King's Lynn 6 Whitton United 1
20th August 2011
KING'S Lynn Town sriker Jack Defty bagged a first-half hat-trick as the United Counties League outfit cruised into a home Preliminary Round clash against Soham.
Defty struck twice from Jamie Thurlbourne crosses and completed his treble in the space of nine minutes with a sublime chip over Whitton goalkeeper James Waters inside the first half-an-hour.
Joint Linnets boss Gary Setchell said: "It was vintage Jack out there today but the two widemen also have to take a lot of credit for his hat-trick.
"Some of our foward play, especially from our two widemen and two forwards, was superb at times today. Whitton came here to play, but once we got to grips with how they came here to play we out-performed them."
Setchell did admit that there was still room for improvement at the back.
"We're not always going to out-score teams and I think we need to squeeze higher up the pitch at times, "said Setchell.
"The worrying aspect for me is the amout of chances we are conceding.
"For some reason we are struggling against the long ball at the back and it's not because of a lack of pace but because of a little bit of indecision.
"We are giving teams chances rather than teams actually creating opportunities themselves but we will improve once we get a settled back four and everyone is fit.'
The Linnets had got off to the best possible start when, after five minutes, Danny White helped the ball into the path of Stephen Spriggs to smash home an unstoppable volley.
Defty's treble completed a rampant first half for the hosts, although Whitton could have easily had a goal or two themselves had it not been for the heroics of goalkeeper Alex Street for the second successive game.
Street pulled off a fine double save to foil both Ronaldo Wright and Marcus Josiah in the space of a few seconds before denying the former again during an end-to-end opening 20 minutes.
Lynn's fifth goal came in the 56th minute when Thurlbourne struck from the penalty spot, after substitute Robbie Harris had been brought down in the penalty box.
The lively Harris turned provider for Danny Beaumont to stab home number six.
Whitton's reply came courtesy of Anton Clarke in the 83rd minute.
Lynn: Street, Watson, Yong (Coe 53), Cousins (Fryatt 66), Wall, White, Spriggs, L.Thurlbourne, Defty (Harris 48), Beaumont, J. Thurlbourne.
Attendance: 632.