Wellingborough Town 1 King's Lynn 5
29th December 1973
After conceding 10 goals on their last two Saturday matches, Lynn were in the mood to hand out a hiding at Wellingborough. And how they went about it.
The slick Linnets tore Wellingborough apart on a day of several notable achievements.
• It was the first double of the season.
• It was the biggest league win since a 5-0 win over Stourbridge in April 1972.
• It was the biggest league away win since a 5-3 win at Tunbridge in December 1962.
• Keith Rudd became the first player to score a league hat-trick since Lindsay's three against Tamworth 15 months ago.
Rudd started the rout in the 23rd minute with a hard, low right foot shot which nestled into the corner of the net after Adams and McCallum had pushed the ball along the line of defenders guarding the penalty area.
His next goal was in the 49th minute following quick thinking by Adams with a throw-in to Elliott before Wellingborough were prepared and the long crossfield pass found Rudd running in smoothly with a shot in off the post. In the 65th minute he followed up Brooks' pass, shaking off his pursuers through speed and accurately placed in the shot past the unhappy Leneghan.
In between came a goal credited to Brooks who headed in a 28th minute corner although it looked as if the ball was deflected n; and a 50th minute own goal by Creamer after Elliott had pushed on a Lindsay cross into the six-yard box where the defender made his error.
There is a lot of skill in the Linnets camp and it has been a question of time before they all clicked on the one day. This was it. Wellingborough were admittedly poor opposition, but that shouldn't take any of the credit away from Lynn, who got the ball in the net on two other occasions but these efforts were disallowed.
Wellingborough's goal came in the 54th minute (to make it 4-1 at that stage) when Sabey robbed Wignall and raced clear to push the ball past Steel.
Wellingborough: Leneghan, Wright, Slaymaker, Creamer, McGowan, McGleish, Morris (sub Knibbs 75), Knight, Sabey, Dyte, Etheridge.
Lynn: Steel, Painter, Lindsay, Brooks, Wignall, Wright, McCallum, Elliott, Rudd, Adams, Clarke, sub Smith.