Lincoln City 3 Rotherham United 0: Miserable night for Millers as they crash out of Leasing.com Trophy

The Millers would have made it out of the group stage with a point at League One rivals Lincoln, but their competition is over after they fell to a 3-0 defeat.

The loss will perhaps not mean much to the club's fans, other than the 137 hardy souls that braved the November cold to watch it, but it will hurt boss Paul Warne.

Warne has always vowed to take the much-maligned Football League Trophy seriously and proved it by putting a strong team out at Sincil Bank.

However, John Akinde's double inside the opening 14 minutes cast the die and Tyler Walker's late header ensured Doncaster Rovers join Manchester United's youngsters in the next round.

That leaves the Millers dreaming of some FA Cup magic this season and 24 hours after being drawn away at non-league Solihull Motors in the second round, they will see that as a good opportunity for a nice distraction from their league campaign.

Most people but Warne viewed this competition, which the Millers won in 1996 when it had more prestige, as an unwanted distraction, but after the boss named the likes of Freddie Ladapo, Michael Smith, Jamie Lindsay and Matthew Olosunde in his side, it was clear he was taking it seriously.

Despite a strong line-up, it was a below-par performance and two Lincoln goals inside the opening 15 minutes did the damage.

First Akinde scored from the spot after Tom Pett was fouled in the penalty area.

Two minutes later the former Barnet striker doubled his tally when he was teed up by Jorge Grant and his deflected effort found its way into the corner.

The Millers have been so good on the road in the league, but this was a flat display and they could have been three down before the break had Lewis Price not kept out Harry Anderson's effort.

Ladapo, getting some important game time after a recent hamstring injury, threatened to get Warne's side back into it after the restart when he fizzed an effort wide while Dan Barlaser was just off target with another effort.

In truth, though, a comeback never looked on the cards and Lincoln sealed the win – their first of the competition in the final group game – through Walker's late strike.

The former Nottingham Forest man planted a header into the net in the 87th minute from another Grant assist and a miserable night for Rotherham was complete.

Lincoln: Smith, Anderson, Connolly, Melbourne, Coker (Toffolo 60), Frecklington (Hesketh 58), Chapman, Pett, Payne (Walker 82), Grant, Akinde. Unused subs: Vickers, Shackell, Eardley, Adebayo-Smith

Rotherham: Price, Olosunde, Cooper, Thompson (Robertson 69), Hinds, Lamy (Ogbene 58), Lindsay, Barlaser, Hastie (Morris 69), Ladapo, Smith. Unused subs: Iversen, Jones, Wiles, Morris, Robertson, Crooks, Ogbene

Attendance: 1,860 (137)

Referee: James Oldham