Difficult not to have some sympathy for Linnets boss

Mark Hearle reflects on a difficult week for King’s Lynn Town in his weekly Your Local Paper column.It is difficult not to have a little sympathy for Adam Lakeland following the Linnets’ third defeat on the spin at South Shields last weekend.Lynn’s boss cut a frustrated figure following the game in the North East on Saturday, which resulted in a 2-1 reverse for his side, which came hot on the heels of the previous weekend’s defeat at Chorley and last Tuesday evening’s home loss to Farsley Celtic.Lakeland’s squad at present is down to the bare bones with the likes of defender Freddie Sass and midfielders Josh Hmami, Sam Walker, Cody Johnson, and Josh McCammon as well as Gold Omotayo all out with injury and unavailable for last weekend.Any team at whatever level would struggle with those kinds of numbers unavailable at any one time and as I say he has my sympathy for that situation.From a personal point of view, I did find the manager’s interview with the club’s media a little more difficult to accept, particularly the comments about the match officials and the amount of travelling that the Linnets have been undertaking these past few weeks.Lynn felt very aggrieved by an assistant awarding a goal to South Shields after the ball had crashed against the crossbar and seemingly to safety. However, the official thought otherwise and indicated the ball, in his opinion, had crossed the line and instructed the referee to award a goal. Again, I understand your frustrations and feelings of being wronged by what you feel is a blatant mistake.However, during a season these kinds of situations do equal themselves out and you do end up getting your slice of luck over time.Indeed Lakeland went on to admit that he felt the penalty awarded to Lynn at the weekend was a ‘soft’ one so in that instance those two decisions in the same game equalled themselves out. Unfortunately for Lakeland and Lynn, Jonny Margetts missed the spot kick and the chance to collect a point from the game.Again on the point of travelling, I do understand the manager’s point of view but it’s always been that way at King’s Lynn because, to put it simply, we are out on a limb in geographical terms here in West Norfolk. Chairman Stephen Cleeve has always tried his best to assist all of his managers in their time at The Walks by providing overnight stays for the long Northern trips that sometimes take many hours to do.I’m sure that would have been done ahead of last weekend’s excursion, as well as the trip to Chorley the Saturday previous. Apart from hiring a private jet, there is no other way of doing these long hikes!Many of you will be well aware that it’s only been under Stephen’s leadership in recent years that travelling the day ahead of a Saturday game has become normal practice.Before that, it was 7 and 8am Saturday starts from The Walks to far-flung destinations that were usually South, West and occasionally North for good measure.I appreciate now that the Linnets are playing step 2 football and back in the day it was step 3 and below but there are still teams in the National League North now who travel long distances on the day of a match because they just cannot afford to book multiple hotel rooms for the night ahead of a game. At the time of writing the Linnets still hold a play-off place in the league table despite those three consecutive defeats.As I mentioned the other week almost all of the teams are inconsistent and are capable of beating each other whatever their league position.With a two-week break before the next league fixture, it can only be hoped that Adam can get his squad back up to its full complement of bodies with more difficult fixtures on the horizon.Supporters do understand the problems caused by a long injury list and will be sympathetic for a time. They are though less understanding of problems that may be caused by officials’ mistakes and long-distance travelling.It is, after all, the same for the other 23 teams in the league.This weekend it’s the FA Trophy that takes centre stage as Town enter the competition for the first time this season with a trip to fellow National League North Leamington.There is no denying it’s another tough cup draw for Lynn who tumbled out of the FA Cup at another of their league rivals Curzon Ashton last month. The Trophy is a competition that has, in my opinion, always failed to capture the imagination of Linnets fans, and they are not alone in those feelings I’m sure.There always seems very little interest or appetite until the quarter-finals each year with the qualifying games often being played in front of much smaller gates than clubs get for their league games.Lynn’s record in non-league football’s premier cup competition is far from outstanding down the years and usually isn’t high on the season’s priorities.Town’s main aim this season is to be pushing for promotion come next April without a doubt. Any cup run is always handy for club coffers we know but with the club’s aims focused on other things, and with the injury situation as it is I’m expecting a few changes to Adam Lakeland’s usual side on Saturday.He, and the club, will of course, be looking for a win and a place in Monday’s draw but I rather suspect an early exit from the Trophy wouldn’t be the end of the world for all concerned if it happens.