King’s Lynn Town face tough trip to in-form Whitby Town
Lynn's Ryan Fryatt, yellow, in action against Whitby Town earlier this season. Picture: Ian Burt - Credit: IAN BURT
King's Lynn Town's play-off credentials will face their latest stern examination at Whitby Town this afternoon.
The Linnets have surprised almost everybody by challenging at the top end of the Evo-Stik Premier Division table following back-to-back promotions. But today they visit arguably the league's most in-form team and boss Gary Setchell knows his men will be in for a tough test.
Lynn's boss said: 'It's going to be very difficult. They've got a good record and they've won something like 10 of their last 14, beating good sides like Skelmersdale and FC United who are tough opposition.
'They are in great form, they've got a couple of strikers in decent form, but we're not in bad form ourselves. I expect a really good game. It was a bit of false result at the Walks because they had a man sent off early on and they kept two men up front and we managed to exploit that. With a scoreline like 3-0 people probably forget how tough the game actually was.'
Lynn, fifth, are still looking to pick up their first away clean sheet of the Northern League campaign. However, it certainly won't be easy because only Marine have stopped Whitby from scoring at their Turnbull Ground so far.
The Blues have drawn more games than anyone else in their Step Three division, 13, and have lost just two league games at home this term – one of which was against Worksop Town, a side that has also tasted success at The Walks.
Lynn's opponents are unbeaten in 11 Evo-Stik matches and have lost just once in their last 16 league games. Yet Setchell knows his troops' hopes of finishing in the top five rest on getting positive results from trips like this one to Yorkshire.
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The Walks chief said: 'Realistically we need nine wins from 14, or eight wins and three draws. Hopefully we can start with something to build from at Whitby.
'We can't have too many defeats as we've got some tough games coming up against teams like Chorley and Ashton. These games are not only about adding to your own points total but taking points from those sides around you.'
Bar suspended striker Massiah McDonald, sitting out the last of his seven-game ban, Setchell has a full squad to choose from. And he will be hoping Lynn can return to Norfolk with a similar result to that of their first visit to Whitby in 2009. Two goals by Kwesi Appiah helped the Linnets win an FA Trophy match on that day.
