Gary Setchell admits he was brimming with pride at the way his heroes refused to give in during King's Lynn Town's midweek mauling.

Although the Linnets were thumped at Buxton they played the best part of 65 minutes with nine men following the sending-offs of keeper Ashley Timms and Jake Jones. Incredibly, they had shipped six goals within 52 minutes but battled manfully for the remainder of the game to avoid a complete annihilation.

Town's troops left the field to a standing ovation from their club's travelling supporters and Setchell – whose difficulties on a nightmare evening are revealed in a timeline of bad luck - said it was the least his weary players deserved.

Lynn's boss said: 'The series of events (right) are not excuses, they are facts. When Timms got sent off I couldn't call on Pedro (Alex Street), or even Jason Lee, who has gone in goal before when we've needed him. So Quigz (Dan Quigley) went in goal.

'I don't think he had his finest 15 minutes in a Lynn shirt but you can't hold that against him. He was brave enough to put his hands up. We were 4-0 down at half-time and had a tough team talk. I knew I had to get Quigz out of goal so I put in Andy Hall, who for a little guy did well. I said to the lads: 'The game's dead, we've just got to get out of here with our heads held high, keep the score to a minimum, and work harder than we have done all season.

'When it went 6-0 in the 52nd minute I turned to Neil Fryatt (assistant) and said this could get horrendous. It could be a double-figure score. But we kept going and for the last 38 minutes we won the game 1-0 with nine men.'

Setchell said Jones, 20, will learn from picking up two bookings for dissent, after not being awarded a 'stonewall' penalty, while 28-year-old Timms was, like his manager, 'very disappointed' with getting himself red carded for retaliating to an opponent's aggressive actions.

'It sounds ridiculous, but the way the players kept going and fighting for each other and defending with nine men, as a manager you couldn't be more proud of them,' added the boss, whose back-to-back promoted side still sit ninth in the Evo-Stik Premier Division.

'I had to peel some of the lads off the dressing room floor at the end. They were a credit to themselves and the club. They gave monumental performances. Our fans let you know when you've been poor, but those who were at the game saw what happened and appreciated the players' efforts.'