Ashton United 5 King's Lynn 1
1st March 2014
Furious Linnets boss Gary Setchell labelled his side's defensive showing as "the worst in four years" as Ashton re-ignited their play-off hopes at the expense of Lynn Town's.
The Walks outfit also had defender Ryan Fryatt sent-off and missed a second-half penalty as they conceded five goals in a league game for the first time since the club was reformed.
An angry Setchell blasted his defence, saying: "You would have to say that's our worst performance of the season.
"That's up there with the Matlock's (4-0) and the Cambridge City's (5-1) from earlier in the season.
"You would be very disappointed with that kind of defending at under-14 level, let alone level three of non-league.
"We still haven't kept an away clean sheet this season and if you are really serious about doing anything in football that's one of the things you must do.
"My two centre backs have been destroyed all afternoon and maybe we develop something of a soft centre when we are on the road.
"We seemed to have no snap or zip today and our plan B didn't work so I have to say we have had a particularly bad day at the office and given ourselves a mountain to climb in regards of the play-offs - that's something we won't be talking about for a while I think."
Lynn had a chance in the first minute when a Ryan Clarke ball over the top found Jake Jones but his shot was saved by Paul Philips in the home goal.
After 15 minutes, Martin Pilkington was then fouled on the edge of the Lynn box and Greg Pearson's free-kick saw Jack Higgins force the ball over the line following a goalmouth scramble.
Home striker Dale Johnson doubled Ashton's advantage on the half-hour mark with a confident finish.
Lynn pulled a goal back through David Bell after the midfielder sidestepped a couple of challenges, but the Robins were able to restore their two-goal advantage through leading scorer Pilkington.
Ashton were back in the goals at the start of the second period as Chris Lynch won the ball and Johnson's flick on allowed Matty Kosylo to round the keeper and tap the ball into an empty net.
The Linnets missed a great opportunity to reduce the deficit on 65 minutes when Dan Quigley went over under a challenge in the box, but the resulting penalty by Bell was easily saved by Paul Phillips between the home posts.
Johnson competed a fine performance on 80 minutes as he picked up Pilkington's knockdown and ran past three defenders before firing past Timms.
Lynn's misery was compounded by a late red card for centre back Fryatt after a reckless challenge on substitute Matt Chadwick.
Ashton's Johnson missed a great chance to register his hat-trick, when scoring looked easier, but by then the damage had already been done.
Ashton: Phillips, Lynch, Pearson, Gorton, Higgins, Young, Kosylo (Chadwick), Gee, Johnson, Pilkington (Haslam), Chalmers (Rick). Subs not used: Baguley, Halford.
Scorers: Higgins (15), Johnson (29, 69) Pilkington (45), Kosylo (50).
Booked: Chalmers, Lynch.
Lynn: Timms, R. Clarke, Yong, Lee, Fryatt, Mills (Thomson), Hall, Quigley, Duffy (McDonald), Bell, Jones (Mulready). Subs not used: Sanders and E. Clarke.
Scorer: Bell (45).
Sent-off: Fryatt. Booked: Mulready.