WEIRD, but wonderful. As if changing the entire team from their previous fixture was not unusual enough, Fulham also provided a candidate for the unluckiest substitution of all time and somehow emerged from this unexpectedly dramatic match with victory last night.

The Barclays Premiership side scraped through with a goal in stoppage time in extra time that was deeply cruel on Lincoln City, of Coca-Cola League Two, who twice recovered from a two-goal deficit but were finally undone by a Brian McBride header with penalties imminent.

Chris Coleman, the Fulham manager, made 11 alterations from the team that lost to West Ham United on Saturday because, he said before kick-off, he views the Carling Cup as “a pain in the neck”.

Lincoln did a fine impression of Dracula last night, biting back when, at 2-0 down and with Fulham seeming comfortable, they raised their game and took control of the match.

Goals from Zesh Rehman and Heidar Helguson were cancelled out in the final 20 minutes by Francis Green and the hapless Moritz Volz, who turned the ball into his own net with his first touch after coming off the bench.

Lincoln should then have won the match but Marvin Robinson, a substitute, hit the bar when clean through and in plenty of space. “We should have won the game, they were hanging on. The minute you get into (Premiership players) they don’t want to know,” Keith Alexander, the Lincoln manager, said. “I’ll only take heart from the performance if we go to Torquay on Saturday and win, otherwise the supporters will want me out next week,” he said. “I’m disappointed but the players have done brilliantly.”

Alan Marriott, the Lincoln goalkeeper, had made a number of outstanding saves but was unable to prevent Fulham scoring twice in the first four minutes of extra time through Liam Rosenior and Tomasz Radzinski. Yet the visiting side replied courageously with a curling free kick from Scott Kerr and made it 4-4 in the 114th minute when Robinson bundled the ball over the line.

“I don’t regret (my team selection),” Coleman said. “Monday night (against Tottenham Hotspur) is a big game for us.” With impressive powers of spin, Coleman found a positive in the way his team “won the game three times” against a mid- table side from the bottom division who have scored only ten times in nine league games.

Coleman was right, though, to point out that many of his team were only just back from injury and perhaps his selection policy was shrewder than the final scoreline would suggest. Strangely, it was when he began to bring on his experienced players, and when he put Phillippe Christanval, the former France defender, at centre back, that Fulham’s problems really started, and out of a procession an extraordinary and dramatic match popped out.

FULHAM (4-4-2): R Batista — L Rosenior, D Leacock (sub: T Radzinski, 62min), A Goma, A Green — A Elrich, P Christanval, Z Rehman (sub: M Volz, 82), M Timlin — C John (sub: B McBride, 73), H Helguson. Substitutes not used: A Warner, R Milsom. Booked: Christanval, Green.

LINCOLN CITY (4-3-3): A Marriott — C Cryan, G McAuley, P Morgan, L Beevers (sub: M Robinson, 75) — N Brown, S Kerr, M Molango (sub: D Asamoah, 97) — F Green, G Birch, D Keates (sub: P Mayo, 80). Substitutes not used: M Bloomer, O Ryan. Booked: Molango.

Referee: K Stroud. (aet; 2-2 after 90min)

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