King's Lynn 0 Ipswich Town 3
29th April 1980
THIS BIG match for benefit players Keith Rudd and Mick Wright would have been made had the Linnets been able to sneak in a goal against the might of Ipswich.
But even in such friendly matches Ipswich were not giving out any free hand-outs and if Lynn were to get a goal they would have to earn it.
The vastly experienced back line which included Burley, Beattie and Hunter were only caught out by occasional Lynn breaks. In the first half McManus sped down the right wing and his cross was tipped away from the head of Chapman by the alert Cooper; later in the half Adams tested the keeper with a dipping long shot; then a long wait until Adams in the 80th minute sent in a low cross which Cooper snatched away from the feet of Watts.
Mainly it was Ipswich, showing a lot of class, pushing deep into the Lynn half ... and credit must go to the Linnets for holding them to just three goals,
Lynn must have been deeply apprehensive about this game after reading that Ipswich had thrashed Stowmarket 15-0 in a friendly match the previous week.
Obviously Ipswich were not going at full pace, but they played a competitive game right to the end and it was an impressive display for the big crowd.
The goals came from Roger Osborne in the 15th minute, a penalty by John Wark in the 25th minute after Paul Mariner had been brought down by Clive Adams and a simple tap-in for Eric Gates after Osborne had laid on the chance in the 50th minute.
Lynn used two goalkeepers, guest player Jim Barron (ex Notts Forest and now Peterborough) for the first half and their own Phil Ringwood in the second. Both were kept fully active in making sure the score did not build up,
Johnston stood out in the Lynn defence, getting good support from Wright in the first half and then Adams in the second when the line-up was switched around.
Lynn referee Terry Tooth, a familiar figure on the junior soccer scene, had no doubts about the penalty he awarded and others that he did not.
He said after the match: "I was close to the tackle and Mariner was taken out, it had to be a penalty. When Chico Neale tripped O'Callaghan in the second half it was clearly outside the box and when Malc Lindsay went down in the Ipswich penalty area it was after the ball had been played back by a defender to his goalkeeper.
Terry Tooth added: "Ipswich were certainly taking this game seriously. 1 got a lot of abuse from them when they did not like my decisions and they were arguing amongst themselves when things were not going right."
Big talking point at The Walks on Tuesday was over the attendance for the match.
Estimated figure from Linnets Player-manager Keith Rudd afterwards was of 4,900.
This is based on the number of programmes sold (3,000) plus the cash taken on the turnstiles on the night.
It is the best crowd at The Walks since November 1962, when 4,987 saw Lynn lose 2-1 to Oxford in the FA Cup. Guess who scored the goal - Mick Wright.
Line-up for Tuesday's match was:
Ipswich - Paul Cooper, George Burley, Kevin Beattie. Roger Osborne. Alan Hunter, Russell Osman, John Wark, Steve McCall, Pawl Mariner, Alan Brazil, Eric Gates, subs Kevin O'Callaghan, Jimmy King.
Lynn - Jim Barron, Trevor Howard, Jim Wilson, Chris Watts, Richard Johnston, Mick Wright, Peter Morris, Clive Adams, Paul Chapman, Keith Rudd, Roy McManus, subs Phil Ringwood, Will Rider, Steve Neale, Graham Scarffe, Mal Lindsay