ALFIE’S LATE STRIKE PILES PRESSURE ON LINNETS
KING’S Lynn Town boss Ian Culverhouse says the Linnets must take time out to reflect after defeat at the hands of relegation rivals Aldershot Town saw their survival hopes suffer a catastrophic blow.
A late Alfie Whittingham header handed the Shots a third successive win, while Lynn suffered their eighth consecutive league loss to leave Culverhouse’s job hanging in the balance.
“You’ve got to look at yourself, try to weigh things up,” he said. “The next 48 hours, 24 hours, there’ll be a lot of soul-searching. Especially myself, because we’re not doing it.
“We’ve got to look at all aspects of what’s going wrong because it certainly isn’t going right. It’s just a case of sitting down and discussing and seeing where we’re gonna go and what we’re gonna do.
“If you analyse it, we’re not on a par with Aldershot. They’re ex-Football League but because they’ve started slowly and they’re in this position around us, this made it a big game.
“It was important we got something out the game. We’re fighting in a league we never thought we’d be in years ago but we’re here and we’re not getting the results that’s required to stay in it.
“I’ve had great success here but, at the minute, it’s not going right. It’s a results business and we’re not getting results.”
It was the Linnets who carved out the best opportunity to score early on, with captain Michael Clunan’s effort from distance well-tipped over by Shots keeper Laurie Walker.
Given the torrential conditions, set-pieces were proving vital, but Lynn consistently failed to take advantage of a number of inviting deliveries into the box.
Aldershot were much better after the interval and kept their hosts pinned in their half for long periods.
Home goalkeeper Paul Jones was virtually redundant in the first hour but the Lynn shotstopper pulled off a stunning stop to deny Lewis Kinsella’s long-range strike ten minutes into the second half.
Returning Lynn defender Kyle Callan-McFadden brilliantly headed away more danger with Corie Andrews lurking in the penalty box following an excellent cross from Tommy Willard.
A deflected effort from Andrews was well-saved by Jones as the visitors continued to press.
And a few minutes later, Whittingham headed Michael Ndjoli’s centre from the right to condemn the Linnets to another loss on home soil.
Triumphant Aldershot boss Mark Molesley said: “It’s a massive win. It was a high-pressure game because of the context of the table.
“We came here with a really young side and the maturity they showed was beyond their years in really tough conditions.”