LOCAL hero Ryan Elderton won Lancaster City a £5,000 cheque as he stole the show with a barnstorming display to edge the Dolly Blues beyond Kings Lynn in the FA Cup third qualifying round.

Elderton grabbed the only goal of the cup tie - and ran the show as he found reserves of energy to dominate the midfield.

Elderton wasn't the only City hero. Goalkeeper Jamie Speare was back to his brilliant best and the defence formed the sort of brick wall that Kings Lynn couldn't break down despite all their huffing and puffing.

City were not brilliant - but the most important thing is a victory with manager Phil Wilson saying: "We didn't play as well as we could have done - but the main thing is the result and we got that."

City could have had the game won by the break if they had taken their chances against a static Lynn defence.

But they had a few scares with Speare saving well after just two minutes from Mark Angel.

And Speare also pulled off a stunning stop to keep a Carl Holmes six-yard volley out as Lynn gave the Blues a few torrid moments.

However, City had too much for their East Anglian opponents despite losing skipper Gary Bauress through injury.

Bauress sickeningly clashed heads with two Lynn defenders and was out cold for nearly five minutes. The skipper tried to carry on - but eventually wan-dered out of the action complaining about double vision.

But Bauress was instrumental in the goal just moments after his whack on the head. A long ball into the box from Neil Prince saw the skipper launch himself into the danger area. He caused the ideal distraction as the ball was half cleared to Elderton - at right back at this stage - and he coolly crashed home from 18-yards.

City were buoyed by the goal as Peter Thomson hit the post after a great run and Jamie Murphy was a coat of paint away from making it two.

The big centre back - out-standing alongside Paul Sparrow - saw a glancing header from Prince's cheeky cross beat keeper Steve Wilson only to shave the outside of the post.

Elderton, who moved into the centre of midfield after the departure of Bauress, sent Thomson clear but he wasted the chance, while Steve Jones should have done better from a handful of yards after good work from new boy Steve Hollis.

But Kings Lynn hadn't travelled half the length of the country to roll over and they gave it a real shot, dominating the latter stages.

Speare saved well again when Danny Bloomfield beat the offside trap and then, in his best moment of the match, went full stretch to his right to touch a Robbie Harris shot away for a corner with a minute remaining.

The whistle was greeted with a mixture of joy and relief by City and Wilson says: "I wasn't too happy with one or two defensive issues in the first half - but after the break the lads did very well.

"And Ryan Elderton had a very good game. He was out of position but did a good job and he took his goal very well."

CITY: Speare, Elderton, Murphy, Sparrow, Scott, Jones, Bauress (Clark 30), Hollis, Prince, Thomson (Barry 89), Black (Sullivan 76). Subs not used: Yeomans, Urberschar.