King's Lynn 1 Rothwell Town 0
19th August 2003
JACK Defty spared Lynn's blushes with a late winner as the Linnets got their home campaign off to a shaky start against Rothwell.Defty was the hero with an 88th minute header from Paul Raynor's corner after a dour display of long-ball torture from Peter Morris' side.
The Linnets always looked the more likely side to win, but showed no width and wasted their superior possession by continually pumping the ball up field.
Linnets manager Peter Morris said: "It would have been an injustice if we hadn't of won the game as we hail so much of the ball, but we definitely weren't at our sharpest.
"Rothwell sat eight players behind the ball and we didn't have too many players on top of their game.
"We had three or four great chances but at the end of the day it needed a goal to settle us down."
The Linnets hardly looked a side full of goals with David Staff probably having his most ineffective game in Lynn colours.
"Staffy has got to get used to being whacked," said Morris.
"Last season he got 21 goals for the first time in his career and sides are now looking to stop him."
The best chance of a largely forgettable first period undoubtedly came 15 minutes into the contest when a long ball from Glen Fuff was missed, by Rothwell defender Luke 'bowling and Chris Bacon lobbed wide of the target with the visiting keeper well off his line.
Half chances did fall to Defty (twice) and Raynor but neither side looked capable of securing a half-time advantage.
The entertainment didn't get much better after the interval, although Lynn did improve for a 10-minute spell -when they decided to play the ball t6 feet.
In the 52nd minute Bacon's drive was cleared with substitute Robbie Harris waiting .to pounce and five minutes later Harris saw his dangerous centre well cleared.
Bacon put a header wide when he should have done better, while Raynor and Huke both tried their luck from outside the box.
At the other end the outstanding Burrows denied Rothwell a certain goal with their first chance of the match following a vital block tackle on Cornell Haughton.
Two minutes from time Defty finally gave Lynn the lead, but like so many games last season Lynn did their best to throw away their advantage in the dying seconds whets Defty's back header was acrobatically tipped onto the bar by Wilson before Glarvey headed the ball to safety.
In the 52nd minute Bacon's drive was cleared with substitute Robbie Harris waiting .to pounce and five minutes later Harris saw his dangerous centre well cleared.
Bacon put a header wide when he should have done better, while Raynor and Huke both tried their luck from outside the box.
At the other end the outstanding Burrows denied Rothwell a certain goal with their first chance of the match following a vital block tackle on Cornell Haughton.
Two minutes from time Defty finally gave Lynn the lead, but like so many games last season Lynn did their best to throw away their advantage in the dying seconds whets Defty's back header was acrobatically tipped onto the bar by Wilson before Glarvey headed the ball to safety. Lynn: Wilson, Glarvey, Skelly, Burrows, Fuff; Huke, Defty, Raynor, Bacon (Woodrow 62), Staff, Ndekwe (Harris 31). Subs not used: Jones,. Hyde and Nobes.
Rothwell: J. Hughes, J.Thatcher, R. Weale, C. Lake, M. Flannigan, L. Dowling, R. Nash, P Rice (N. Mason 76), M. Garside, S. Underwood (C. Haughton 31), J. Knight. Subs not used: M. Kierle, J. Mitchell, R. Wootton.
Referee: P. Barnes (Peterborough).
Attendance: 724.
Man-of-the-match: Jack Defty.