King's Lynn 2 Bilston Town 1
27th September 1997
LEE HUDSON proved king of the strikers as he set the Linnets on their way to victory at bogey
side Bilston on Saturday. The Lynn forward went into the game with a proud record of five goals
in four games but his side faced a wily adversary in Henry Wright. Last season's Midland Division
leading scorer had scored in all three of his previous three games but on Saturday he was well
shackled by Tony Spearing and his colleagues. And even when he managed to elude their
attentions, the prolific scorer could not focus his aim and sent three good chances wide. No such
problem for Hudson who reacted swiftly to hammer home the opening goal after 18 minutes to
send Lynn on their way to only a third win in 19 meetings with the Black Country side.
Keeper Richard Attwood pulled off a flying one-handed save to paw away Jason Pascoe's goal-bound header but only as far as Hudson who gleefully slammed in the rebound. "I just seem to be getting in the right place at the right time - long may it continue," said Hudson. But the Linnets were made to work hard for victory. Bilston had the vast majority of the play but lacked any cutting edge and rarely tested Steve Lewis. Lynn themselves did not show much invention and Hudson and McNamara were frequently marooned up front despite a change of personnel that saw Russell Stock added to the midfield with Jason Pascoe replacing Matthew Wright in defence.
When Lynn did play the ball to feet they ripped apart Bilston but no finishing touch was available. The most notable came after 14 minutes when a one-touch move saw the ball move rapidly from one area to the other. Brett McNamara picked up the ball from Lewis, found Glyn Roberts who played a one-two with Hudson before releasing Simon Mead only for Chris Sault to block his shot. Attwood tipped over a Hudson 25-yard shot two minutes before the break and Lynn had to wait until the 73rd minute to score their second. McNamara was hauled back on the edge of the area by Lee Rollason and Richard Skelly stepped up to curl a left-footed shot over the wall and into the top corner of the net.
Bilston pulled one back with two minutes to go when Jason Smith sent a superb cross to the far post where Scott Voice rose unchallenged to head into the bottom corner. McNamara had an injury-time chance to make it three but elected to shoot when the unmarked Hudson was screaming for the ball in front of a yawning goal. Manager Peter Morris said his side had done enough to get the win. "We're still not playing as well as I want, but we're grinding out the right results. We worked hard and battled away but we were never in total control." Lynn: Lewis, Matthews, Skelly, Stock (Williams 57), Hoyle, Spearing, Pascoe, Mead, Roberts, McNamara, Hudson. Subs not used - Wright, Hollman
Bilston: Attwood, Smith, Hill, Clifton (D Williams 26), Sault (Voice 60), Davis, Hazlewood, Love, Rollason, H Wight, Jackson. Sub not used: King
| MATCH STATISTICS | Shots on Target | Shots off Target | Corners | Caught Offside | Free kicks Conceded |
Bookings |
| Lynn | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 16 | Matthews (foul, 38) |
| Bilston | 1 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 18 | Clifton (foul, 18) Rollason (foul, 73) |