Hinckley United 1 King's Lynn 0
13th April 2009
LYNN'S miserable Blue Square North run continued as they slumped to their fourth successive defeat on Easter Monday.
The Walks outfit, who were second-best all afternoon at Hinckley United's Greene King Stadium, have now gone more than six hours since they last scored a goal.
Linnets boss Keith Webb surprisingly kept faith with the same starting 11 that were comprehensively beaten by Alfreton Town at The Walks on Saturday.
Defender Greg Crane, making his 100th appearance for the club, kept his place in the side as Webb reverted back to a 4-4-2 formation.
Another puzzling team selection from the Lynn manager saw Bradley Thomas switched to left-back, while Crane joined Peters in the heart of Lynn's defence.
The hosts, who were inspired by Alex Taylor, bossed the first half without getting out of first gear.
In the fifth minute a long throw found Taylor, whose effort was comfortably dealt with by Scott Howie.
Howie was called upon again to save from Craig Mcilwain before Hinckley eventually took the lead midway through the first half.
The Knitters' third corner of the half was glanced home by Adam Webster, although the ball did appear to take a deflection off the head of Linnets defender Mark Camm on its way into the empty net.
Ten minutes before the interval Neil Cartwright was denied by Howie, who was once again keeping his side in the match almost single-handedly.
Although they forced a couple of early corners, Lynn failed to muster a single shot on or off target in a lacklustre first 45 minutes.
A miserable first period was compounded by a booking for Bradley Thomas shortly before the half-time whistle.
The match followed the same pattern in the second half as Hinckley poured forward in search of a second goal.
Just after the restart, Webster's cracking right-foot shot flew past Howie's post before the same player went close with a similar chance a few minutes later.
Lynn introduced Dominic Dwyer into the action 11 minutes into the second half but it was Hinckley who continued to look the more threatening going forward.
In the 56th minute Hinckley's Callum Lloyd ghosted into the box but saw his shot strike the base of the post and go out for a goal-kick.
Lynn's first opportunity of any note came in the 65th minute when Andy Johnson's long-range effort rarely looked like troubling Chris Mackenzie between the posts.
Scott Mitchell replaced Mark Camm with 20 minutes to go as Lynn looked to add some much-needed energy to their midfield.
But it was the hosts who continued to dominate, with Richard Lavery heading over the woodwork from Hinckley's eighth corner of the contest in the 75th minute.
Lynn continued to look out-of-sorts in the final exchanges of the match and never looked like ending their goal drought.
To make matters worse, the names of Adam Smith and Jack Defty followed Thomas' into the referee's notebook during the second period.
Hinckley: C. Mackenzie, D. Roma, C. Franklin, R. Lavery, C. Mcilwain, L. Platnauer, N. Cartwright, A. Gooding, A. Webster, A. Taylor (C. Dozie 85), C. Lloyd (A. Hall 70). Subs not used: C. Smith, L. Hamilton, N. Pollard.
Lynn: Howie, Graham, Thomas, Peters, Crane, Camm (Mitchell 70), Kelly (Dwyer 55), Johnson, Defty (Renton 80), Joachim, Smith. Subs not used: Fisk, Murray.
Referee: C. Ward (Worksop).
Attendance: 397.
Stats, Lynn first: shots on target 0, 5; off target 1, 5; corners 3, 8; offside 8, 4; free-kicks conceded 5, 10.