Nuneaton Borough 0 King's Lynn 1

18th November 1997

Another solid defensive display earned Lynn the points - but at a cost.
As well as five bookings, Lynn also lost prolific scorer Brett McNamara just before half-time with an ankle injury.
His injury, four minutes before half-time, earned a yellow card for Tom McGinty who had fouled him.
That was one of a flurry of cards shown by Mr Roberts in a disjointed game that was never allowed to flow but was never dirty, despite the crime count.
Neither side could string more than two passes together and, even when the referee's whistle failed to interrupt, the teams did their best to frustrate the fans with the ball spending more time in touch than on the field.
However, another goal from Lee Hudson, his 11th of the season, was enough to claim victory and stretch the Linnets' unbeaten run to five games.
But the stars of the show were central defensive duo Kevin Ellis and Matthew Wright. After being thrown in at the deep end following the absence of Colin Hoyle and Jason Pascoe, they have responded in superb style to form a defensive barrier with Tony Spearing which has still to be breached.
With keeper James Hollman also doing well, Lynn rarely looked like conceding a goal and, after Hudson's strike, which proved to be Lynn's only shot on target, there was only going to be one winner.
Ellis stepped forward from his defensive duties to head narrowly over after three minutes and Lynn thought they had taken the lead 60 seconds later when Steve Williams beat the offside trap and rammed home the ball. Unfortunately he was penalised for handball and the strike was ruled out.
After the bright opening the game slipped into stupor until substitute Julian Delicata provided some light.
A wonderful turn near the corner saw him leave Barry Williams for dead and then his cross slipped under McGinty's foot to allow Hudson to fire under keeper Paul Hayward from close range.
Rob Straw could have claimed a home point when he beat the offside trap but Hollman raced out of his area to distract the striker and, after being forced wide, he could only curl his shot past the far post.
Lynn: Hollman, Matthews, Skelly, Wright, Ellis, Spearing, Hopkins, Williams (Delicata 53), Roberts (Stock 53), McNamara (Cambridge 44), Hudson.
Nuneaton: Hayward, Everitt, McGinty, Statham, B Williams, Bailey, Beckett, King, Straw, Street (Drewett 74), Thomas. Subs (not used) Hercock, Healey.

MATCH STATISTICS	Shots on Target	Shots off Target	Corners	Caught Offside	Free kicks Conceded	Bookings
Lynn	1	4	3	0	22	Williams (foul 30) Spearing (foul 50) Cambridge (foul 59) Skelly (foul 75) Stock (foul 82)
Nuneaton	4	11	6	5	20	Williams (foul, 21) Statham (foul, 35) McGinty (foul, 41) Bailey (foul, 56) Everitt (foul, 58)