Bath City 2 King's Lynn 0
25th April 1998
THE LINNETS slumped to their fifth successive defeat - their worst run since Tony Godden was in charge in 1994-95.Morris was left with a bare minimum for the clash with Bath. Defenders Steve Riches and Kevin Ellis had been released earlier in the week and, with Kori Davis and Mark Paul absent through flu, it was always going to be a struggle against a team who had lost only once at home in the last 15 months.
The return of Martin Matthews boosted Morris' resources slightly but with the Linnets boss forced to change the formation once again, Lynn struggled to find any kind of rhythm until the second half.
Bath were quick to seize the initiative and put the game beyond the Linnets' reach in the opening 15 minutes.
They took the lead in the sixth minute when a long ball out of defence was headed on by Martin Paul into the path of Graham Colbourne, who outpaced Jason Pascoe and Colin Hoyle before firing home.
Two minutes later, Lee Hudson thought he had scored his 50th Lynn goal after being put through by Steve Williams but the linesman's flag denied him reaching the milestone. The hosts doubled their lead in the 14th minute when Paul Chenoweth superbly lobbed the ball over Duncan Roberts from 30 yards.
Bath continued to charge forward in search of more goals in front of their new manager Paul Bodin, the former Welsh international who played for Newcastle and Swindon.
Chenoweth and Paul missed further chances for Bath before Lynn found their feet after Morris' half time talk.
Williams drove the ball inches wide in the 48th minute and Pascoe's header from Norfolk's corner was acrobatically tipped over the bar by Bath keeper Mark Hervin.
Morris said: "We were very poor defensively for the first 30 minutes. They didn't have to work for the first goal and, although the lad took the second goal well, we didn't close him down quickly enough.
"We showed some spirit to come back in the second half and created three or four good chances."
Lynn: D Roberts, Matthews, Spearing, Wright (Mead 45), Pascoe, Hoyle, G Roberts, Norfolk, Williams, McNamara, Hudson. Subs (not used) Cotterell, Lewis.
Bath City: Hervin, Hedges, Towler, Wootton, Loydon (Mundee 80), Colbourne (Davis 70), Paul, James. Sub (not used) Stevens.
| MATCH STATISTICS | Shots on Target | Shots off Target | Corners | Caught Offside | Free kicks Conceded |
Bookings |
| Lynn | 2 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 19 |
McNamara (20, foul) Hoyle (74, foul) |
| Bath City | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 25 | Towler (45, foul) |
| Lynn News Man of the Match - Martyn Matthews Report by permission of the Lynn News | ||||||