Gary Setchell admits Lynn were handed a brutal Boxing Day lesson by their old rivals Kettering.

The Poppies eventually cruised to a 3-0 success as the Linnets failed to replicate their recent improvement in front of the biggest Walks crowd of the season. The slick visitors had too much know-how, cutting edge and class in both boxes for the hosts – who handed 17-year-old striker Dylan Edge a first senior start – to deal with, much to the dismay of their manager.

Setchell said: 'I think the effort was there, we had half of the possession probably but I think they've got a couple more 'men' in the team and it showed. They've got four or five lads who won the (Southern) league (Premier) with Corby last season and it showed. They've got a swagger, that winning mentality and they've got match-winners.

'Although we huffed and puffed and matched them I think they were better than us. I'm disappointed with our performance. We beat Frome 1-0 here, we beat Paulton and with a young set of lads you can get carried away but I think we were brought back to down earth by a very strong Kettering side.'

Lynn failed to build on a bright start and faded dreadfully after James Brighton's 43rd-minute opener. Wilson Carvalho's second-half brace wrapped up a Southern League Premier Division triumph which moved the victors up to ninth, just one point off the play-off places.

'I feel we're one or two players short if I'm being honest,' added Lynn's boss, whose side have only collected four points less than Kettering. If you could put a recognised 20-goal striker in our team it would be great, which is no disrespect to the lads who are playing because they're doing great for us. We haven't got that and we can't go and get Carvalho, Rene Howe (Kettering), (Tom) Meechan and Drew Roberts (both St Neots).

'It's a bit of a problem for us but we've got young lads who we can try and turn into these sort of players. They're going to have quiet games but in 18 months' time we could have ones that we've found ourselves. If one comes along that wants to play for Lynn and what we've got then great. If not, we'll have to keep working as hard as we can.'

Click here to read a match report from Saturday's match.