Stamford 4 King's Lynn 1
1st April 2013
King's Lynn Town's proud unbeaten run ended in emphatic fashion with an Easter Monday mauling at Stamford.
The Linnets suffered their heaviest defeat of the EvoStik campaign as their 15-match sequence without defeat, which stretched back to the start of the year, was ripped apart by the Daniels.
The only bright spot for Lynn was that league leaders Coalville dropped two points in a 1-1 home draw with Gresley.
Lynn made four changes from the side which triumphed 7-0 at home to Mickleover Sports on Saturday.
But two of them were enforced with influential midfielder Dan Quigley missing out with flu, while club captain Richard Bunting failed a late fitness test on his groin.
Lynn's other changes saw defender Phil Gulliver and top-scorer Stephen Spriggs return to the fold as they went into the top-of-the-table clash protecting their long unbeaten record.
After a scrappy opening, Stamford took the lead with the first chance of the match after 19 minutes.
The Lynn defence were all at sea as Ricky Miller delivered a cross from the left and Liam Richardson prodded the ball into the empty net on his home debut.
Lynn should have equalised midway through the half when a delightful pass from Dan Jacob found Shane Tolley in space, but the striker curled his effort inches wide of the target.
Lynn could find no way past Stamford centre-back and captain Richard Jones, who stood tall for the hosts, in a disappointing first-half performance from The Walks outfit.
A stop-start contest got even worse for Lynn when the Daniels added a breakaway second goal four minutes before the interval.
Lynn began the second period well with Jacob's header forcing Stamford goalkeeper Matt Finlay into his first save of the match.
But their hopes of getting back into the contest disappeared less than two minutes later as Tom Byrne found Jordan Hempenstall, who chipped the advancing Danny Gay from just outside the box.
George Thomson and Jacob missed half-chances for Lynn and Tolley's header hit the post but in truth Lynn were never at the races. The offside flag spared Hempenstall's blushes, while one-time Lynn target Miller fluffed his lines when one-on-one with Gay.
Miller made amends with the easiest of finishes from just inside the box in the 83rd minute after more shoddy defending from Gary Setchell's side.
Stamford's Tom Batchelor saw red for a second yellow card before Russell Dunkley neeted a late consolation for Lynn from an indirect free-kick.
After the match, disappointed Town boss Setchell offered no excuses.
He said: "The 11 players we put out on the pitch weren't good enough today and we got what we deserved.
"We were out-worked by a hungry Stamford side who fully deserved the three points."
Lynn: Gay, Watson, Gulliver, Lee, Yong, Spriggs (Mulkready 57), Jepson (Beaumont 57), Thomson, Jacob, Tolley, Dunkley
Subs: Butt, Fryatt, Beaumont, Mulready Booked: Jepson, Yong, Thomson, Watson, Jacob. Scorer: Dunkley (90+4)
Stamford: Finlay, Rose, S Saunders, Batchelor, Jones, Richardson, Hall, Brooks, Miller, Hempenstall (B Saunders 87), Byrne (Richards 70).
Subs: B Saunders, Swales, Richards, Maddox, Watkins. Scorers: Richardson 19, Hall 41, Hempenstall 49, Miller 82. Booked: Batchelor, Saunders, Rose. Sent off: Batchelor (second yellow)
Attendance: 583