FORMER Southend United striker Tom Hopper headed Lincoln City into the League One play-off final at Wembley as they survived a blitz at Sunderland to keep their dreams alive.

The visitors did not lay a glove on the Black Cats in the first half and saw their 2-0 first-leg advantage wiped out by goals from Ross Stewart and Charlie Wyke in front of a raucous home crowd of 9,971.

However in a much-improved second-half display, striker Hopper’s 56th-minute header calmed their nerves and although Lee Burge saved a Jorge Grant penalty, a 2-1 defeat at the Stadium of Light was enough to clinch a 3-2 aggregate victory and a showdown with Blackpool for a place in the Championship.

Hopper scored 10 goals in 30 games while at Blues during a spell will saw him sidelined for close to a year with a cruciate ligament injury.

The 27-year-old joined the Imps from Southend for £150,000 in January 2020.