King's Lynn 4 Hastings United 2
8th November 2003
MALCOLM Ndekwe ended his goal drought in the league as Lynn moved back up to second with a less than convincing display at The Walks.Ndekwe set Lynn on their way by opening the scoring with his first league strike of the season in the 16th minute, but Peter Morris' side made hard work of seeing off a side that have failed to win on their travels for over a year.
Lynn always had the upper hand, but once again they put their supporters on tenterhooks by missing a host of chances in front of the target and gifting Hastings a second goal to set up an anxious few minutes, before a late fourth from Carl Holmes.
In the 16th minute, a David Staff set piece was headed on by Jack Defty into the path of Ndekwe, whose shot was brilliantly saved before the ball was scrambled clear for a corner.
Ndekwe handed Lynn the lead from the resulting corner kick when his shot trickled in off the post.
Four minutes later, the busy Defty was denied by an acrobatic one-handed save by Will Toal, who stood between Lynn and an early avalanche of goals.
Defender Mark Burrows screwed a shot wide in the 22nd minute and three minutes later some desperate Hastings defending kept out a header from Holmes.
Lynn continued to surge forward and seventeen minutes before the break they were denied a clear penalty when Ndekwe used his pace and strength to' shrug off Russell Eldridge, before the defender, tugged him down in the box.
Five minutes later, Holmes pierced open the Hastings rearguard with a superb pass for Staff, who with just. the keeper to beat, tried to be too clever and was subsequently tackled by a chasing back defender. Hastings levelled matters in the 39th minute, when Glen Fuff was harshly adjudged to have fouled Stuart Myall on the edge of the box and Eldridge stepped up to fire home the free kick.
Referee Mr Artis balanced his earlier decision not to award Lynn a penalty out by pointing to the spot three minutes after the restart when Ndekwe was hardly touch in the box.
But Lynn failed to take advantage of Mr Kett's generosity when Holmes' kick was saved by a diving save from Toal to his left.
Lynn replaced Adam Jones and Ndekwe with Richard Woodrow and Chris Bacon respectively and the double change had a dramatic effect in an incident-packed final 25 minutes.
In the 65th minute, Staff's cross was bundled in by Bacon, but the goal was ruled out for a foul on the keeper.
Lynn eventually added a second when Woodrow headed home Paul Raynor's deep free kick at the far post in the 70th minute.
The game looked beyond Hastings' reach four minutes later when Defty cleverly found Bacon on the right and the striker's shot went in off the post for Lynn's third.
But Hastings soon reduced the deficit to one again when Raynor's pass left Camm, now playing at right-back in the absence of Jones, short and Steve Ringwood nipped in to rob the defender and score.
Lynn fans were now left biting their nails, although their tension was nearly relieved by Staff in the 86th minute, who danced his way past two defenders before shooting straight at Toal.
A fourth did come deep into stoppage time when Holmes was on hand to sidefoot home Defty's miscued shot.
Lynn: Higgs, Jones (Woodrow 62). March Burrows, Fuff, Defty, Camm, Raynor, Ndekwe (Bacon 62), Staff, Holmes. Subs not used: Wilson and Glarvey.
Hastings: W. Toil, D. Henham (G. Morris 59), R. Eldridge, K. Startup, S. Sands, C. Belcher (R. Spiller 71), S. Myall, S. Ringwood, M. Sherwood (D. Crittendon 90), C. Honey, C. Rook.
Referee: Mr S. Artis (Norwich). Attendance: 680.
| MATCH STATISTICS | Shots on Target | Shots off Target | Corners | Caught Offside | Free kicks Conceded |
Bookings |
| Lynn | 15 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 13 | |
| Hastings | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 16 | |
| Lynn News Man of the Match - Jack Defty Report by permission of the Lynn News | ||||||