SAD LINNETS THANKS TO TOPPLED HUGHES
CALUM MCINTYRE saw Chester become the first side to win at King’s Lynn this season and urged them to push on and make the playoffs.
The Blues boss was cock-ahoop with his side after a defensive mix-up gifted Chester’s Rhys Hughes a winner with 12 minutes to go.
It was good enough to end Lynn’s home record of 11 wins and one draw coming into this encounter.
McIntyre said: “I’ve got massive respect for King’s Lynn and their staff. They are a proper football club who will be right up there come the end of the season.
“Four us to get four points out of six against them, with three of them being here, we’re really pleased and that’s a massive compliment to King’s Lynn.
“I was delighted with what we were today – it was a really professional performance away from home – and we haven’t won as many games as we would have liked in the last seven or eight.
“We can put this as a line in the sand with these three points. If we can build on this in the next 16 games then we’ll be right in the play-off mix come the end of the season.”
With less than two minutes on the clock Lynn could have gone ahead – Jordan Ponticelli forced a close-range save from keeper Harry Tyrer.
The visitors had opportunities of their own in an end-toend first half as a Hughes effort fizzed wide of the target.
Five minutes later Hughes saw his long-range effort superbly tipped over the woodwork by Paul Jones, who was called into action again soon after to keep out a Kurt Willoughby shot from the corner.
Lynn wasted the biggest chance of the game, on 35 minutes, when Theo Widdrington put a free-kick on Adam Crowther’s head, only for the defender to head over a gaping goal.
Tyrer then denied Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jones towards the end of the first period and, despite camping in the visitors’ half for long spells of the second period, the hosts didn’t work the Chester shotstopper enough.
The salt in the wound came on 78 minutes when a ball into the Lynn area was left by Crowther and Hughes nipped in between defender and goalkeeper, took a touch and then tapped it home.
Beaten Linnets boss Tommy Widdrington said: “We huffed and puffed and it has been a long time coming. We don’t want to lose games, certainly not here, but we’ve just got to get back on the horse and put it right as quickly as we can.
“There was no lack of effort or endeavour from us, but when you don’t score it’s important that you don’t concede.
“We looked solid at the back earlier in the season but just recently I think we’ve been a little loose.”