Lincoln City make it back-to-back Checkatrade Trophy wins after defeating Everton U21s at Sincil Bank

A Jordan Maguire-Drew first-half brace helped Lincoln City secure a 2-1 win over Everton U21s in the Checkatrade Trophy.

Dennis Adeniran pulled one back for the visitors with eight minutes to go, but the The Imps made it two wins out of two in the competition.

Despite a potential boycott from some Lincoln fans due to the competition’s decision to allow Premier League and Championship academy teams in the competition designed for League 1 and League 2 teams, 3,713 made the trip to Sincil Bank to see The Imps’ win.

Lincoln made six changes from their defeat to Cheltenham Town on Saturday, with Paul Farman returning to the starting 11 and new signing Cameron Stewart on the bench.

Everton’s team included former England U21 left-back Luke Garbutt and 25-year-old, former Sheffield United midfielder Jose Baxter.

Danny Cowley’s men, who had only scored four goals in their last five games, opened the scoring in the third minute.

Ollie Palmer found Josh Ginnelly who dribbled into the box, cut onto his right foot but his effort struck the post, Jordan Maguire-Drew followed up for the rebound and smashed home his first goal for the club.

The Imps continued to pressure the Everton U21s defence in the first-half, Billy Knott saw his shot go over the bar and Luke Waterfall also headed over.

Lincoln doubled their lead in the 23rd minute with a fantastic free-kick from Maguire-Drew, his left-footed shot beat goalkeeper Mateusz Hewelt and found the top corner.

Harry Charsley has two attempts for the visitors, but both of his efforts went over the bar.

In the second half Everton then had a great chance to pull one back when Bassala Sambou latched onto the end of a Nathan Broadhead pass, but his shot went wide.

Palmer could have made it three for the Imps but a last ditch tackle from Morgan Feeney prevented the striker from getting his shot away.

Maguire-Drew was then denied a hat-trick in the second half when he was adjudged offside after slotting his shot past Hewelt.

After spending most of the second-half on the front foot, Everton did bring a goal back when Adeniran scored after The Imps failed to deal with a Garbutt free-kick.

Farman came to Lincoln’s rescue in the 90th minute when he made a crucial save from Shayne Lavery.

One of the highlights of the evening for Lincoln City was when 16-year-old Ellis Chapman came off the bench to make his Lincoln City debut.

The Imps will now host Crawley Town at Sincil Bank on Saturday and return to Checkatrade Trophy action on November 7 when they play Notts County at home needing only one point to qualify to the next round.

Speaking to The Lincolnite, Danny Cowley said: “We’re always in it to win it and for us, realistically, it’ll be the only cup competition that we enter that we can win.

“There’s a trip to Wembley at the end of it and our club have never been to Wembley and I’d love to give our supporters the opportunity, so we will give it our full focus.”

Lincoln City: Farman; Long, Dickie, Waterfall (c), Habergham; Ginnelly (Stewart 45), Whitehouse, Bostwick (Chapman 69), Maguire-Drew; Knott; Palmer (Green 69)

Subs not used: Vickers (GK), Eardley, Arnold, Woodyard,

Everton:  Hewelt, Garbutt, Feeney (c), Foulds, Charsley; Adeniran, Markelo, Evans (Bowler 63), Baxter, Broadhead (Donkor 83), Sambou (Lavery 75)

Subs not used: Hilton, Byrne, Mathis

Attendance: 3,713 (83 visitors)

The Lincolnite Man of the Match: Jordan Maguire-Drew