King's Lynn 3 Eastbourne Borough 0
10th November 2012
Linnets boss Gary Setchell heaped praise on his players as they continued their FA Trophy dream by putting Eastbourne to the sword.
Second half goals by Russell Dunkley,Steve Spriggs and Sam Mulready saw the Linnets dump out higher-league opposition for the third successive round at The Walks.
A jubilent Setchell said:
"I'm so proud of my players. After the game I went into the dressing room and said `what more can I say?' I seem to be saying to the players every week about how we are exceeding expectations.
"We just ooze hard work and we ooze effort. People always said to me, 'that is what King's Lynn fans want to see. and that is exactly what they are seeing.
"The reception the boys got as they came off the pitch was second to none."
It wasn't all plain-sailing for
Lynn who had to show wonderful tenacity and ruthlessness to fend off their illustrious hosts for the first hour of the match.
Setchell admitted that his side's doggedness in the opening 60 minutes had been key in the final outcome.
"The back four were immense and Bunts (captain Richard Bunting) - he started slowly, but I thought he was terrific in front of the back four," said Setchell.
"He does so much unseen work that a lot of the naked eye, shall we say, doesn't see.
"We had a look at them in the first half, and we kept it tight.
"If you come out and go gung-ho against a Conference South side you could find yourself getting picked off.
"In the second half we went 4-4-2, just before the goal, and I think the goal gave us belief.
"I don't know how much belief the lads had up to that time because Eastbourne had been on top and they'd hit the crossbar, but as soon as we scored I thought we were the best team on the pitch.
"The last half-hour I thought we were absolutely magnificent."
Lynn have beaten illustrious opposition on their home patch before, but the visit of the Conference South side was always I going to be their toughest assignment to date.
Eastbourne were territorially dominant without their hosts looking overly perturbed or panicked.
Dangerman Kez Ibe hit the woodwork in the first half but, other than that, Linnets goalkeeper Alex Street wasn't seriously tested - thanks to the herculean efforts of the back four in front of him.
Lynn reverted to a 4-4-2 in the second period and with it came a sense of the belief that they could go on and win the game.
The deadlock was broken in the 63rd minute when Spriggs played a delightful one-two with Jason Turner before crossing for Dunkley to stab the ball home.
Seven minutes from time it was 2-0 when Spriggs galloped on to a quickly-taken free-kick by Dan Quigley before lashing the ball into the net.
A brilliant victory was, ironically, wrapped up by local lad Mulready, who netted with a thumping header after a peach of a cross from Jamie Thurlbourne in the dying seconds.
And the final whistle sparked wild scenes of celebration as the Lynn fans, players and staff soaked up another stunning victory. Lynn: Street, Watson, Gulliver, Fryatt, Yong, Spriggs (Mulready 88), Bunting, Quigley, Thurlbourne, Beaumont (Turner 44), Dunkley. Subs: Buhlemann, McLeish. Goal: Dunkley 64, Spriggs 85, Mulready 90
Eastbourne: Jordan, Watts, Cole, Adelsbury, Rowe, Uddin, Johnson (Remy 62), Raymond, Hart (Gorman 90), Ibe, Hamilton (Lok 75). Subs: Knight, Noone. Booked: Uddin, Rowe
Att: 661