King's Lynn 2 Bedford Town 2
16th September 1970
Bedford robbed Lynn of their first Southern League win with two goals inside ninety seconds only five minutes from time, at The walks on Wednesday.
Lynn seemed to have the two points safely tucked away and even Bedford appeared to have judged it a lost cause when full back Norman Cooley harmlessly lobbed a centre into the Lynn area when Ricketts lost the ball near the touchline.
The centre should have been cut out but wasn't and there was Dennis Coughin, who left Lynn for Bedford just before the start of the season, to head into the corner of the net with Alec Bugg rooted to the spot.
In the next minute another header, this time by Jackie Scurr from a free kick by David Skinn, flew into the net and Bedford salvaged a point out of thin air.
Player-manager Reg Davies said later: "We changed our system after an hour-long practise session on Tuesday with Jones coming inside in an attacking role and our front runners getting more room.
"We were playing well and I thought it was all sewn up. Then they get a break-away and score - that's the way it's going for us at the moment.
Lynn had started brightly enough against a defensively-minded Bedford, but were hampered when Cliff Jones was off the field receiving treatment to an inch-long gash near his right eye received in a collision.
Intelligent running by Jones and Mick Wright from mid-field positions caused Bedford the most problems and in one hectic spell after 15 minutes George Heyes made two fine saves from Keith Rudd and could only watch another shot by Wright miss the post by inches.
A goal was bound to come and it did four minutes from the interval. Cooley fouled Jim Oliver just outside the area and Davies' free kick to the near post was headed in by Keith Rudd.
This was it, most people thought. Lynn had broken through and looked set for more goals.
The second came in the 56th minute - a clever lob by Oliver to brooks the ball going through to Rudd who smashed it past Heyes. Bedford were down for the count.
Only Coughlin has caused the Lynn defence any trouble with those clever touches when closely marked that had paid dividends for Lynn last season. But when he began to move first to the wing and then mid-field the Bedford attack was totally inactive.
But then came the dramatic turn-round. Lynn's defence were caught napping as Bedford hit back to equalise and to rub it in Coughlin went desperately close to a winner when his low free-kick eluded the Lynn "wall" and Bugg had to dive smartly to his left to punch the ball clear.
Attendance: 1,169. Report by permission of the Lynn News