King's Lynn 1 Ludlow Town 0
2nd October 2004
MR RELIABLE Carl Holmes struck again as the Linnets booked their place in the third qualifying round without breaking sweat.Holmes popped up in the 57th minute to finish off a poor Ludlow side, who never looked like adding their name to the numerous cup upsets Lynn have suffered against lower-league opposition over the years.
Ludlow were clearly content on settling for a replay and some woeful finishing from Lynn and some dogged defending from the visitors kept the tie in the melting.pot until just under the hour mark.
Caretaker Linnets boss Robert Taylor said: "It was tough, but then you would expect nothing different when it comes to the FA Cup.
"They came for a draw and I felt it was like a European style game for most of the 90 minutes.
"Ludlow sat nine players behind the ball and the onus was on us to try and break them down.
"That is always hard, but we kept plugging away and it was a question of whether we could make -the breakthrough."
Taylor added: "During the interval all I asked of the boys was to stick at it. Give them credit, we probably created more chances after the break when you might have been worried the longer it wore on at 0-0 heads could have dropped. "I'm not worried about the goals as they will come. Right now it is about grinding out results and building up confidence."
The result was never in doubt after Holmes had continued his knack of being in the right place at the right time, but fans' tensions were beginning to increase after seeing Lynn spurn a hatful of chances.
In the first 25 minutes alone, Jack Defty, Danny Bloomfield, Adam Jones and Mark Angel all missed opportunities to hand Lynn the lead.
Thirteen minutes before the break Craig Fishlock's volley was blocked by Joe Williams on the line and soon after Angel, who had one of his better games in Lynn colours, was denied by the legs of Ludlow keeper Kevin Welsby.
Two minutes after the restart Holmes' strike was gratefully clutched by Welsby with Bloomfield waiting to pounce, before Fishlock fired wide.
Holmes finally broke the deadlock after Angel's chip had been headed off the line by Williams, but it didn't change the pattern of the contest for the final 30 minutes.
Battersby hit the post with a header, fired a shot wide, and was also foiled by the legs of Welsby, while both Mark Camm and Angel also went close in the dying minutes.
Steve Wilson was largely redundant in goal for Lynn, other than a fine save with his legs to deny Martin Davies.
Lynn: Wilson, Camm, Blake, Jones, Stone, Defty, Holmes, Fishlock (Sutch 67), Battersby, Bloomfield, Angel. Subs not used: Harris, Bacon, Foley, Osborne.
Ludlow: K. Welsby, M. Thomas, D. Howells, D. Andrewartha, J. Williams, M. Tipton, S. Parker, M. McKenzie (R. Vass 45), S. McCormack (H. Shearing 53), M. Davies, C. Dwyer. Not used: M. Poole, D. Crowther, J. Bajcer.
Referee: A. Jones (Lincs).
Attendance: 732.
| FACTfile | Shots on Target | Shots off Target | Corners | Caught Offside | Free kicks Conceded |
| Lynn | 10 | 11 | 10 | 3 | 13 |
| Ludlow | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 12 |
| Lynn News Man of the Match - Mark Angel | |||||