Tamworth 2 King's Lynn 1
29th October 2011
VICTORIOUS Tamworth boss Marcus Law heaped praise on beaten King's Lynn Town after seeing the step five minnows push his side all the way in a hard-fought game at The Lamb.
First half headers from Kyle Patterson and Keiron St Aimie cancelled out Jamie Thurlbourne's stunning opener for King's Lynn who belied their lowly league status with a plucky display.
It was far from one-way traffic for the Blue Square Premier side and Law said: "It was a scrappy affair and we didn't apply ourselves as well as I would have liked us to have done.
"We took two of our scrappiest chances and the Kings Lynn goalkeeper has made numerous saves, but I still think we were very fortunate to get away with it as we didn't apply ourselves right.
"If you look at stats and look at chances for chances it would look like Tamworth cruised through the game comfortably but that was far from the case.
"Full credit to Kings Lynn who did not allow us to play the type of game we wanted to. They were in the tie for the whole 90 minutes and that is credit to Gary (Setchell) and his players."
King's Lynn boss Gary Setchell said: "Tamworth is a fortress, but we have done ourselves proud.
"Tamworth's set-pieces have undone us, but other than that we have matched them all over the pitch.
"Some of the football we played was decent but I think our commitment and work ethic was unbelievable at times. We couldn't have given any more today."
The Linnets looked capable of causing an upset when Jamie Thurlbourne powered home a sublime free-kick after 12 minutes.
Thurlbourne's piece of magic had former Linnets boss Carl Heggs, who was watching from the stands, up on his feet.
But Tamworth levelled ten minutes later when Kyle Patterson nodded a free kick into the far corner.
And after piling on the pressure towards the end of the first-half, Kieron St Aimie powered home a header at the near post to give The Lambs the lead on 41 minutes.
Lynn did have to rely on some fine saves from Alex Street, but they were far from outclassed and at times enjoyed far more of the ball than their illustrious hosts.
Tamworth were buoyed by their second goal just before the break, but they nearly paid the price for failing to build on their lead in the second half during a desperate stoppage time assault by Lynn.
Midfielder Luke Thurlbourne picked up the ball just outside the Tamworth box and unleashed a piledriver of a shot which whistled a couple of inches over the home woodwork.
Lynn's FA Cup adventure might be over for another year, but the team did the town and themselves proud with their display in Staffordshire.
Tamworth: Hedge, Habergham, Courtney (Francis h/t), Smith, Cain, St. Aimie (Shariff 70), Thomas, Patterson (Christie 63), Green, Bradley, Kanyuka. Substitutes not used: McDonald, Barrow, Collister, Taylor.
Yellow cards: Kanyuka 68.
Kings Lynn Town: Street, Bexfield, Yong, Watson, Buhlemann, White, Spriggs, L. Thurlbourne, Defty, Beaumont (Harris 77), J. Thurlbourne (Livoti 87). Substitutes not used: Fryatt, Hails.
Yellow cards: Yong 12, Watson 81
Attendance: 966. Man of the Match: Jamie Thurlbourne.
Referee: Mr C. Kavanagh.