Tamworth 3 King's Lynn 0

18th March 2000

BOSS Gary Mills suffered the heaviest defeat of his managerial reign to end a run of five straight wins.
The 3-0 score line flattered Tamworth, while King’s Lynn’s injury problems took a new twist when 15-year-old Stephen Harvey was called up from the Reserves to sit on the bench after Lyndon Rowland went down with flu in the morning.

Mills said: “When we were one down we pushed Simon Dakin forward and it created a lot of gaps at the back. “It wasn’t the best first half, but we hit the post and we didn’t really play well. We’ve had players playing out of position. It’s not the end of the world, and we’ll bounce back on Saturday.”

The game started slowly with probably the most incident-free opening half I have seen – someone suggested the glorious sunshine had fooled the players into thinking it was a pre-season friendly.

It ended with Mark Turner striking the post from 10 yards. Jon Palmer injured his hamstring just before the break and was replaced at half-time by 17-year-old Wayne Anderson, who performed well.

This shortened Linnets’ already-limited attacking options with just Dave Puttnam up front.

So Puttnam it was who ran 30 yards and had a shot from outside the box parried by Harvey Willetts.

However, the Lambs scored with their first effort of the game as Brian Gray directed a low header home at the near post from Mark Hallam’s cross.

Non-league top scorer Hallam then twice went close as Tony Spearing was required to clear off the line following a neat Chuck Martini save.

Seven minutes from time Jon Howard bullet-headed in a corner and soon after Hallam managed his 37th goal of the season – how Lynn must wish for a forward with that sort of strike rate. Lynn: Martini, Dakin, Spearing, Clark, Fuff, Nwadike, Bogan, Turner, Palmer (Anderson 45),Marsden, Puttnam. Subs not used: Richardson, Harvey.
Tamworth: Willets, Warner, Mutchell, Colley, Howard, Grocutt, Foy Lavery, Hallem, Gray, Wolsey,. Subs (not used) Steele, Clark, Cotter.

MATCH STATISTICS	Shots on Target	Shots off Target	Corners	Caught Offside	Free kicks Conceded	Bookings
Lynn	5	6	3	2	10
Tamworth	7	14	5	5	16

Lynn News Man of the Match - Emeka Nwadike