King's Lynn Town under-18s march on in FA Youth Cup

A memorable evening of football saw King's Lynn Town Under-18s progress to the first round proper of the FA Youth Cup on Wednesday following a 2-0 victory over their counterparts from Dereham Town, writes Mark Hearle.

The result means that Lynn will now travel on a date to be confirmed to play Northampton Town Under-18s at The Sixfields Stadium.

Dereham began well and home keeper Aydin Duran made a fine close-range save to deny the dangerous Owen Murphy from opening the scoring.

Duran was thankful for the angle of his bar and post when Murphy rattled it with a terrific free-kick from 20 yards as the home side clung on despite constant Dereham pressure.

Neil Fryatt’s youngsters weathered the storm and had a chance of their own as Finlay Howe saw a header deflected for a corner.

Lynn began the second half on the front foot and began to create more in the way of chances.

However it was from a visiting attack that they took the lead just before the hour-mark.

Striker Jake Smith collected the ball just inside the Dereham half and proceeded on a strong run before drawing keeper Adam Holbrook and drilling the ball home whilst shrugging off two defenders in the process.

With just over 20 minutes remaining Smith sent the home support into raptures as he again raced onto a home clearance before rounding an advancing Holbrooke and rolling the ball into an unguarded net from what looked an impossible angle from almost 30 yards.

The final whistle was met by huge cheers and applause from the large crowd of 307 and the lads in blue and gold left the pitch to a standing ovation to cap a remarkable night of cup action.