King’s Lynn RHC 2 – 4 London
King’s Lynn lost their first home game of the season to a new-look London side on Match Day 4 of the 19/20 Premier League season.
Lynn entered the match with a 100% record in the league thus far, and hadn’t lost at home for over two years, but couldn’t dismantle London’s organised defence, nor prevent their clinical counter.
Lynn took the lead in the first half, Owen Norris finishing into the top corner after cutting in and receiving a pass in the centre of the opponent’s half.
London responded almost immediately, breaking forward with three as Lynn lost possession in a dangerous area, before lashing an unstoppable shot past Will Martin in the Lynn net.
While possession was fairly balanced in the first half, London had the better of the team fouls, and not long after they’d restored parity London went ahead from a direct free hit. The resulting dribble fortuitously rebounded off the post directly into the attacker’s path, who slotted it past a floored Martin.
Lynn went into half time 1 – 2 down, and made their intentions known at the start of the second half, taking control of the ball as London appeared happy to sit off and defend their lead. Lynn’s pressure was rewarded with a goal on the counter as Matthew Baker broke forward, playing the ball through to Josh Taylor before collecting Taylor’s saved effort and finishing into the empty net.
As Lynn looked to retake the lead, they were exposed by another clinical counter attack, which this time saw London fire the ball to the far post for an accurate sweep beyond Allander, in for Martin in the second half.
Once again behind, Lynn went on the offensive in desperate search of an equaliser, dominating possession and creating numerous chances that were well saved by the London keeper. Lynn even tried pulling the keeper to attack with five, but after some nail-bitingly close calls London finally regained possession with four seconds to go and flicked the ball into Lynn’s empty net to settle the result.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for a Lynn side that didn’t do too much wrong, but London’s smarter offence proved decisive, and now London will look to push on in pursuit of a first league title.
The club’s respective philosophies differ markedly, Lynn preferring homegrown talent to imports from Europe’s professional leagues, but only Saturday’s scoreline will matter come the end of the season. The title race is far from over, but London couldn’t have made a better start in their quest to wrest the trophy from Lynn’s iron grip.
Lynn look to get back to winning ways this Saturday as they take on newly promoted Ely and Chesterton United at 7.15pm at Lynnsport, a team they defeated 0 – 10 on the road in October.
KLRHC are offering children aged 6-12yrs an opportunity to be coached by England players , every Friday 6pm at Alive Lynnsport , first two sessions Free , you must have some skating experience , for more information contact Janis Baker
