Linnets beaten in North Yorkshire

Scarborough Athletic 2, King’s Lynn Town 0

National League North

Lynn lost on Scarborough’s artificial pitch this evening on a bitterly cold evening in North Yorkshire.

The home side scored goals in first and second half stoppage time of a game where the Linnets struggled to establish themselves as an attacking threat.

The hosts nearly opened the scoring inside two minutes as Alex Brown fizzed a ball across the face of the goal, but none of the Athletic players could connect to tap it in.

Athletic were indeed out of the blocks fast and went close again in the fourth minute as Luca Colville’s half-volley was blocked in front of goal.

Lynn’s only first-half attack of note came eight minutes later when Billy Jones broke into space down the left and found George Morrison on the edge of the box, only for his shot to deflect off Bailey Gooda for a corner.

After 19 minutes, Brown drove at the Lynn defence and went for goal, but his effort skewed wide of Jones’ far post, and then Kieran Weledji fired a cross into the box, but no-one was there to meet it.

A Scarborough corner in the 29th minute saw a solid header by Gooda just evade the post and six minutes later, good passing on the edge of the box resulted in Alex Wiles taking a touch and shooting just wide.

The home pressure finally paid off two minutes into first-half stoppage time when a fantastic ball from Brown found Wiles, who netted.

The Sea Dogs continued on the front foot after the break and were close to a second after 50 minutes when a cross-field pass from Lewis Maloney found Brown, who cut in past Kian Ronan and fired at goal, only for his effort to beat Paul Jones and strike Lynn’s post.

Six minutes later they went close again, Maloney picking up the ball on the edge of the box after a neat one-two with Weledji and curling his effort just wide of the far post.

But at only 1-0 down, the Linnets were still in the game and nearly equalised on the hour when Jones’ long throw was nodded on by Bartosz Cybulski to Kyle McFadden, whose shot produced a great save from Ryan Whitley.

Back came the home side though and, after 69 minutes, Maloney’s free-kick found Weledji in space but he blasted over. And seven minutes later a counter-attack saw Colville drag a shot just wide from inside the box.

With four minutes of stoppage time played at the end of the match, Scarborough added salt into Linnets wounds when Finlay Barnes added a second.

Lynn: P.Jones, Ronan, Coulson (Oke 90 mins), Crowther, McFadden, B. Jones (Fatadjo 66), Hargreaves, Morrison, Smith, Stephens. Cybulski (Rogers 66). Subs (not used): Key, Isaacson.

Scarborough: Whitley, Weledji, Maloney, Thornton, Gooda, Purver, Mulhern (Rutledge 65 mins), Colville (Durose 88), Wiles, Tear (Barnes 79), Brown. Subs (not used): Coulson, Qualter.

Booked: Colville (Scarborough); Fatadjo (Lynn).

Attendance: 1,277 (33 Lynn)