Northampton Spencer 1 King's Lynn 2
10th March 2012
LINNETS boss Gary Setchell has called on his side to become more ruthless in front of goal despite picking up the three points at Northampton Spencer on Saturday.
Although The Walks outfit did manage to beat the brilliant Quincy Shorunmu twice, they wasted a glut of opportunities to improve their goal difference at the expense of title rivals Long Buckby.
Setchell refused to criticise any individuals but felt his side should have done better with their chances and workrate in certain areas of the field.
An angry Setchell said: "People get slaughtered when they make mistakes for goals but when you miss the kind of chances we did today they are mistakes too.
"Missing balls from underneath the crossbar, not scoring a goal when their goalkeeper is on the floor and hitting him from five yards out are costing us goals all of the time.
"We weren't clinical enough. In all fairness the league title with Long Buckby could go down to goal difference at some point so we've got to try to make the most of our chances."
The Linnets looked capable of making a cricket score when Danny Beaumont fired them in front after six minutes but failed to doubled their advantage until midway through the second period when defender Stuart Wall stooped to head home Lynn's second.
In between the two goals, Lynn found Shorunmu in fantastic form as the home goalkeeper carried on from where he left off at The Walks earlier in the season.
The charismatic Shorunmu, in the same mould as former Liverpool shotstopper Bruce Grobbelaar, pulled off save-after-save to foil the Linnets, who were indebted themselves to Alex Street late on for denying the hosts an unlikely equaliser.
Setchell said: "I always felt we were in control of the game but near the end we've had to rely on a fantastic save from Alex to make sure the game didn't finish 2-2.
"At times it was more like a testimonial game than a match involving a side that are trying to win the league and I gave the lads a blast afterwards.
"We scored early and thought the job was done and were sloppy in possession. We're trying to win the league and we didn't look quite hungry enough because we thought we'd come here and roll them over.
"I gave the lads Thursday off but that will be the last Thursday they get off this year now.
"We lacked composure in front of goal which was disappointing and our best players were the back four.
"Stuart Wall had a terrific game, Jamie Thurlbourne did well at left back and Ashley Deeney put his wrongs right from Tuesday night."
King's Lynn Town: Street, Deeney, Wall, Fryatt, J. Thurlbourne, White, Hughes (Spriggs, 25), L. Thurlbourne (Buhlemann, 68), Beaumont, Defty (Harris, 74) and Turner.
Subs not used: Hails and Watson.
Booked: L. Thurlbourne. Goal: Beaumont (6) and Wall (66).
Northampton Spencer: Shorunmu, Nash, Hopkins, Smith (Stevenson, 86), Allcock, Sharpe (De Costa, 70), Smith, Merrill, Pickering (Hancock, 79), Frost and Hurt.
Booked: Merrill. Goal: Hancock (80).
Referee: K. Yezek. Attendance: 198. Man-of-the-match: Stuart Wall.