King's Lynn 0 Carlton Town 0
4th September 2012
KING'S Lynn Town bounced back from their first defeat of the season at Sheffield with a hard-fought point at home to Carlton Town.
But Lynn know they should have gone home with all three points against last season's league runners-up after a late penalty miss from Jason Turner.
Turner's 86th minute spot-kick was well-saved by Martin Kearney to his right after Jordan Yong was felled in the box following a mazy run.
Carlton arrived at The Walks with an 100 per cent record on their travels and Lynn had more than enough chances to end that statistic.
After a slow start, Gary Setchell's side spurned a number of opportunities to break the deadlock with Turner the worst culprit in front of goal.
Lynn went into the game without the suspended Dan Quigley and the injured Russell Dunkley and both players were sorely missed.
Rob Hughes filled the void left by Quigley while Jason Turner replaced Dunkley in the only two changes to the team which started the defeat on Saturday.
In the first minute, a flick header from Joe Naylor almost gave Carlton Town the lead.
After a sloppy start from Lynn, Jamie Forshaw just failed to connect with a Thurlbourne centre and five minutes later Spriggs fired high and wide after finding space just inside the box.
Carlton continued to have the better of the exchanges with Matthew Varley heading just wide of the target and Wes Henry seeing his effort saved by the legs of Alex Street.
Ross Watson came close from long-range before a defence-splitting pass from Jordan Yong picked out Forshaw, who blazed over when he should have done better.
Watson continued to threaten from long-range and Turner saw a shot saved by the legs of Martin Kearney as the Linnets ended the first half well on top.
A minute after the restart, a goalmouth scramble from a corner led to Nick Hall missing a sitter from eight yards out for the visitors.
Lynn responded swiftly with Turner forcing Kearney into a save with his legs before the Carlton goalkeeper was called upon to keep out a Thurlbourne free-kick and Forshaw's follow-up.
Spriggs then provided a golden opportunity for Turner to open the scoring with a peach of a cross but the frontman fluffed his lines in front of goal.
The Walks outfit were given a lucky let off in the 70th minute when a Carlton cross deflected off Phil Gulliver's knee and onto the post before Ryan Fryatt made an important block as the ball ran loose.
Turner's penalty miss was almost punished in the dying seconds when Carlton substitute Wiggins-Thomas' header flashed inches wide of Alex Street's left-hand post. King's Lynn Town: Street, Watson, Yong, Fryatt, Gulliver, Bunting, Spriggs, Hughes, Forshaw (Beaumont 67), Turner, Thurlbourne.
Carlton Town: Kearney, Darkin (McVicar 28), Gordon, Asher, Varley, Hall, Thornton, Naylor, Henry (Wiggins-Thomas 63), Whitehurst (Smithson 79), Kimberley.
Attendance: 480.