King's Lynn 2 Corby Town 2
4th December 1968
After having gained the upper hand through some good football, and established a 2-1 interval lead, the Linnets faded badly in the second half of their Southern League Cup third round tie against Corby Town at the Walks on Wednesday evening and were forced into a replay.
Slow off the mark, they conceded a goal after only four minutes, but fought back well to establish an authority on the proceedings and go ahead with two fine goals, one by Savino and the other by Jenkins.
At the interval Lynn appeared to have the match well under control. They needed merely to continue the form shown up to the interval to go through to the last eight of the competition - but this they failed to do.
What neither spectators nor Lynn team members realised at the time was that skipper Mick Wright was injured. It was obvious that he had lost the driving force which made him such a danger - even a potential match winner - in the first half.
As a result Lynn lost their midfield grip and the forwards were given less support. Corby came back strongly and the Lynn defence was thrust into some frightful muddles.
Up front Ray Savino, despite scoring a fine goal and having a hand in the other, generally had a poor match, while Keith Rudd could make little impression against an uncompromising defence.
At the same time Eric Porter, usually so cool and commanding in the middle had one of his most harassing games in the face of some skilful and determined play by former Kilmarnock player, Bertie Black.
Norman Coe came out but failed to clear a corner after four minutes and Corby snatched a shock lead. And their second goal in the second half, which earned Corby a replay, was also a defensive blunder; Colin Sharp allowing himself to be easily dispossessed by Black who then scored an opportunist goal.
Corby's opening goal was headed in by McNeil, an enterprising inside forward, Sharp tried unsuccessfully to clear the ball and it trickled over the line. Their second was scored by black after 62 minutes when he neatly chipped the ball over the advancing goalkeeper from just outside the penalty area.
Lynn began to settle to their task immediately after their early reverse and Wright was soon in the limelight. With Goodall playing a deep role, the Lynn kipper found scope to launch himself into the attack, and in the tenth minute he almost created a goal. He ran half the length of the field, and then saw his low cross from the by-line turned into his own net by Addy.
However, a linesman's flag was up, and the goal was disallowed because the ball had crossed the line before Wright had parted with it.
The Corby defence covered their goal well, but they cold not prevent Lynn scoring twice. In the 26th minute Rudd headed a clearance back into the penalty area and Savino, to the right of goal, hit a terrific shot which goalkeeper Fallon could only divert to the roof of the net.
Four minutes later Savino returned a pass back across field, just outside the penalty area and Jenkins hit a great first time shot into the goalkeeper's top right hand corner of the net.
Lynn kept up the pressure with Malcolm Lindsay having a fine game at centre-forward and Jenkins laying on some good passes from one of which David Clarke had a strong shot charged down.
Corby had a goal disallowed in the 40th minute when Goodall returned a bad goal kick by Coe into the net, but another player was ruled offside.
Lynn went close early in the second half when Jenkins headed against the underside of the bar, but their play deteriorated and Corby came back to save the match with a 62nd minute goal by Black.
Much of the second half play was scrappy, and Lynn's attack was never given sufficient service of the ball to develop any real dangerous moves. It was a game in which the defence had a most unhappy time.
Lynn: Coe, Haskins, Sharp, Brooks, Porter, Wright, Savino, Rudd, Lindsay, Jenkins, Clarke.
Corby: Fallon, Caldow, Burns, Addy, McGugan, Scott, Hawley, Goodall, Black, McNeil, Gregory.
Attendance: 1,147