King's Lynn 2 Bradford Park Avenue Res 1
3rd May 1955
A goal down after 35 minutes, and at a stage when Bradford Res were fielding only ten men, savoured of another defeat for Lynn on Tuesday evening. But just to prove that there is no end to the surprises which
soccer can spring; the, team snatched two goals in smash and grab fashion in the dying seconds of the first half to take a flattering lead. Thereafter the defence, can be thanked for earning them two welcome Midland League points.
Rarely in this season of truly higher grade football, can a crowd have been more relieved to have heard the final whistle. Lynn were still but a shadow of the team which has carried. them to such a highly creditable position in the Midland League table, and truth to tell they were very fortunate to escape defeat.
Once again their play was lethargic. With isolated exceptions there was no comparison with the team Lynn supporters have come to admire this season. Passes were made carelessly, indeed badly; they seemed to have lost all sense of teamwork, the art of ball control, and were made to look woefully slow against the more rhythmic moving Bradford side. How they managed to win must still remain something of a mystery.
From early on it must have appeared obvious that in 15 year-old Graham Thomson, making his first team debut on the right wing, Lynn had an effective winger, yet he was starved of the ball. On the occasions he did get service of the ball, Thomson generally made good use of it and often it was his more experienced colleagues who were found wanting.
Half-backs Robinson and Bunn were given a far from happy game by the two experienced Bradford inside forwards and much weight was thrown on to the defence, but here Lynn could thank Heagren and Bannister, in particular, for not having fallen into the off- form rut of most of the other members.
Though their play did not match the general standard of their opponents, Lynn had some fine opportunities early on, offered them mainly through the mistakes of the Bradford defence on a surface made greasy by driving rain during the early stages.
Bloomer and Edwards both missed golden chances. Edwards fired over when clear of all other Bradford players and on another occasion fired straight at Begg; then Bloomer shot quicker than he need have done and gave Begg the opportunity to get to the ball. .
Bradford were not blameless in this respect either, and twice Lynn had narrow escapes before falling behind in the 35th minute. With Jordan on the touchline receiving treatment Bradford moved to the attack and PARKINSON beat Corbett to a forward pass and shot the ball home. Shortly afterwards Corbett made a great save, however, in pushing away one-handed a fine shot by Beattie which looked a winner all the way: Lynn had given little hope of recovery, but then in the last.90 seconds of the first half they scored twice. Young Thomson had a big hand in both goals.
First he took a return pass from Robinson and then quickly slipped the ball between two defenders to give BLOOMER a good chance which he accepted with a back-heeled effort after having two shots blocked.
A minute later Thomson passed the ball neatly inside to Todd who, after forcing the ball past two defenders, squared it across for BLOOMER to net with the greatest of ease. The second half offered nothing else in the way of compensation for a generally poor all-round display, other than that at the final whistle Lynn were still holding their slender lead. Heagren was probably the biggest stumbling block to the Bradford attack, for time and time again he halted them when it seemed inevitable they must break through. Even so, there were some anxious moments around the goal and some dangerously hurried clearances.
At the other end, though not so often in the picture, the Lynn attack had chances to have added several more goals. Thomson and Todd worked well together and it was this flank which provided the greatest promise, Bloomer was out of luck with a couple of good shots, and more particularly when he flicked the ball away from Begg as it came to him from Edwards. Begg, however, dived to make a fine save.
Lynn: Corbett.; Rowe, Bannister; Robinson. Heagren, Bunn; G. Thompson, Todd, Bloomer. Edwards, Morris.
Bradford Res.: Begg, Carlin, Jordon, Rawson. Parkin, Hudson, E. Hirst, Beattie. Parkinson. Wright, Worseman.
Attendance, 2,381.