It was difficult to avoid the theme tune to the Great Escape at The Walks.
AC/DC and Thin Lizzy may compete for the all-important slot for the team’s entrance just before 3pm, but when it is the anthem for many a football team struggling against the odds that can set the pulse racing.
Lynn are most definitely in need of a miracle to escape the clutches of the National League’s feeder league from which they surprisingly came just 18 months ago. They remain second from bottom, three points behind Saturday's opponents but with two games in hand and 11 behind Wealdstone.
If February, with another six games, four of them at home, is to be the defining month, then there was no better way to kick it off (to borrow from a near-neighbour's tune) than with a win which broke a few of the myths around the club.
It was the biggest win of the season, the first clean sheet of the season, the first time they’d scored more than two goals in front of their home fans - and perhaps the first time they had taken a game by the scruff of the neck with a ruthlessness in front of goals that was just reward for a philosophy that insisted on forward movement at all times.
Manager Tommy Widdrington was a no-nonsense midfielder in his playing days and he wasn’t far off the mark post-match when he suggested this team was beginning to mould itself on the man in charge.
If you want an example of the attitude how about this, when he was asked whether he could relax when Lynn went 2-0 up: “I always feel if you have got somebody on the floor under your foot and their throat is there just squeeze it so they can’t breathe.”
Widdrington was happy with the quality, “a good watch” and, importantly, a game when Lynn weren’t chalk and cheese either side of half-time.
“If a team reflects you as a manager that (game) reflects me... most first halves have reflected me since I have been at the club but some second halves haven’t.
“We have allowed things to happen and I am not a person who opens the gate when the bloke who is thieving out of my house is leaving the building, so I shut the gate in his face and make sure he doesn’t go anywhere.”
There is certainly a more combative feeling about Lynn: the manager’s son, Theo, brings a bit of that – along with some excellent first-time passing - while Ross Barrows simply never shirks any challenge.
“You have got to win your battles to earn your right to play football and I thought we won every battle on the pitch, to a man I thought we won every one,” said Widdrington.
The match was won thanks to goals from Malachi Linton, who picked himself up to convert a penalty, skipper Michael Clunan and Josh Barrett.
Lynn announced three new signings an hour before kick-off: experienced central defender Josh Coulson, signed on a month’s loan from Southend, started, while Cam Hargreaves, here for a month from Bristol Rovers, was a late sub. The third, Jak Hickman, remained on the subs’ bench. Hickman had a spell with Lynn last March but was injured on his debut and, like recent signing Olly Scott did, is providing his services for free as he looks to earn a contract.
The next task facing Widdrington is a trip to Grimsby on Tuesday. They will head there in good heart, but in the knowledge that the manager doesn’t appear to be one who will use the ‘stick with a winning team’ mantra. With more bodies in the building he has more options – and is likely to use them.
No one believes that on a chilly February afternoon, one swallow will make Lynn’s summer. But it is a start.
“I am delighted with the players but not overly,” said Widdrington. “The next game is less than three days away, it is a quick turnaround for the lads. I have told them to hold that feeling in their stomach because there is nothing better than winning football matches when you play or when you manage.”
King’s Lynn Town: P Jones, A Jones, Phipps, Coulson, Barrows, Scott, McGavin, Widdrington (Hargreaves76), Clunan (Sundire 81), Barrett, Linton (Walker 84). Subs not used: Denton, Hickman. Goals: Linton 25pen, Clunan 71, Barrett 74.
Weymouth: Fitzsimons, Cordner, McQuoid, Mnoga, Bearwish, Drewe, Mampala (Goodship 72), Murray (Rose 50), Solanke (Blair 61), Harfield, Shields. Subs not used: Morgan, Greenidge.
Referee: Ryan Atkin
Attendance: 857
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here