A CRUEL late equaliser broke Lancaster City's hearts as Scarborough stole an FA Cup draw at the Giant Axe on Saturday.

The Dolly Blues outclassed their Conference visitors as manager Phil Wilson's decision to go on the attack caught The Seadogs cold.

Wilson effectively had four front men on the field from the start and if only City had converted their chances they would have been home and hosed.

But all they had to show was a Steve Hollis header and when Mark Hotte levelled the game seven minutes from time it was just cruel.

Okay, he was unmarked at a corner but Hotte's header posed no danger until it bounced wickedly to deceive Jamie Speare in the Lancaster goal and cross the line.

It was a fluke and the brave Dolly Blues were shattered.

Their performance deserved so much more than a midweek replay. For, although Boro caused them problems, as you would expect from a top-half Conference outfit, City looked the better side.

Scarborough boss Nick Henry can whinge and moan as much as he likes about the referee and a penalty he believes his side should have had but Hotte should have been sent off for an elbow on Hollis as a corner was about to be taken.

Quite how the officials missed that incident was a mystery but that sort of frustration from Hotte shows just how well City performed and how self-deluded Henry was.

Peter Thomson and Steve Jones gave the Boro defence night-mares just before Hallowe'en and when they were joined up front by Ryan Black and Neil Prince the chips were really down for the men from the McCain Stadium.

Prince forced a fine save out of Leigh Walker while Thomson's battering run and shot deserved more than applause and groans as the ball floated inches wide.

Boro make no secret of the fact that 38-year-old Neil Redfearn pulls all their strings not on Saturday. Redfearn barely got a kick thanks to a man-marking job from Gary Bauress and City, despite the odd defensive flurry, were comfortable.

Boro's appeals for a penalty came in the 5oth minute, when Chris Senior nipped in front of Speare as the goalkeeper dallied on a back pass.

Speare appeared to catch the striker's legs but maybe Senior's decision to go down like he had been hit by the Royal Scot prejudiced his case.

That spurred City on and with just over 20 minutes to go they went in front.

Black's cross found Hollis whose delicate header beat Walker and sent the crowd into delirium.

But joy turned to fear and then to despair as Hotte's late leveller from a Redfearn corner Bauress obviously wasn't allowed to stop him taking those gave the Seadogs a second chance. It was a chance they didn't deserve.

CITY: Speare, Hollis, Murphy (McMahon 89), Sparrow, Scott, Black, Elderton, Bauress, Prince, Jones, Thomson. Unused subs: Yeomans, Sullivan, Clark, Dawes.