Poole Town 1 Kings Lynn 1

Southern Premier League

16 January 2016

Superhero Richard Gillespie donned his cape to save a match slipping away from the league leaders with a well taken opportunist goal with 10 minutes left. Up till that point the dolphins had toiled without reward to claw back the linnets lead given away by sloppy defending in the first half.

It all started well with a Devlin free kick being well saved by the Lynn keeper and then shooting just over the bar. The Kings Lynn players were vocal in complaining to the referee about every challenge which seemed to contribute to a spate of yellow cards for the home team. Devlin and Walker were booked but Tallack was lucky to escape. Kings Lynn looked lively in attack but no real threat when a free kick on the corner of the box was headed in by an unmarked player. Dickson received a yellow. The telling statistic of the first half was that Kings Lynn became the first team of the season to have more shots than Poole, the tally being 3 - 7 as Wort ploughed a largely unsupported furrow up front.

The second half saw Poole toiling against a well drilled Lynn defence who largely negated the threat from Burbidge with plenty of cover on their left side. Spetch was sacrificed for Roberts with Dickson being moved to left back and then Gillespie came on for Dickson and the assault began. The difference was immediate and electric as Burbage twisted and turned crossing low just beyond Gillespie's reach for what would have been a certain goal. A few seconds later Gillespie scored with his first touch as the Lynn central defender failed to deal with a awkwardly bouncing ball. Meat and drink to RG who coolly slotted through the keeper's legs for the equaliser. Unfortunately Poole had run out of time to get the winner. Devlin slammed a blockbuster against the bar and there were a few scrambles in the Lynn area towards the final whistle but the linnets held on for a deserved point.

Star Player
Richard Gillespie - what an impact!

Verdict
Kings Lynn played well and did in the away match as well. They are in touch with the play offs and could make it if they can achieve some consistency. I was impressed with their defending. Poole gave away a goal through poor defending and it isn't the first time this season that an unmarked player has scored from a header inside the box. In this match as in so many where points were lost, the team's true performance only seems to come out in the second half when really committing to attack. Nevertheless, I think this was a good point well dug out. At this stage of the season with Poole in pole position it is important not to lose and make other teams do the work to catch up.