King’s Lynn Town slumped to one of the worst home defeats of the season despite a spirited second-half performance.
The Linnets were 4-0 behind at halftime – two weeks after their defeat at Stockport.
It wasn’t much of a surprise that Lynn was beaten – her current weekly budget would likely get them a Stockport player.
And while Lynn, as manager Ian Culverhouse describes it, only ticks off the games until the end of the season, the Hatters desperately want to be promoted. For this reason, for one club, every pound is a prisoner and for the other it is to be spent in order to attract highly skilled players to quit the job.
Culverhouse made two forced changes: Michael Gyasi and Alex Kiwomya came on for center-back Elkan Baggott, who was needed by parent club Ipswich for the FA Youth Cup on Friday, and midfielder Cameron King, who was forced to drop out during the weekend’s loss Dagenham & Redbridge for breathing difficulties.
Unsurprisingly, the visitors came out of the blocks quickly and Lynn chased shadows in the early stages.
Paddy Madden pulled one just wide of Theo Richardson’s right post, and Harry Cardwell might have done better if a header had hit the crossbar.
The inevitable came after nine minutes when John Rooney’s corner was led by Paddy Madden – who scored twice against the Linnets a fortnight earlier.
Michael Gash tried to take matters into his own hands when Lynn finally glanced at the visitors’ goal, but his shot was tipped by goalkeeper Ben Hinchcliffe.
Sad for Gash, he came on the other end a moment later and turned James Jennings’ corner from close range past keeper Richardson.
An uphill battle for Lynn was suddenly an almost vertical challenge, but at every turn there was a white Stockport shirt that Lynn closed and blocked passes.
Lynn managed to stem the flow, and guest keeper Hinchcliffe overturned a gyasi attempt just before half an hour.
Sonny Carey should have withdrawn a goal on 33 minutes after Gyasi’s good work, but the midfielder cut his shot out.
Eventually, Lynn began showing off some of the style that has troubled a number of promotion candidates in the past few weeks.
But then, in the 37th minute, Lynn was cut open – Elliott Newby’s cross from the right was a bang for the money, and all Cardwell had to do was nod home without any real pressure.
A fourth followed six minutes later when Newby’s low cross escaped Richardson from the left and Cardwell hit her from two meters away.
Culverhouse had to do the best magic trick in his box at halftime and Lynn got off to a good start, but Rooney’s blocked shot that went to the corner was a reminder of the dangers involved.
That seemed to have arrived in the 58th minute. Newby was taken out on the midline by Tyler Denton. The ball fell on half-time sub Macauley Southam-Hales, who penetrated the Lynn half before being unceremoniously fouled by Callan-McFadden.
It gave Rooney an opportunity to get revenge on Richardson, who saved his penalty when the teams met at Edgeley Park two weeks ago. Rooney stepped forward – and Richardson saved again.
Lynn, to her credit, kept looking for the results sheet, and Gyasi did a lot of legwork to prepare Gash for a curler that was only a few inches wide.
Carey shot wide after Rob Howard and Gash did a decent job and Kiwomya was knocked off the goalkeeper’s legs before rolling the rebound excruciatingly far from the far post.
Carey was on target with an easy-to-collect grass cutter from Hinchcliffe when the Linnets continued to get close to a target, but not close enough.
It was largely irretrievable at 4-0, but it is thanks to Lynn that she adhered to the principles that Culverhouse values so much.
King’s Lynn Town: Richardson, Howard, Fleming, Callan-McFadden, Denton, Coleman, Clunan, Gyasi, Carey, Kiwomya, Gash. Unused subs: Payne, Babos, Jackson, Tsaguim, Gascoigne.
Stockport County: Hinchcliffe, Minihan, Jennings, Hogan (Southam-Hales 46), Palmer, Rooney, Croasdale, Walker (Rydel 68), Cardwell (Reid 73), Newby, Madden. Unused subs: Fitzsimons, Maynard.
