Tommy Widdrington admitted his players may be feeling the physical effects of battle as they lost ground in the race against the drop.
Having gone behind to an early penalty, the Linnets went ahead with two goals, sandwiching a red card for Yeovil.
Linnets suffer late agony - report
A second-half red card of their own – Munashe Sundire getting the showers to himself - made it a level playing field, and Lynn visibly wilted as the clock ticked down. There was a certain inevitability about the injury-time leveller – it was just tough watching it creep up on the players. And for those who knew that Aldershot were beating Boreham Wood – a result confirmed five minutes after the Lynn players trooped off the pitch.
It means Lynn are now five points behind Aldershot, in the final safe place, but from two games more – excruciating considering the hope was that they’d finish the day level on points.
Widdrington is a glass half full manager and sees it as a point gained, but there is little doubt the task has now become even more difficult.
Lynn may well have joined the full-time ranks last summer, but that doesn’t mean they’re on a level footing with the rest of the National League: the strength in depth just isn’t there.
“You have to give credit to Yeovil for keeping going like they did,” said the Lynn boss. “It was a wonder strike. I think we could have defended it better, but ultimately I think we didn’t manage the game well enough on the pitch when we had the advantage of the extra man in the second half. And then that’s compounded when Nash (Sundire) makes the second error and gets himself sent off to even it up.
“They had stronger, faster, quicker subs than they actually started with, and the strength is what has pulled us back, so, at the end of the day, this time last week it was six points behind (Aldershot) and I was telling you that we are not out of it. Now we are five points behind, so from that point of view we’re in a better position five o’clock this Saturday than we were five o’clock last Saturday.
It was the red cards that changed the game, first in Lynn’s favour and then in Yeovil’s.
“Sometimes it is difficult to play against 10 men,” said Widdrington. “Sometimes people take up positions that are relatively unusual because they are trying to fill that space that is not there any more, but I didn’t think we passed the ball well enough in the second half, we weren’t as dominant in territory or possession anywhere near as much as we were in the first.”
There was definite ‘leginess’ about a Lynn team who have put in some big shifts of late.
“These lads have played a hell of a lot of football recently and a lot of them have played most of the games and there’s going to be times when they are going to have a lull because of energy levels or whatever, but we never stopped,” said Widdrington. “We were the ones at the end that had the last shot at the goal and we were on the front foot. I am not disappointed at the lads, I am disappointed for the lads. Ultimately we have added another point on the board and that is a positive in my eyes
“People have to remember this is the first time at this level for a lot of these lads and it is a tough ask, a really tough ask – we had Bromley on Tuesday, a long trip to Dover before that, Halifax here – these are big clubs, clubs with great infrastructures that we are at this moment in time years behind, so for us to be going toe to toe with teams like that now on a regular basis I have got to say the upper end of the league, I think it is a credit to the lads and they are giving me everything they can and I won’t have anything said against them.”
A Lynn game nowadays isn’t complete without a disputed penalty appeal. Widdrington had no issue with the one Sundire conceded after just five minutes. It was one Lynn didn’t get that annoyed the manager.
“I thought we did more than enough to be 2-1 at half-time,” he said. “I thought we had another stonewall penalty not given - Josh Coulson has been manhandled to the ground. I’ve watched it back, it’s a foul. I had no gripes with the penalty given against us – it was a foul, a silly challenge again, but that’s too often, it’s effecting the game a lot – if we did have the penalty and score the penalty it’s 3-1 against 10 men and the game’s completely different. The people who make these decisions are supposed to be the best in their field at this level of football - I worry about that.”
King’s Lynn Town: P Jones, Sundire, Coulson, Barrows, Denton, Clunan, McGavin, Widdrington (Jones 73), Hargreaves, Barrett (Kurran-Browne 65), Omotayo. Subs not used: Bowry, Hickman, Charles.
Goals: Clunan 38, Omotayo 45
Yeovil: Cann, Little (Yussuf 88), Wilkinson, Worthington, Gorman, Reid, Knowles, Williams, Lo-Everton (Barnett 45), Barclay, Neufville (Wakefield 81). Subs not used: Bradley, D’Ath.
Goals: Gorman 6pen, Wakefield 90
Att: 1,148
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