Young at heart King’s Lynn Town up for the challenge ahead of Cirencester Town test

Gary Setchell believes his youngsters' enthusiasm for the game is helping to drive King's Lynn Town forward.

The Linnets have made giant strides this season after filling their squad with young local players. While a lack of experience has provided a degree of inconsistency, Setchell is sure there are plenty of other age-based positives that are helping his side remain in the play-off picture.

Setchell, whose side are four points off the top five, said: 'The way we've bounced back after the Merthyr horror half, if you like to call it that, has been excellent.

'Chesham are in a false position because of their FA Cup run and it (2-0 win) was probably one of our top-three performances this season considering the conditions and, more to the point, it came after the battering we got at the hands of Merthyr (3-2 loss).

'Then at Poole we were 12 minutes away from beating the league leaders and pulling off a stunning victory. It was still a great point and I think those games show how having young players can help. They don't dwell on defeats like older players do they just look forward to playing another game of football as soon as they can. You've got to give credit to them, and the more experienced lads too.'

Lynn, 10th, welcome 14th-placed Cirencester this afternoon with both teams looking to climb a closely-contested Southern League Premier Division table.

Setchell's side won the reverse fixture 1-0 thanks to a Michael Clunan wonder strike. A victory at The Walks would make it 10 wins out of 10 against the Centurions for Lynn, old and new. Toby Hilliard is eligible after serving his four-match ban but the striker will get some game time with the club's reserves.

Setchell added: 'Discipline was a big thing I had to put right as we had something like 11 or 12 red cards last season. We've had three so far, and two of them have gone to Toby. I didn't think either was a red card though. The first (at Bedworth) was a 'how you see it' one. He jumped and some might say he led with his arm but from our point of view he travelled 60 yards and never once took his eye off the ball.

'Challenges like that happen 100 times a game and unfortunately Toby's arm caught the lad. The second one (melee at Paulton) was silly as he didn't need to get involved. For me it was a yellow for both lads who went face-to-face as nothing really happened. I would say Toby's got to learn though because he's missed seven games in total which has now cost him his place in the squad.'