Buxton 0 King's Lynn Town 1
Adam Lakeland turned the spotlight on his defenders ahead of King’s Lynn Town’s trip to Buxton – and they delivered.
The Linnets boss has demanded an improvement after the loss to Spennymoor Town a week earlier, and it was Greg Taylor – a defender turned defensive midfielder – who came up with a huge winning goal on Buxton’s artificial surface.
Taylor’s fourth goal of the season – minutes before Buxton had their skipper Connor Kirby sent off for a second yellow - put Lynn back into the all-important top seven, at the expense of one of their closest rivals.
But it was what happened just moments after his 69th-minute winner that pleased Lakeland as much – although he caught only the briefest of glimpses of Kyle McFadden’s acrobatic clearance to keep Lynn ahead.
“I saw his acrobatic kick to kick it off the line,” the Lynn boss told official cub channels. “I didn't see what happened in the build-up to that.
“All I remember is we scored and then I've got Macca kicking it off the line. I have to watch it back. I was trying to speak to Jonny Margetts because he was coming on.”
McFadden was back in the team after missing six games with a hamstring problem – in his absence Lynn had picked up seven points from a possible 18, which had seen them start the weekend in ninth spot.
“He (McFadden) is one of the best centre-halves in this league,” said Lakeland. “You take one of the best centre-halves out of any team and results are generally going to dip a little bit.
“He's a massive player for us. I thought he was outstanding today, as was everybody to a man.”
Lynn now occupy seventh spot, behind Hereford on goal difference and just a point behind Chorley, with Chester six points further ahead in fourth. Curzon Ashton are a point behind Lynn with two games in hand, with Buxton a further point back.
Spennymoor may argue, but to all intents and purposes it is beginning to look like Lynn are one of five clubs chasing the final three play-off places.
Lakeland’s post-match emotions were in stark contrast to a week earlier.
“I thought that was a great game,” he said. “Fair play to both teams. I think they are certainly up there with one of the best football teams in the league and if you're not organised and you don't concentrate, they can just carve through you. They put a lot of goals past some teams.
“It was about us being disciplined, being organised, having good concentration, trying to be better with the ball when we turned it over, which I felt we were probably second half a little bit better, obviously it helped when they went down to 10 men.”
Buxton: Cooper, Mann, Faulker, Kirby, Elliott (Fitzhurgh 85), Brennan, Truman (Sangare 80), Ogwuru (Coleman 58), Johnston, Burton, Ewing. Subs not ;uy77778used: Williams, Sault.
King’s Lynn Town: Jones, Crowe, McFadden, Taylor, Wilson, Sass, Johnson (Marsden 90), Hmami, Crane, Warburton (Barnes 82), Omotayo (Margetts 71). Subs not used: Armstrong, Coulson. Goal: Taylor 69
Attendance: 1,019
