Dorchester Town 3 King's Lynn 4
19th February 2000
LINNETS had to overcome a dramatic fightback from the home side before securing their second double of the season.Lynn had looked home and dry with a four-goal lead after 53 minutes, but the Magpies had other ideas to score three times in an extraordinary final half-hour.
"A few of my players switched off and you can't afford to do that whether it's for five minutes or 30 minutes of a match;" said boss Gary Mills after seeing his side nearly surrender the. three points.
"For the first hour we were magnificent;" added Mills. "We were sheer class and we made them look a poor side.
" I would say that was the best performance since I came to the club, but for the last half-hour we were all over the place."
The Linnets boss opted to continue playing Dave Robinson in a make-shift strikers role and that decision paid dividends with the defender turned-striker grabbing two of Lynn's first three goals.
Robinson opened the scoring in the 13th minute after drilling home from the edge of the Dorchester penalty area after both Lyndon Rowland and Emeka Nwadike had watched earlier efforts blocked by home defenders.
Fifteen minutes before the break, the fit-again Mills, whose performance had a major bearing on Saturday's result, doubled Lynn's lead with a cheeky but perfectly legitimate free kick on the edge of the box.
The home defence were still in the process of organising their wall after bringing down the lively Dave Puttnam when Mills curled the ball into the Dorchester net as goalkeeper James Dungey looked on.
"I asked the referee if I could take it quickly and he said yes so all I had to do was make sure that I stuck it in the corner," explained Mills.
Lynn remained in control and three minutes before half-time Robinson scored his second and Lynn's third after punishing some slack defending.
Chuck Martini ensured that Lynn kept a clean sheet going into the break with an acrobatic stop from Danny O'Hagan on the stroke of half-time before Lyndon Rowland added Lynn's fourth in the 55th minute.
Rowland, whose last goal before Saturday came at home against Dorchester in November, made no mistake with his header from a Simon Dakin cross.
But the home side finally found a way into the game when home striker Owen Pickard reduced the arrears by slotting the ball under Martini's body in the 57th minute.
Michael Dean then added a second with a effort from just outside the box six minutes later.
Lynn's nerves were put even further on edge 11 minutes from time when Adrian Harris fired home from close range.
But, despite a wave of late home attacks, the Linnets managed to hold on to move up to fifth place in the league table.
Lynn: Martini, Dakin, Spearing, Fuff, Clark, Turner, Nwadike, Marsden, Robinson, Rowland, Puttnam. Subs not used: Bush, Anderson Daniels.
Dorchester: Dungey, Connie, Ferret (Coates 45), Maclean, Harris, Ghazghai (Groves 34), O'Brien, Dean, O'Hagan (Lannar 45), Pickard, Sullivan.
| MATCH STATISTICS | Shots on Target | Shots off Target | Corners | Caught Offside | Free kicks Conceded |
Bookings |
| Lynn | 7 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 8 | |
| Dorchester | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 13 |