Linnets boss slams fixture schedule after Sports defeat

Adam Lakeland has criticised the National League North fixture scheduling ahead of two mammoth trips for his side over the next few days.The Linnets travel to Radcliffe Borough tomorrow before another long trip on the road which sees his side play at Scarborough Athletic on Tuesday night.Both trips come on the back of Monday’s home derby against Peterborough Sports which infuriated the Lynn boss just 48 hours after his side were on Merseyside to play Marine.Lakeland blasted the travelling demands on the club over the Bank Holiday weekend, saying: “I’ll probably get criticised for saying this, but we played Marine away on an artificial pitch on Saturday.“Even though we were in a position where we can travel up the day before the lads are getting home at midnight on Saturday and then playing here against the team that’s travelled 20 or 30 minutes down the road and played at home on Saturday.”Maybe that’s why they came out of the traps a little bit quicker than us. I don’t know whether that goes against us because we’re full-time time and the league thinks sod them we’ll send them up to Marine and we’ll let Peterborough just walk down to Kings Lynn.”I don’t consider myself to be somebody that makes excuses, but that’s a fact. You know, we’ve travelled up to Marine, the journey up was a bad one because as you are going up there on a weekend when it’s Creamfields so the roads have rammed it’s bank holiday weekend, so it wasn’t an ideal trip but we found a way to win. “We were not at our best there for spells on Saturday, but we found a way to get a big three points and but then the trip back’s not easy. “You’re back at half-eleven, midnight and the lads have got a day to recover and that makes a difference when they (Peterborough Sports) play at home.”You know, they’re probably on their sofas by 8pm with their feet up and then they come down here.”I don’t know how far it is in miles but I pass it on the way in and it’s pretty close, so naturally I think it favours them. “That’s just a fact, it’s not an excuse, but maybe that played a part in how they came out of the traps a little bit faster than us.”Maybe it didn’t but I think the players showed character and kept going right till the end and they made them work incredibly hard for the three points and we didn’t quite do enough to get something out of the game that I felt would deserve something from.” Lynn will hope to have Ross Crane back from injury for their first-ever trip to Radcliffe Borough, who are managed by Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley, made famous by Salford and the Class of ’92: Out of Their League documentary.”It’ll be another tough game, said Lakeland. “They’re another team that’s just come up. I’m not sure how they’ve gone on today, but they’ve not had the best of starts in terms of results, but they have had some tough fixtures.”Anytime you go up to Manchester, Liverpool or the North East areas you expect tough games because there’s a lot of good players up there, so it’s going to be tough.”We’ve just got to rest and recover, get ourselves ready and go up there and try and bounce back.”New signing Finlay Barnes is available for selection. Lynn manager Adam Lakeland said: “I’m delighted to get Fin in the building. He’s a player we’ve liked for some time and did attempt to sign him in the off-season, so to now get him on board is a real positive and he makes the group even stronger.”He’s a creative player who is strong in one-versus-one situations, can go past people and is a real threat in the final third.”I’m sure he will be someone the supporters enjoy watching and I look forward to him playing”.Barnes, who arrives at the Walks from Braintree Town, said “I’m really happy and excited to join, get minutes and enjoy my football down at The Walks.”