Lancaster City end winless away league run and escape drop zone

Lancaster City earned their first away win in the league since August with a 3-2 victory over Marske United at Mount Pleasant.

The result sees the Dollies climb out of the relegation zone.

The away side went into the break 2-0 up thanks to goals from Brad Carroll and Nic Evangelinos.

The Seasiders halved the deficit early in the second half but Lancaster’s captain for the day, Sam Bailey, converted a penalty to restore the two-goal advantage.

However, Marske had a penalty of their own with just a few minutes remaining, that too was put away, but Lancaster got the win.

Sam Waller’s loan to Lancaster City from Burnley has been extended – it was originally set to end on November 6.

The first real opportunity fell to current Dollies top scorer for the season Nic Evangelinos, who cut inside from the right and forced Ryan Catterick into a strong save. The resulting corner was almost turned in, but Dylan McAvoy cleared it for Marske.

Lancaster took the lead when Kyle Brownhill’s cross from the left found Brad Carroll in a crowded penalty area.

The lead was doubled when Sam Bailey whipped in a cross that was met by Dom Lawson who headed the ball back to Evangelinos, who was on hand to make it two.

Adam Wheatley’s effort into the side netting was quite possibly the closest the home side came in the first half to scoring.

In the second period, however, the visitors started off shakily and Marske got one back thanks to a cool shot from substitute Josh MacDonald after Oliver Green made a great run to set him on his way.

Sam Waller made a solid save to deny Donald Chimalilo, who was adjudged to be in an offside position anyway.

Enock Likoy, who had only just come off the bench for Lancaster, was thought to have been brought down illegally in the box and the referee was left with no choice but to point to the spot. Sam Bailey tucked the penalty kick away in the left hand corner and wheeled off in celebration.

A powerful effort from Marske’s number nine Adam Boyes came off Pat Allington whose block kept the score at 3-1.

However, in addition to Lancaster’s penalty, there was further controversy in the game still to come – the home side had their chance to score from the 12-yard mark in the dying embers of proceedings, a decision which caused confusion on the Lancaster bench. Dale Hopson converted but it was too late for Marske to try to get an equaliser.

Dale Whitham was awarded the Dollies’ man of the match for his contribution to City’s attacking play.

Speaking to the club website, Mark Fell praised his players for being “very functional” and having the “ability to compete against a strong side”.

“What we did really well was we kept things alive in the first half, we got (on the) front foot, we had a couple of bits of bravery to score our goals.”

Fell briefly touched on the more controversial moments of the game and admitted that “I didn’t think either penalty was a penalty”.

He also made it very clear that, now his side are out of the bottom four, “we have got to make sure we never go back there again”.

Lancaster City’s next game is another away day at Whitby Town on Saturday (November 12).