King's Lynn 1 Bromsgrove Rovers 0
28th April 1979
Bromsgrove keeper Paul Rushton was the hero of this one-sided match.As the eager Linnets punished an inept Rovers defence it was Rushton alone who stopped them building up a big lead.
Four or five goals could have come in the first half alone, but instead it was one which proved to be the match winner.
After a scrappy opening period Lynn suddenly got it together. Les Britton - having his best game for the senior side - swept over a centre from the right which Roy McManus headed on to Duncan Wiles.
Turning cleverly Wiles made space for the shot which he lobbed over Rushton's head. The keeper was saved by the thickness of the bar but he could not recover in time to stop Keith Rudd from glancing in the rebound.
That goal came in the 15th minute and sparked off a rush of Lynn attacks. McManus with an ambitious scissors kick and Wiles both went close then Rushton made the first of his important saves when keeping out an effort from Wiles who was clear of the chasing defenders.
Wright, virtually playing as a fifth forward, also got clear only to see Rushton turn away his shot and then in the last attack of the half it was Wiles again who was denied by the keeper.
in the league table Lynn are sixth from top and Bromsgrove third from bottom and the gulf between the side was obvious.
But Rovers had their problems, especially as big centre half Alan parsons could not resume for the second half because he was suffering from double vision after an accidental goalmouth collision with Wright. Parson was taken to hospital for a cautionary check.
Lynn continued the second half in attacking mood and Rudd put in the first shot which flew narrowly past the post. Saywood joined in the fun and must have thought he had scored with a diving header - but somehow Rushton got a hand to the ball.
Rushton's brilliance had kept his side in with a chance of stealing a point and Lynn were given a warning when O'Meara went racing through in the 67th minute and it needed an agile save fro Phil Ringwood to divert the ball wide. From the corner Goose cleared the danger with a goal line header.
Lynn must have realised they were destined not to add a second goal when Rushton managed to keep out Rider's close range effort with his legs and in the next minute going down to smother an angled shot fro Wiles.
What an injustice it would have been had Rovers managed an equaliser. Yet they nearly did so in thr 76th minute when another breakaway saw Rogers darting through and he pushed the ball over Ringwood then watched as it bounced agonisingly close to the post.
Overall another good performance from the Linnets with just that matter of getting the ball past Rushton which took away some of the shine.
Lynn: Ringwood, Britton, A Rider, Saywood, Johnston, Wright. McManus, Watts, Rudd, Wiles (sub G Rider 81 minutes), Goose.
Bromsgrove: Rushton, Ward, Harris, Bishop, Parsons (sub Rogers 45), Goodman, Ferguson, O'Meara, Langdell, Thomas, Fagan.