY
3 Ricardo JOSEPH
4 Craig TANNER
5 Kieran MURPHY
6 Justyn ROBERTS
7 Luke NOLAN
8 Reece JONES
9 Paul VINES
10 Laurent HAMICI
11 Luke PIDGEN

subs
15 Tom DAVIS (for TANNER 74)
12 Anthony JOSEPH
14 Michael KAMARA
17 Sonny AYRES
16 Luke BADIALLI

GOALS: VINES (38, 42, 56)

MATCH OFFICIALS

REFEREE: Tim Robinson
ASSISTANTS: Lloyd Wood & Stuart Franklin
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Peter Georgiou

ATTENDANCE: 488