Gorleston were dumped unceremoniously out of the Norfolk Senior Cup by a young Kings Lynn Reserve side that had four of their Under 18 squad playing and another three Under 19s.

The Greens were missing Luke Goreham and Ricci Butler through suspension and played Adam Thurtle in an unfamiliar right side midfield role, presumably to double up on Lynn'S tricky left winger Dominic Dwyer. With the Reserves game called off Matty Bowles sat on the bench which also surprisingly included Steve Bishop.

Lynn started the stronger having the majority of the early pressure and several free kicks around the Gorleston box. However, The Greens slowly got a foothold into the game with Lee Hunter having an effort charged down and John Bell firing the rebound over. Good work by Peter Lambert in midfield helped to create another chance for Hunter but he blasted his effort straight at the keeper from six yards.

By now the Greens were matching their opponents and looked to have gained a belief they could beat their higher league opposition.

On the half hour a Hunter free kick just failed to bend enough and went wide.

However, that old Gorleston achilles heel struck again twice in three minutes as they failed to deal with crosses into the box to allow Lynn to take the lead.

On 37 minutes a deep cross into the box from the left was watched by the Gorleston defence but attacked by Elliot Fiddy who put his unchallenged header into the goal. Three minutes later almost a carbon copy except this time a right wing cross was headed in by the inrushing Rory Harper.

HALF TIME : GORLESTON 0 KINGS LYNN RESERVES 2

The next goal was always likely to be the decider and Gorleston started the second period looking to get back into the game. Hunter had two good chances in the first ten minutes of the half but put both over the bar.

The manager then decided to go three at the back replacing left back Ben Manning with Matty Bowles then shortly after replaced Bell with the experienced Bishop.

Before Bishop got a kick, Dwyer was allowed too much room on the edge of the box and curled a shot into the corner to finally knock the stuffing out of the Greens.

To their credit Gorleston pushed forward. A Hunter burst gave harry Maddison a chance which was cleared off the line, the follow up finding Bowles's head which a defender cleared over his own bar. From the resulting corner Lynn broke quickly with Gorleston short at the back and Tom Marsden had to tip over a rasping Luke Fell drive. Marsden was called in to action again from that corner saving a Joe Setchell header.

With twelve minutes to go a mistake at the back let in Ross Kelly for an easy goal and you could visibly see Gorleston heads drop.

Three minutes from time Marsden again saved from Dwyer but from the corner Fell shot unchallenged into the corner of the net.

Three minutes later to rub salt into the wounds, a Setchell miskick screwed over Marsden into the goal to make it six.

Four minutes into injury time Hunter gave the home fans something to applaud with the goal of the game when a route one punt saw him hit the ball first time over the keeper. There was still time for a glancing Lambert header to hit the post and fly across the face of goal. If only the last five minutes had been the first five!

Six goals against gives an unfair reflection to the game but one thing this result does serve to show is that, whilst we may be pushing for a promotion spot, there is still a big difference between the first and Premier Divisions, and in terms of quality, pace and fitness on this performance Gorleston don't look ready quite yet!

FULL TIME : GORLESTON 1 KINGS LYNN RESERVES 6

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TEAMS
GORLESTON				KINGS LYNN RESERVES
Tom Marsden				1	Tom Rix
Kyle Howell				2	Robert Palmer
Ben Manning			Sub 14	3	Gary Bush
Steve Taylor				4	Stephen Harvey [c]
Leon Harewood				5	Elliot Fiddy		37
Eddie Thompson [c]				6	James Spittlehouse
John Bell			Sub 15	7	Ross Kelly		78
Pete Lambert				8	Kyle Nicholls
Lee Hunter			90+4	9	Dominic Dwyer		67
Harry Maddison				10	Rory Harper		40; Sub 15
Adam Thurtle			Sub 12	11	Lewis Osborn		Sub 14
Gary Ingram			69	12	Matthew Gilchrist
Matty Bowles			55	14	Luke Fell		7287
Steve Bishop			65	15	Martin Rudd		72
Harley Clements				16	Joe Setchell		7290
Annis Niali				17	Steven Norris
REFEREE - Andy Tyne
ASST REFS - Paul Smith & Paul Burnham

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