King's Lynn Town boss Gary Setchell fears the art of tackling is becoming outlawed in football.

The Linnets' manager was a hard defender during his playing days and rarely shirked a challenge. But he has grown frustrated – especially during fiercly competitive fixtures like last week's 3-1 loss to Worksop Town which saw six players booked – at the way the game he loves is changing.

Setchell said: 'It's literally a tickling contest now. There was a couple of tackles against Worksop. Jordy (Jordan) Yong went flying into a tackle. What's the matter with that? You want to see your players getting stuck in. You want to see that desire that (Dan) Quigley and their number eight was going at it all game. I want to see that from my players.

'I don't want my players to be dipping out of tackles because they're worrying about what a referee can do. As long as people aren't going over the top of the football, and trying to hurt people, and trying to break legs. As long as they're going in with their feet down as hard as you like behind the ball, I can't see a problem with that, I really can't.'

Ryan Clarke, Massiah McDonald and Andy Hall were all booked during Lynn's 3-1 weekend reverse at Rushall Olympic.

Dan Quigley, Jordan Yong and Jason Lee have already picked up five yellow cards this term. However, the only sending offs have been handed to Clarke and keeper Alex Street. Both were punished for committing a foul as their defending side's last man.