| Wow! This is what it feels like to be back in the Southern League Premier. |
| Our longest away trip of the season, all in all we drove almost far enough today to have one mile for each day of the year, a journey that saw us break our recent love / hate affair with the A40 to Oxford and instead traverse the M5, M42 and the M6 for the first time since we visited Bedworth last October. That wasn't it though because once we'd rescued Joe Green and Clifty's replacement Travis (the occasional City fan) from Corley Services we were faced with the long slog across country to the Fens of Norfolk. |
| Kings Lynn itself doesn't boast the most welcoming of approaches with vast acres of undeveloped ex-industrial land only interupted by bollarded off streets full of terraced houses and the odd boarded up shopfront. Quite how this town became some type of utopia to the character played by Kate Hardie in the ITV drama 'A Small Dance' is beyond me. |
| At least The Walks, the home of Kings Lynn FC gave us a worthwhile reason to come to this godforsaken town. My only other visit, when we had Steve Mildenhall (now of Notts County) in goal saw me spend the whole game high up in the vast grandstand in the freezing cold. I almost fell asleep at the wheel driving home and spent the following week off work sick with the flu. |
| That day I hadn't ventured to any other part of the ground and I missed the jewel in the crown that is the terracing along the popular side. It isn't apparent from any other part of the ground but when you get into the stand it's amazing how many steps there are and how far back it stretches. Apart from the T-End (of course) this could possibly be the best terrace in the whole league, much better that the wonky steps at Twerton Park and it probably holds more than the whole ground at both Aylesbury and Cirencester. |
A column in the programme said "I expect us to collect the three points up for grabs today, but only after a keenly contested match". Fair play, the guy who wrote that accurately summed up the game a few words prior to the event whilst I bore you with a hundred times that days later!
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| City, resurgent following back to back wins against Hednesford and Bath would be tested to the full against the Linnets. Rumour had it that both Neil's, Griffiths and Mustoe were on the sidelines yet the Citizen had reported that Chris Burns had a full squad to pick from. As it turned out just Griff was banned and his place was taken by Keith Knight. |
| For the home team the only noticeable change from the side that had dumped us out of the FA Trophy was the addition of Darren Hay from Hitchin Town. Both Hay and fellow striker Danny Bloomfield would need to be kept on a tight leash by the City defence if they were to take anything from the game. |
| Because of the arctic conditions the game took quite a while to warm up and Matt Bath was caught cold as a long ball ended up at the feet of Jack Defty who flicked a shot wide of the far post when he should've done better. |
| On City's first attack down the right hand side Daryl Addis rounded Simon Clark to whip the ball in and although nothing came from the cross both players ended up on the ground behind the touchline. Addis continued whilst Clark called it a day and was replaced by Robbie Harris. |
Having drawn Tom Webb in our goalden goal competition my dreams of pocketing the eight pound prize were scuppered after following good work from Dave Wilkinson and Addis the young midfielder's shot was agonisingly palmed behind by home goalkeeper Steve Wilson.
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| The pendulum of action swung to the other end again when a poor pass by Chris Thompson was easily cut out by former Boston United winger Mark Angel who advanced on goal before shooting and forcing Bath into a save. |
| The Tigers came forward again through Tom Webb but Gary Setchell, the ungainly left back threw his expansive frame in for a challenge but the fleet of foot Webb was too quick and the result was a free kick and a yellow card for the Linnet. Keith Knight's cleverly disguised poor kick was easily claimed by Wilson but the only goal of the game came following the next home attack. |
| Lyndon Tompkins had already made aquaintances with the referee and his second tete â tete with the man in black saw him cautioned for deliberate handball. But it was from the ensuing free kick that Lynn took the lead when the set piece to the far post was headed back across the goal where Darren Hay did well to fashion a volley in off of the crossbar. |
| With a goal lead Kings Lynn could afford to shut up shop because in the Trophy match at Meadow Park they showed that they're more than capable of defending a lead. But the chances still came and hotshot Bloomfield made himself room to shoot but didn't count on the envigourated Marvin Thompson who breezed past him and blocked his effort. |
| City did have some spark though and Lee Smith cut in from the right before forcing a low save out of Wilson, even though the shot was too hot to handle the Kings Lynn keeper managed to claim the rebound before Daryl Addis could do anything meaningful with it. |
Neil Mustoe was doing well in midfield but as has been the case lately his performance was marred by yet another booking. Along with Tompkins the City captain now faces a spell on the sidelines which could be extended if their part in the fracas after the Bath match is taken into consideration.
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| With half time fast approaching the Linnets had a great chance to double their advantage when a combination of Chris Thompson, Matt Bath, Darren Hay and the ball saw the veteran striker on top but having beaten City's attempts to clear he took the ball too wide and thankfully didn't finish. |
| The second period started with half chances for both teams before the referee showed his fourth and fith yellow cards of a not particularly dirty game. First Lynn's Jack Defty had his name taken when he fould Tom Webb then the City number ten was cautioned for 'persistant fouling'. |
| Mark Angel, transfer listed by the home side and not popular among their fans did himself no favours when he was fed in at the far post and from an unmarked position proceeded to scoop the ball over the bar after it had deflected off of his sixth toe. |
| Lynn were dictating play now and City were lucky not to be reduced to ten men when a quick break by Danny Hammond saw him feed a forward pass to Angel who was tripped by Tompkins as he stepped past him. Having already been booked Lyndon stood wearing an 'oh f**k' expression on his face before the referee awarded a free kick without talking to the burly defender. |
The home side made their second change of the afternoon when goalscorer Hay was replaced by Chris Bacon but City could have cause for complaint as they'd taken a quick free kick but the striker had started to walk off and the ref halted play to allow the substitution.
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| City's best chance of the gme followed when the ball was brought in by Addis on the left wing before the Forester played it into Wilko, but the joint top scorer's route to goal was blocked so he laid it off to Lee Smith who drilled in a low first time shot that could only find the side netting. |
| Chris Burns made a double change bringing on Adie Harris for Knight and Jamie Reid for Wilko. Harris, still getting games under his belt following his lenghty lay off was subjected to the usual age jibes from the home fans. When he's back to full fitness the City winger will serve up some humble pie for these short sighted bigots. |
| No more chances came City's way but Lynn should've scored when Bacon made a real pigs ear of a free header and failed to even test Bath when he headed wide from eight yards. He was lucky that he didn't get taken off but earlier substitute Robbie Harris was subbed for Ludovic Quistin. |
| The only action that remained was for Quistin to to give Jamie Reid a knee in the back as they both jumped for a high ball. Twenty quid for eight hours on a coach, ten minutes football and a big bruise as a souveneir. With Slimbridge waiting in the wings I wouldn't expect Reid to be a City player for much longer. |
| And that was it. Not the drubbing that I feared but City had still lost. Thankfully our peers at the lower end of the table didn't fare much better and the Tigers held onto fifteenth place. |
| To be fair it wasn't much of a day for the City fans with the only plus points being the cold chips and dry burger from Nans Pantry and seeing Joe and Travis allow themselves to be photographed over a sign saying 'Gay'! |
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| Tiger Roar Man of the Match - Marvin Thompson |
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Marvin Thompson
Star Man |
A cool and assured performance from the young defender who seems to have found his feet again following an uncertain middle part of the season. Partnered with the power of Lyndon Tompkins and the guile of Neil Griffiths, in this form Marvin could provide Chris Burns with the answer of how to free up Chris Thompson into midfield.
There were also notable displays today from the other Thompson who gave us a glimpse of what is missing in the middle of the park and also more hard running and effort from Tom Webb, who was almost rewarded with a goal midway through the first half.
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