Everton Under-21s incredible run in the EFL Papa John's Trophy came to an end on Tuesday night when they were beaten 4-2 on the road by Lincoln City.  

Fresh from an impressive 7-2 win over Colchester United last week, Paul Tait’s in-form side travelled to the LNER Stadium hoping to secure a place in the quarter-finals of the competition.  

The young Blues gave a good account of themselves and bounced back from going a goal down at half-time to take a 2-1 lead early in the second half thanks to strikes from Francis Okoronkwo and Tom Cannon.  

However goals from Jack Diamond and Sean Roughan plus Regan Poole’s effort in the first period sealed the win for the League One side.  

The contest started with a lively tempo, and it wasn’t long before Zak-Luk Leban was called into action. He brilliantly switched direction to dive from right to left and push a deflected free kick past his post inside five minutes.  

Lincoln enjoyed plenty of initial pressure, but Everton soaked it up well while showing flashes of threat on the break.  

The Toffees' first chance of the game fell to the feet of Isaac Price who met a cut back from Cannon on the edge of the box, he fired a strike low and hard that was saved by the feet of goalkeeper Jordan Wright.  

Lincoln continued to build on their early momentum as the first half progressed, but Tait’s side defended well and restricted the hosts to very few chances of note across the opening 30 minutes.  

However, that resilience was broken as the game approached half-time.  

Everton failed to successfully clear their lines which allowed Lincoln to regain possession deep inside the Blues’ half. Diamond released Poole down the right and he drove into the box and then slotted under Levan to put the hosts ahead.  

At the break, Tait opted to introduce Francis Okoronkwo in place of Owen Barker as he looked to add more firepower to the Everton attack, and his impact was almost instantaneous  

Two minutes into the second half, Cannon broke free down the right and showed superb composure to pick out Okoronkwo inside the box, he then fired a well-hit shot past Wright to draw the game level.   

Everton’s half-time substitute returned the favour just minutes later when he slid an excellent through ball into the feet of Cannon who hit a stunning strike into the roof of the net to turn the game on its head.  

A remarkable ten-minute period at the beginning of the second half produced a third goal when Lincoln found a quick response of their own. Leban was harshly adjudged to have fouled Tom Hopper inside his six-yard box.  

Diamond converted the resulting penalty to make the score 2-2. 

After a frantic start to the half, the game entered a lull as both teams tussled for a sustained period of pressure.   

Then, with a little over 25 minutes left, Everton were handed a golden opportunity to grab a third. Okoronkwo again found Cannon who carried the ball into the box before hitting an effort across goal and just wide of the post.

Soon after and in search of a winner, Tait made further changes as Price and Katia Kouyate were replaced by Luke Butterfield and Ishe Samuels-Smith.  

Despite these changes, the home side grabbed the game’s crucial third goal when Sean Roughan was left unmarked out on the left to meet a cross and fire his effort past Leban.   

Liam Higgins, who netted a crucial stoppage-time strike in the last round against Mansfield, joined the action in place of Kyle John as Everton chased an equaliser late on.   

It was Stanley Mills who went closest to finding it though, making a superb mazy run from the halfway line all the way into the Lincoln box where he struck a vicious effort down the throat of Wright who just about managed to palm it away from danger.

In the dying seconds, Everton won a corner in which goalkeeper Leban went up to attack. From that resulting set-piece, Okoronkwo saw a header tipped away.

The home side launched a counter from the clearance which eventually fell to Diamond who simply had to pass the ball into an empty net in order to grab his side a fourth moments before the final whistle blew.