King’s Lynn Town FC handed tough home Gosport Boro start

King’s Lynn Town have been handed a tough home start to their 2017/18 Southern League campaign.

The Linnets will host Gosport Borough, who were relegated from the National League South last season, on Saturday, August 12.

Ian Culverhouse’s side will then travel to Bishop’s Stortford on the Tuesday night (August 15) before heading to Dorchester Town four days later.

Lynn will entertain St Ives Town on Boxing Day before starting 2018 with a fixture at Kettering Town.

Potentially Lynn’s biggest game of the season, as long as neither club are still involved in the FA Trophy, will see them host newly-promoted Hereford on Saturday, November 25, while the Walks outfit will make the long trip to Merthyr Town on December 23.

Manager Culverhouse was delighted for his side get their pre-season programme underway at home to Norwich City Under-23s on Wednesday night.

Although Lynn lost 4-1, Culverhouse said: “It’s all about fitness, I don’t care about winning or losing. We’ve got seven games in pre-season to get fit.

“There were good bits and bad bits and we managed to have a look at a few things. We mixed up the teams, everyone had a go and all of the players got 45 minutes.

“It’s about getting used to the shape and formation and how I want us to play. The players have only been back a week so it was quite hard for some of them.”

On Leon Mettam marking his Lynn return with a goal, Culverhouse, who is still looking at adding to his squad with a further two signings, said: “Metts contributed really well to the group and worked extremely hard.”

Lynn took the lead on five minutes from a Mettam free-kick but clinical finishing from the Canaries saw Tony Andreu (23), Michee Efete (31) and Todd Cantwell (43) give the visitors a 3-1 advantage going into the interval.

Andreu completed the scoring five minutes into the second half as Lynn struggled to get the ball against their well-drilled opponents, whose line-up included Adam Phillips, recently released by Liverpool, and Clube Brugge striker Pierre Xavier.

The Linnets fielded a different side in either half with trialists Joe Hood and Jair Minors both named on the teamsheet.

Both midfielders, Hood is a former Peterborough Academy player who has also played for Deeping Rangers and had a spell in America with Iowa Western Reivers.

Minors, a Bermudan international, had a brief spell with Boston United Under-21s towards the end of last season.

Tomorrow, Lynn continue their preparations with a trip to Stamford.

Lynn first half: Street, Shipp, Hood, T. Ward, C. Ward, Lennon, Clunan, Parker, Gillies, Mettam, Warburton. Second half: Pearson, Frary, Fryatt, Gaughran, Blake-Tracey, Jarvis, McQuaid, Hawkins, Minors, Edge, Hilliard. Attendance: 626.

l Full fixture list: page 78.