‘He’s had a rough week’ – Emphatic FA Cup victory dedicated to Linnets chairman
Craig Parker wheels away after scoring Lynn's sixth at Histon. Picture: Ian Burt - Credit: Archant
Joint caretaker manager Robbie Back has dedicated King's Lynn Town's resurgent 7-0 thrashing of Histon to chairman Stephen Cleeve.
The Linnets romped to a comprehensive FA Cup first qualifying round replay win at lower-level Histon last night, against a team which had earned a 2-2 draw at The Walks on Saturday.
That result, and just four points from the opening six league games of the Southern Premier Division Central campaign, saw Cleeve realise that Simon Clark was the wrong successor to Ian Culverhouse and place club stalwarts Back and Neil Fryatt in temporary charge.
'This win is for the chairman, he's had a rough week,' club development manager Back said. 'It's not easy with three people losing their jobs.
'So this is for the chairman and especially the supporters, who were brilliant on the night.'
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Ryan Hawkins was the hat-trick hero, with a Toby Hilliard brace and a Craig Parker strike firing the Linnets 6-0 up before the break.
'It couldn't have gone any better really, what a start, after a couple of minutes, to go one up,' Back continued. 'We looked a bit shaky after the goal to be fair but when you've lost four on the bounce you're going to be a bit shaky.
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'But the lads were tremendous, it wasn't about me and Neil coming in and changing things, it was about the lads putting in a performance.
'We said to them before, you don't turn into bad players overnight, they're not bad players, they're just lacking a bit of confidence and sometimes a change that does matter – but I thought they were excellent tonight, all of them. The only bad thing was injuries.'
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Those injuries saw Ryan Jarvis suffer a cut to his shin which needed stitches and Hawkins pick up a dead leg in the second half, which will make both a doubt for Saturday's league trip to Halesowen.
That was after Hawkins had smashed home a spectacular 30-yard effort to complete his treble, with Nathan Stewart coming on to add a late seventh.
'It was an absolute cracker,' Back said of Hawkins' super strike. 'it took a bit of a swerve, I don't think the keeper could do a lot about it. There were some good goals, Natty Stewart got a good one at the end as well.'