King’s Lynn Town 1 Darlington 1
Michael Gyasi’s fifth goal of the campaign earned King’s Lynn Town a share of the spoils against ten-man Darlington at the Docherty Walks Stadium.
Cedric Main had put the visitors ahead with a clever lob before the interval, but Gyasi struck just five minutes into the second half to rescue a point for the Linnets.
Lynn remain unbeaten after the opening four games of the new National League North season, having picked up eight points from their opening four outings.
Lynn were forced into one change for the visit of the Quakers with Tai Fleming coming in for Reece-Hall Johnson, who was sidelined with illness.
The only other changes came on the bench with both Jack Lambert and Will Van Lier coming into the squad at the expense of both Adam Marriott and Cameron Forde-Brown, who were both ruled out with knocks.
Lynn made their customary fast start with Bailey Clements testing the reflexes of Peter Jameson between the Darlington posts and Gold Omotayo heading a Michael Gyasi centre wide of the target.
Some magic from Joe Nyahwema forced the visitors to scramble the ball behind for a corner as the home pressure continued.
It took a smark save from Jameson to his right to keep out a Michael Clunan free-kick after Ross Crane had been wrestled to the ground by Elliot Forbes.
The home faithful were stunned when a quick counter from the visitors saw Main lob Louis Chadwick for the opening goal midway through the first half.
Less than two minutes after getting their noses in front, Darlington were reduced to 10 men when Quakers captain Scott Barrow brought down Michael Gyasi, who was through on goal, and referee Michael Crusham had no hesitation in showing him a straight red card for his troubles.
Lynn started the second half of the attack and a Crane cross was turned just wide of the target by Omotayo from a few yards out.
The equaiser finally arrived three minutes later, as substitute Sam Collins found Gyasi after a slick passage of play and the frontman made no mistake with the finish for his fourth goal of the week.
A mazy run from Nyahwema almost saw Lynn take the lead while defender Tom Wilson headed straight into the arms of Jameson as the home onslaught continued.
Ten-man Darlington had their moments at the other end, Main seeing an effort scrape the crossbar with another cross was hacked behind for a corner.
Lynn threw on Jack Lambert for the final 10 minutes against his former club, but were unable to carve out a winner despite dominating for long periods of the 90 minutes.
Next up for Rowe’s aide is a trip to Chorley – convincing winners at Hereford this afternoon – on Bank Holiday Monday.
King’s Lynn Town: Chadwick, Clements, Wilson, Clunan, Omotayo (Lambert 81), Gyasi, Nyahwema (Doherty 90+1), Dickens (T. Williams 60), Fleming (Collins 46), M. Williams (Maja 69), Crane. Subs not used: Van Lier and Jones.
Scorer Gyasi 50.
Darlington: Jameson, Hedley, Barrow, Lees, Forbes, Hatfield, Maskell (Rutledge 83), Main, Allan (Platt 68), Scott, McGowan (Stanton 81). Subs not used: Kirokiro, Maddison, Rutledge, Barton, Hopper.
Booked: Forbes; Sent-off: Barrow 25.
Scorer: Main 23.
Attendance: 1,402.
