King's Lynn 11 Durham 0
7th October 2009
LYNN'S striking duo of Anthony Robinson and Kwesi Appiah both notched hat-tricks as the Linnets put the young starlets of Durham City to the sword at The Walks on Saturday.
The only surprise was that it took Lynn all of eight minutes to open their account as they romped to a post-war record league win.
Lynn did their job in a ruthless and professional manner against crisis-hit Durham's talented teenagers, who were no match for Carl Heggs' powerful side.
Durham's youngsters stepped into the breach when their main sponsor pulled the plug and the entire squad walked out two games into the new season.
The north-east club's young guns have continued to swim against the tide against experienced UniBond Premier Division sides in the face of adversity, playing for the love of the game with no money to pay them.
Seven-nil up at the interval, Lynn swept to double-figures after the break, with goalkeeper Danny Gay and his defence showing no mercy to Durham's fledgling outfit by keeping a clean sheet.
After the game, Linnets boss Heggs said: "What pleased me the most about Saturday wasn't the fact that we scored 11 goals, but the way we kept going.
"Even at 10-0 up, we had players making 30-yard runs to put in a slide tackle and that epitomises everything I'm about. We kept going from the first whistle until the very last whistle."
Lynn took the lead in the eighth minute when Story's left-footed shot beat Durham goalkeeper O'Brien from ten yards after Gareth Ayers failed to deal with Andy Boyce's deep cross.
Appiah doubled Lynn's advantage seconds later from a Muirhead centre, before midfielder an unmarked Carl Palmer powered home a header for Lynn's third of the afternoon.
Muirhead bagged Lynn's fourth on 19 minutes - the former Man United trainee beating team mate Appiah to hammer the ball home.
Robinson got in on the act midway through the half when he raced onto Appiah's reverse pass before firing home.
Appiah missed perhaps the easiest chance of the half when he skied over from eight yards out, but he soon atoned for his error by poking home Lynn's sixth 14 minutes before the break.
Robinson put Lynn in seventh heaven just before the interval and completed his hat-trick three minutes after the restart by slotting home from close range.
Peterborough loanee Appiah then rose unmarked to guide a close range header past the hapless O'Brien to complete his treble less than a minute later.
Appiah and chief-tormentor Story were withdrawn shortly into the second period as Heggs handed recent signing Justin Rowe his Linnets debut.
Rowe took all of 19 minutes to join the party when he drove the ball home from 12 yards.
The final - and the best of Lynn's 11-goal show - came 14 minutes from time when Rowe unleashed a stinging 20-yard volley into the empty net.
A shell-shocked O'Brien, Durham's best player, twice denied substitute Danny Spencer in the closing stages as Lynn threatened to edge towards their record 17-0 pre-war success over Beccles.
Lynn: Gay, Webb, Rowe-Turner, Palmer, Boyce, Aisien, Story (Smith 56), Magunda, Appiah (Spencer 56), Robinson, Muirhead (Rowe 50). Subs (not used): McAnally, Murray.
Goals: Story (8), Appiah (10, 31, 49), Palmer (12), Muirhead (19), Robinson (23, 41, 48), Rowe (69, 76)
Durham: O'Brien, Mounter, Wren, Stevenson, Stoker, Ayers, Watson (Potts 50), Graham, Ayer (James 67), Cutts, Shaw. Subs (not used): Winter.
Referee: M. Chester. Attendance: 909.