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The Sports exited their 2nd cup competition in November at The Walks where a side shorn of Marc Pullan and Matt Smart due to suspension took an early lead and dominated for 45 minutes but failed to capitalise; the home side storming back to progress to the 1st Round.
Darren Budd partnered Paul Armstrong in the centre midfield; Jay Lovett covering at right-back with Ben Austin moving to partner Darren Baker at centre-back. Scott Ramsay joined Allan Tait up front with Andy Atkin dropping to the bench. The Linnetts started brightly and placed Boro under pressure for the 1st 5 minutes but as Boro shook the long journey from their limbs they began to take control. The side produced some fantastic passing football that left King’s Lynn struggling to get near the ball; Ramsay and Lovett producing efforts on goal, but it took a defensive error for Boro to take the lead. Skipper Matt Warren played a lazy square ball back to keeper Scott Howie that Ramsay intercepted and fired past Howie for 1-0 on 19 minutes. Moments later the big No-9 saw a towering header cleared off the line as the visitors threatened to run amok. Tait then had had a spell where he did everything right but score; a shot deflected wide, a curled effort just high and a 3rd that Howie did well to save. Then the sucker punch. On 40 minutes the back-line failed to clear their lines and a moment of in decision allowed Andrew Fisk to nip in and fire past Lee Hook for the equaliser.
The travelling support must have hoped that the 2nd period would see The Sports regain the initiative but it was not to be. King’s Lynn started the 2nd half as they had the 1st, pushing the visitors deep into their half; playing the long early ball at every chance. As Boro defended for all their worth a deep ball from right-back after a cleared corner saw sub John Turner rise high and head past Hook into the top right-hand corner for the lead. Boro made attacking substitutions with Nathan Crabb and Adam Wilde joining the fray and Pat Harding had a deflected shot saved well but in the final minute King’s Lynn were awarded a penalty for a late challenge and captain Matt Warren made amends for his earlier error leaving Hook no chance for 3-1.
The match was very much a game of 2 halves; the old cliché. If Scott’s header had gone in, if Allan had found the net when Boro were on top, if Pat’s deflected shot had just evaded the keeper for an equaliser, maybe The Sports may have got something from the game. In truth not many left The Walks believing the better side on the day had not won, and the long journey home allowed minds to refocus onto the league campaign.
Match Details - Webmaster.
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