King’s Lynn travelled to Manchester to take on Curzon Ashton on Tuesday night in their second successive away match.
After Saturday’s shock of a 3-0 defeat at last year’s play-off rivals Chester, the Linnets were hoping to bounce back and register their first victory of the league season.
The game started with both sides wary of each other. Tom Hughes fired in Lynn’s first shot of the match which went wide of the post.
Stephens and Ponticelli were a thorn in the side of the Curzon backline as the Linnets dominated forward play for the majority of the first half.
But the home side edged their way into the game as the half wore on, and it was Curaon who took the lead in the 36th minute, with Miles Storey breaking past Oke on the right side and slotting home past Sandford.
Play was suspended after a Curzon free kick hit Kian Ronan in the face and poleaxed him.
Storey went close to completing his brace and doubling Curzon’s lead with a curling effort from the corner of the box. The ball clipped the top of the bar before flying out for a goal kick.
The referee added a meagre three minutes, but Lynn went into the half time break still a goal down.
The beginning of the second half was largely uneventful, with Stephens having the only half-chance for either side 50 minutes in. His lobbed effort bounced on to the roof of the net.
Lynn began to try utilising a very direct tactic to get the better of the Curzon back line, although the hosts were compact and seemed reasonably comfortable.
All three Lynn substitutions were made between the 60th and 77th minutes, with Smith, Bartley and Fatadjo replacing Hargreaves, Spence and Hughes.
The Linnets pulled a goal back in the 84th minute. A low ball into the penalty area found Kian Ronan on the right side. He squared the ball back to Fatadjo who curled his close-range effort into the bottom left corner to claim his maiden goal for Lynn.
Five minutes of added time provided some of the most exciting moments of the game.
Fatadjo and Linnets assistant manager Adrian Whitbread were both given red cards, for wasting time and dissent respectively.
Sandford also made a brilliant save to deny a late, late volley from Curzon’s number nine, Jimmy Spencer, and so the spoils were shared between the two sides.
