King’s Lynn Town Ladies showed a different side as their dogged determination saw them claim another three points in their ERWFL Premier Division fixture against Bowers and Pitsea.
The ladies ground out a valuable 2-1 victory to move themselves away from the bottom of the table.
Match winner Jodie Hopkins said: “We did not have the best of performances in the first half and we got a right rollicking in the half-time talk from JP and Michael.
“The strange thing was despite playing poorly we were containing Bowers’ attack and winning quite a lot of the play in the midfield.
“We had our chances in the half but just did not have the accuracy. I think we found the crossbar twice and lady luck wasn’t smiling on us!
“The penalty gave us real drive to finish things to our benefit. Tilly Sands for a youngster shows maturity beyond her years with her spot kicks.
“After the penalty we just showed our character and determination even after Bowers brought the scores level.
“I was really pleased to find the net for our second with not much time left on the clock and you can see what it meant to the girls.
“We’d like to thank Swaffham Town for the use of their facilities and Leverington Sports Girls who acted as mascots today, as the game had to be transferred from The Walks at short notice.”
Amy Magnus, Jodie Hopkins and Oksana Imanalijeva all had chances in a goalless first half but were either denied by the woodwork or the Bowers goalkeeper.
The second half was an altogether different affair. The game ebbed-and-flowed in the midfield with great passages of play for both sides, no quarter given by either, with some crunching tackles to shut down play.
Magnus’ agility and speed again caused the opposition issues as in previous weeks and she won the penalty from which Tilly Sands, 18, buried brilliantly in the back of the net.
Bowers continued to attack on the counter and drew back level with eight minutes of the half left.
A well-worked counter down the left channel and a thunderous shot brought the scores level.
Bowers, who endeavoured to counter quickly from deep in their half, found themselves restricted by an excellent Linnets defence led by Fran Peeling.
Lynn’s reward came with less than five minutes on the clock as captain Hopkins ran at the visiting defence before unleashing a magnificent strike which found the back of the net.
The relief was there to see as home goalkeeper Yasmine Walford ran the full length of the pitch at speed to celebrate.
Bowers tried their utmost to bring the scores back level but Lynn successfully maintained possession.
Joint J B Data Engineering PoM: Fran Peeling and Tilly Sands.
