SAD SHOTS ARE LOOKING OVER THEIR SHOULDERS

KING’S Lynn earned just a third victory under Tommy Widdrington to reinforce their manager’s belief that they can stage a great escape from the National League relegation zone.

The Linnets thoroughly deserved the points against an abject Aldershot Town side, and Widdrington dared to dream, if only for a second.

“I’ve never had an ounce of disbelief that we can do it,” urged the former Southampton midfielder. “We knew this was a huge game. It’s only three points but what we’ve done is made it very interesting. I’m delighted but I’m not going to get carried away.

“We’ve been close (to victory) on numerous occasions. We scored three great goals, could have scored more, and defended manfully in terms of putting our bodies on the line.”

The Shots made a strong start but apart from two flurries of activity it was another horribly flat and disjointed first-half display.

They should have been ahead when Colin Daniel and Harrison Panayiotou hit the crossbar, and Jak Hickman cleared the resulting rebound off the line ahead of Ryan Glover, but within three minutes the Linnets lead.

A weak clearance fell to former Aldershot loanee Josh Barrett, and his crossshot into the goalmouth was stabbed in by Malachi Linton.

Panayiotou diverted Kodi Lyons-Foster’s noddown over the bar, and Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong’s deflected shot was easily saved, but another trio of chances fell their way in stoppage time: Panayiotou had two snapshots blocked and Lyons-Foster’s closerange header dropped wide.

Their profligacy was punished on 56 minutes. Barrett’s floated free-kick caused confusion in the host’s penalty area and, with Josh Coulson battling for a vital touch, the ball dropped to Linton, who coolly placed a shot across debutant loan keeper Ethan Ross. Substitutes Tommy Willard and Sam Matthews briefly threatened to galvanise Aldershot for a late resurgence which never materialised. Paul Jones’ parry to deny Panayiotou, and a misplaced free header from Corey Jordan, extinguished any hope they may have had and manager Mark Molesley voiced his frustration after a tenth home defeat of the season.

“We need the mental framework to deal with the pressure,” he said. “The players are as fit and as strong as they’ve ever been but it all comes down to heart and character. That’s where we’re coming up short.”

Linton turned provider in stoppage time to embellish an impressively disciplined away performance – Gold Omatayo powerfully heading into the net.

It underlined the gulf in performance between the two sides and suggested that the battle to stay up may not be over yet.