Scarborough Athletic sunk by King’s Lynn Town’s second-half comeback
In a game of two contrasting halves, Boro bossed much of the opening period of their Bank Holiday Monday clash at full-timers King’s Lynn and took a deserved lead, but conceded just before the interval, and then Town dominated after the break, scoring twice to seal a 3-1 win.
The game kicked off in glorious sunshine and Boro began brightly, Kieran Weledji passed forward to Luca Colville, whose left-wing cross flashed across the goalmouth, and Colville struck a 25-yard shot into the chest of home keeper Ronnie Hollingshead.
A Colville shot was blocked by Josh McCammon, then, in Boro’s best move of the game on 17 minutes, Luke Hall won possession, and passed upfield to Mo Fadera, who jinked past a defender and his shot was deflected wide by Rhys Doherty, and from Colville’s corner, Weledji’s downward header bounced up off the ground and over the bar.
Lynn’s first attack saw a Harley Hamilton shot deflected wide by Jake Hull, then their star performer Jesse Nwabueze sent over two testing crosses, but Hull and Will Thornton were there to head clear.
Rio Allan fed Fadera, whose low ball into the goalmouth was kicked clear by Michael Clunan, before Fadera opened the scoring with an opportunist goal, as he pounced on a sloppy backpass, shrugged off a defender and poked the ball past Hollingshead.
Dom Tear was tackled by Ethan Warne when he raced into the box as Boro remained in control, but Lynn fought back just before the interval.
Ed Leach fired wide, Brown tackled Leach when he again raced forward, and Alex Purver Hannan blocked a Ryan Tunnicliffe shot, before they drew level when Nwabueze cut into the box and drilled his shot into the bottom right corner.
A heavy burst of rain greeted the start of the second half, and in stark contrast to the first, it was Town who had the upper hand.
A Nwabueze shot was blocked by Thornton, and a dipping 25-yard strike from Leach was superbly tipped wide by a diving Ryan Whitley, but from the resulting corner, skipper Clunan passed into the box and Carlton Ubaezounu slammed in from close range.
Colville passed to Fadera, whose ball into the goalmouth was grabbed by the keeper at the feet of Allan. Ubaezuonu and Tunnicliffe then both blazed wide as the hosts continued to exert pressure.
Boro defended soundly, Brown tackled Tom Scott on the edge of the area and Hull, who had a terrific game, did well to halt a run from Ubaezuonu, while Colville, Hall and Purver Hannan worked hard in midfield, but Boro struggled to create chances, although an Alex Wiles shot was blocked by Tunnicliffe and a Jack Waldron cross towards Allan in the area was intercepted by Warne.
A fierce low shot from Scott forced a great reflex save from Whitley, and Weledji blocked a Reece Hall-Johnson shot, but they added a killer third goal late on, when Hall-Johnson burst into the box and blasted into the far corner to wrap up the points for his team.
KING’S LYNN - Hollingshead, Doherty, Clunan (c), Hamilton (Scott 67), McCammon (Rubio 89), Warne, Nwabueze (Mills 88), Leach (Hall-Johnson 61), Tunnicliffe, Lindsay, K.Thomas (Ubaezuonu 9), unused sub - O.Thomas (GK).
BORO - Whitley, Weledji, Brown (Waldron 68), Hull, Thornton (c), Purver Hannan, Hall (Stuttard 89), Tear (Wiles 68), Allan, Fadera, Colville, unused subs - Maloney, Pllu, Colley.
REFEREE - Ben Tomlinson.
KING’S LYNN GOALS - Jesse Nwabueze 44, Carlton Ubaezuonu 52, Reece Hall-Johnson 88; BORO GOAL - Mo Fadera 34.
GOAL ATTEMPTS - KING’S LYNN 13 (5 on target) BORO 6 (2 on target).
CORNERS - KING’S LYNN 4 BORO 3.
OFFSIDES - KING’S LYNN 5 BORO 2.
YELLOW CARDS - Ethan Warne, Michael Clunan (King’s Lynn).
BORO MAN OF MATCH - Jake Hull.
ATTENDANCE - 1,211 (73 away).