City survived an FA Cup giantkilling act at the New Bucks Head Stadium on Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 win over AFC Telford United securing a place in the Second Round.

Having started brightly, City took the lead shortly before the quarter-hour mark when Sergio Torres brought a Jamie Clarke cross under control before clinically finishing past Telford 'keeper Ryan Young but within five minutes of the restart a superb Liam Blakeman header brought the hosts level.

Rob Burch kept City in the game as he brilliantly tipped a powerful Carl Rodgers volley onto the crossbar and he was rewarded as, somewhat against the run of play, City regained the lead in the 65th minute when Rene Howe set up Jamie Clarke who duly blasted home low effort for his first goal in Lincoln colours.

Ten minutes later an Imps' counter-attack put the game beyond the Bucks and after he exchanged passes with Howe, Aaron Brown blasted home number three. There was still time for the home side to hit the woodwork for a second time but City stood firm and rode their luck to earn their passage into Round Two.

MATCH FACTS

LINCOLN CITY
1 Rob BURCH
25 Cian HUGHTON
4 Janos KOVACS
5 Moses SWAIBU
3 Aaron BROWN
19 Shane CLARKE
23 Anthony PULIS
15 Jamie CLARKE
21 Sergio TORRES
10 Chris FAGAN
18 Rene HOWE

subs
14 Lenell JOHN-LEWIS (for J CLARKE 74)
13 Ian PEARCE (for HOWE 85)
6 Danny HONE
7 Stefan OAKES
11 Scott KERR
27 Khano SMITH
20 Paul MUSSELWHITE

GOALS: TORRES (14), J CLARKE (65), BROWN (75)

BOOKING: HOWE (66)

AFC TELFORD UNITED
1 Ryan YOUNG
2 Lee VAUGHAN
3 Shaun NEWTON
4 Gavin COWAN
5 Shane KILLOCK
6 Carl RODGERS
7 Jon ADAMS
8 Liam BLAKEMAN
9 Steve THOMPSON
10 Andy BROWN
11 Phil TRAINER

subs
12 Danny CAREY-BERTRAM
14 Tom FIELD
15 Stuart WHITEHEAD
16 Danny EDWARDS
17 Scott EMBREY

GOAL: BLAKEMAN (48)

BOOKING: RODGERS (38)

MATCH OFFICIALS

REFEREE: Graham Scott
ASSISTANTS: Peter Bankes & Colin Harwood
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Marvyn Amphlett

ATTENDANCE: 2,809 (329 City supporters)