King’s Lynn Town have a new face available for the game against Dover, as Chris Lakey reports
Ian Culverhouse has added another piece to a jigsaw puzzle that is finally beginning to take shape at King’s Lynn Town.
The long pursuit of Kyle Callan-McFadden is finally over after international clearance was granted on Friday, and the Irishman will go straight into the squad for Lynn’s home game against Dover Athletic.
The 25-year-old defender joins a side on a run of three wins in four games and feeling a little more comfortable with their league position as well as, it seems, with each other.
The 5-1 drubbing at Sutton United a week ago was barely believable three days later when Lynn won 2-0 at Barnet. Out went nervous, incohesive and disfunctional; in came unity, determination and sense of purpose.
Lynn were dragged up by their bootlaces by players with experience at this level, personified perfectly by Ryan Jarvis, Jamar Loza and Rory McAuley.
McAuley was distinctly off colour at Sutton, but the bandage he wore around his head to hide a nasty cut at the end of the Barnet game was a badge of honour. The central defender won everything there was to win – was it all down to a man-to-man with Culverhouse before the game?
“He was brilliant, wasn’t he?” said Culverhouse after the win in north London.
“We had a good talk on Monday about the performance (at Sutton). That was very unlike him – by his own standards he dipped on Saturday but tonight he was top class. He has got a nasty cut as well, but hopefully he will be alright on Saturday.”
Culverhouse’s chalk and cheese verdict
Jarvis sat in front of the back four for the second half at Barnet and nullified the hosts in another performance that makes you wonder why anyone thought his 34-year-old body needed a rest from time to time.
“I thought Jarvs was excellent when we played him as bit deeper and his experience was really good,” said Culverhouse, “and Jamar on the counter was magnificent for us.”
Loza hit his second double of the season to earn the points and is clearly getting into his stride after something of a false start, following injury and a little difficulty regaining his best form.
Now, though, he is a potent weapon in an attack that is still looking to settle, with Adam Marriott not quite 100pc match fit, Dayle Southwell flitting in and out and Kairo Mitchell settling in.
Loza, though, is another with experience at National League level and appears to have the bit between his teeth again. A fully-fit Loza, with his experience, could be invaluable.
“I think today is probably the first game, funnily enough, I have felt 100pc fit so I am just trying to build on that and go from strength to strength.” said the 26-year-old, whose other brace of goals came in Lynn’s only other league win, against Woking.
“I have played more than 100 games at this level. Jarvs has played at a much higher level than me and Rory has been around for years, so I think between us we need to step up as well and carry the boys who are maybe in the first year at this level, because it is a hard league, make no bones about it, it is a really difficult league and we need to just help each other out and push each other through.”
Whilst Sutton was always going to be difficult, Dover are a similar proposition to Barnet in that they around the same position as the Linnets in the table. Barnet were a position above; Dover are second from bottom, and the only team with a worse goal difference than Lynn’s.
“The most important thing is trying to build on the win, not rest on it,” said Loza.
“We need to pick up three points, especially from teams in and around us. We will take a lot of confidence from today and hopefully build on it on Saturday and go again.”
Lynn are 14th in the table – a position some would gladly accept come season’s end – and a win over Dover would settle a lot of nerves, but Loza is convinced the squad isn’t just there to make up the numbers, whatever they may turn out to be.
“Some of the boys asked me the comparison to Woking last year and no disrespect to Woking, we had an unbelievable team, but on paper, player-wise I think this Lynn team are miles ahead,” he said.
“I think what Woking do well is, they know how to play the league, they are big and strong and they don’t concede a lot - that is what keeps them in the league and keeps them doing so well. but player-wise there are some unbelievable talents out there.
“It is just about us manning up quickly and realising it is not all about pretty football, sometimes we need to do the hard graft as well.”
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