King's Lynn 3 Oldbury 1
5th September 1989
IT took the neat finishing of home-based Freddie Easthall to steady Linnets nerves in Tuesday's FA Cup replay.
For the fans he was one of the few familiar faces in the new-look squad - and showed he is determined to hold his place with another accomplished display playing wide on the left. With the Midlands side Oldbury starting to grow in confidence, Easthall struck a telling 25th minute blow. He darted through the offside trap to reach Derek Nuttall's through ball, took con-
trol with the first touch and cleverly sent his shot over keeper Steve Johnson.
Easthall, who missed some of the pre-season fixtures and was not really sure of a first team spot, won praise from Linnets officials.
While Oldbury again looked determined to keep a tight hold on Lee Howard on the other flank - just as they had in Saturday's 1-1 draw - Easthall was giving the visitors problems. But it was a tight mid-field battle and Oldbury were certainly still in with a shout until the decisive second goal went in on 56 minutes.
It was almost identical to the first, but this time Howard's pace deceived Oldbury as he followed up Kabia's pass and Johnson was easily beaten.
Now the fight went out of the visitors and team-manager Kabia could have grabbed a hat-trick in the space of just five minutes. Only one of the chances went in and that 75th minute goal settled the cup-tic although Graham Jones did get a late consolation for Oldbury. The Linnets now meet Bromsgrove in the 1st qualifying round at The Walks on September 16.
Lynn: Miller: Moyses, Nuttall,, Creane. Frost: Howard. Appleby, Ward, Easthall, Gregory, Kabia. Substitutes: N Carter (for Easthall 88 mins) and Wright
Referee: P. Wing (Peterborough). Attendance: 639.