King's Lynn 2 Dorchester Town 2

18th January 2003

THE Linnets came from two goals behind in the final 20 minutes to keep their slim promotion hopes alive with an unlikely point.
For 70 minutes of this contest Peter Morris' side looked more like relegation material rather than promotion contenders, before a stirring fightback saw them nearly snatch a win.
The introduction of Adam Weston and young defender Nicky Blake changed the course of the contest and breathed new life into Lynn, who had laboured through the opening three-quarters of the game in first gear.
As in many matches this season the officials once again took centre stage with some bizarre decisions but, as bad as they were, they couldn't be blamed for a poor Lynn performance.
In the fifth minute Paul Raynor's free-kick fizzed across the Dorchester box and missed everyone.
But other than that and a couple of long-range efforts Lynn were largely anonymous in the first period.
A well organised Dorchester outfit dominated possession and were first to the ball in every department.
The Magpies took the lead in the 23rd minute when the shaky Lynn defence allowed Matt Groves to drill home.
Fifteen minutes later it should have been 2-0, but Jamie Brown somehow managed to head wide after being allowed both time and space in the box.
Dorchester continued in the same vein after the break and in the 53rd minute Matthew Hann crossed for Martin Shepherd to make it 2-0 in the Magpies' favour.
Simon Nobes them came to Lynn's rescue with two fine stops to prevent Dorchester from gaining an even bigger advantage.
Those saves proved to be crucial as Lynn replaced the ineffective Jones with Weston and the hard-working Chris Bacon with Blake.
The referee won himself few friends by failing to dismiss the already-booked Brown for a crude lunge on Blake, before booking Holmes minutes later for a challenge not half as bad as Brown's earlier.
Lynn gave themselves hope by reducing the arrears in the 73rd minute when Lee Stephenson played in David Staff, who delightfully lobbed Magpies keeper Mark Ormerod.
Six minutes from time a vociferous Lynn crowd were on their feet when Blake glided past a Dorchester defender on the left and pulled the ball back for Holmes, who fired home with great authority.
There only looked one team capable of winning in a real cup-tie atmosphere as Lynn poured forward in search of a late winner.
A Mark Burrows header, which was cleared off the line, was the closest Lynn came to snatching a win, while at the other end Nobes denied Dorchester the three points with a fine save from Brown.
The final whistle came and Lynn left the field knowing that had they shown the same kind of urgency in the opening 70 minutes then they could have been celebrating three points rather than just the one.
Lynn: Nobes, Jones (Weston 61), Cowling, Burrows, Fuff, Defty (Watts 83), Staff, Raynor, Bacon (Blake 71), Stephenson, Holmes.
Dorchester: Ormerod, Hann, Keeler, Jermyn, White, Harris, Holmes, Brown, Shepherd, Groves, Oldbury. Subs: Andrews, Radcliffe, Cooper, Cherrett, Legge.
Att: 747 Referee: P McCall

MATCH STATISTICS	Shots on Target	Shots off Target	Corners	Caught Offside	Free kicks Conceded	Bookings
Lynn	8	7	2	3	16	Defty (13 foul) Raynor (17, foul) Holmes (75, foul)
Dorchester	2	4	1	5	16	Brown (51 foul) Harris (80 kicking ball away)

Lynn News Man of the Match: Simon Nobes