King's Lynn 1 Sittingbourne 1
8th March 2003
LETHARGIC Lynn's promotion hopes are all but over after a negative second half performance saw them drop two vital points at home to Sittingbourne.Lynn should have had the game wrapped up by the interval, but only had one goal to show for their early dominance.
The Walks outfit must now win all of their remaining games and hope their rivals at the top suffer the promotion jitters if they are to claim one of the top two spots.
But the chances of that happening look unlikely with Eastbourne and Bashley holding pole position and well clear with games in hand.
Lynn could have been home and dry by the time David Staff gave them an 11th minute lead with his 15 goal of the campaign
A fine ball from Paul Raynor pierced the Sittingbourne defence and Staff made no mistake with the finish past Brickies keeper Lee Hook, who had an inspired afternoon between the posts.
Before Staff's opener, Marc Burrows saw his shot blocked on the line from a Raynor corner, while Jack Defty header wildly wide from Adam Jones' centre.
Lynn continued to dominate, so much so that supporters had their calculators at the ready to add up all the goals.
Unfortunately, they didn't materialise.
A Staff free-kick was well dealt with by Hook in the 20th minute and the same player was at full stretch to turn a Jones drive round the post a minute later.
In the 26th minute, Burrows held his head in his hands after seeing Hook save his header at point blank range.
It was then Defty's turn to fluff his lines in front of goal, with three missed efforts in the remainder of the half.
Such was Lynn's superiority, Sittingbourne's only chance of the first 45 minutes came 10 minutes before the interval when Corrie Griffin came within a whisker of levelling the scores.
The roles were reversed after the interval with Sittingbourne growing in confidence as the half wore on.
Two minutes after the restart, Steve Wilson pulled off a vital save from Bradley Spice to keep Lynn's lead intact.
Lynn did continue to create, Watts and Raynor both going close, while Staff was the architect of another move, which saw Watts foiled by Hook.
A sharp one-two between Watts and Defty saw the latter hit the post before sloppy defending allowed Sittingbourne to equalise in the 66th minute through Andrew Drury.
Eleven minutes from the end it was Sittingbourne's turn to strike the post through Spice.
Back came Lynn with the move of the match involving Nicky Blake, Chris Bacon and Richard Woodrow in the dying seconds, but Raynor's shot was turned round the, post by Hook.
Lynn: Wilson, Jones, Cowling (Blois 79), Burrows, Fuff, Defty, Weston (Woodrow 73), Raynor, Watts (Blake 79), Bacon and Staff. Not used: Blyth and Nobes.
Sittingbourne: L. Hook, C. Cunningham, C. Griffin, P Spackman, T. Berry (T. King 75), J. Coyle, A. Drury, K. Marsh, P. Campbell, B. Spice, P Davies (T. Miller). Not used: T McCann, M. Beeney.
Referee: J. Murfitt (Little Thetford).
Attendance: 628.
Man-of-the-match: Jack Defty.
Booking: Spackman (Sittingbourne), deliberate handball 10.