King's Lynn Town manager Gary Setchell hailed the impact of his strikers as his Linnet's side eased into the quarter finals of the United Counties League Cup thanks to a 2-1 win over Northampton Spencer. The home side scored through Jack Defty and Ben Coe, whilst Joe Power reduced the arrears for the visitors.

Setchell said: 'I thought Liam Harrold and Jack Defty looked very decent first-half. The ball stuck with them which meant we could pass the ball around very well as a team. It was also important to get Jack to play some football as he recovers from injury'.

The Linnets boss gave Matthew Hails a rare chance to impress as he replaced Alex Street in goal, there was also a rare start for Ben Coe; Jamie Thurlbourne was used in an unfamiliar left back position as Setchell experimented for the United Counties League Cup tie with Northampton Spencer.

Some slack defending from Ryan Fryatt allowed Northampton Spencer the first real chance of the match, Darran Frost set up Paul Pickering who fluffed his lines from inside the box.

King's Lynn's opened the scoring on 19 minutes, Linnet's big number nine Jack Defty flicked home the opener after good work from Stephen Spriggs. Lynn should have been 2-0 up on 31 minutes, Spriggs controlled Harrold's knockdown but fired his effort just wide.

Defty came close to his and Lynn's second as he met Sprigg's superb deep cross but failed to beat Quincy Shorunmu in the Northampton goal. Minutes later the home side doubled their lead as Sprigg's cross shot was converted by Coe, this gave the Linnets a 2-0 cushion going into the break.

There was a Linnets debut for goalkeeper Luke Owen, who replaced Matthew Hails just after the interval. Owen got his first taste of action when Paul Pickering took advantage of poor defensive play from Fryatt and struck a fierce drive that Owen had to tip away.

Harrold thought he had added Lynn's third, but saw his effort ruled out for offside after he had been set up by Spriggs. Jamie Thurlbourne also went close, when one of his trademark free-kicks was palmed away by Shorunmu.

Northampton Spencer pulled a goal back with 17 minutes remaining, Joe Power's weak free-kick slipped through Owen's fingers and into the net.

Fryatt came close to sealing the game with just three minutes left, the young centre half meeting Jamie Thurlbourne's superb corner, but his firm header flew over the crossbar. Fortunately the Linnets were not made to rue those missed chances and held out to move into the quarter finals of the UCL league cup.

• King's Lynn Town: Hails (Owen), Deeney, Jamie Thurlbourne, Fryatt, Buhlemann, White, Spriggs (Beaumont), Luke Thurlbourne, Defty (Hughes), Harrold, Coe

Unused Subs: Yong, Wall

Goals: Defty (19), Coe (42)

Bookings: Coe

• Northampton Spencer: Shorunmu, Merrill, Nash, Smith, Stevenson, Hunt, Power, Smith , Pickering (Da Costa), Frost (Fitzgerald), Okechukwu

Unused Subs: Mikutel

Goals: Power (73)

• Attendance: 507