King's Lynn Town 0 Walsall 1

Emirates FA Cup First Round Proper, Saturday 6th November

Saturday saw me back at The Walks for my latest edition of my Emirates FA Cup Road To Wembley, and it saw a Brendan Kiernan goal on the quarter hour mark enough to send League Two side Walsall through against Vanarama National side King’s Lynn Town in what was a keenly contested cup tie in Norfolk

I decided to stay in King’s Lynn for the weekend to save me travelling up and back home on the day and found a lovely four-star guesthouse called Fairlight Lodge literally two minutes by foot away from the ground, and at only £50 a night which included a lovely breakfast and very friendly service, it was certainly the way to go.

It meant I could spend Saturday morning preparing and chilling in my room, rather than wake up at the crack of dawn and spend it travelling and suffer the stress that goes with it, so after a morning of relaxation I popped down to The Walks for my hospitality which included a three-course meal, lovely jubbly.

Football Focus were in town too, using The Walks as their base for the day’s show (I even managed to grab a photo with Dion Dublin so this was a bonus!!!), and maybe they were hoping for a surprise in this one, could The Linnets upset the form book and bridge that 31 place gap in the football pyramid? This is the FA Cup after all so shocks are a thing and are what make this fabulous competition so appealing.

The Linnets though are not in good form, and have struggled for most of the season, their last league win had come at the start of October, and they had lost their last four in a row without scoring once as they occupied the final relegation spot in the Vanarama National League, and they were up against League Two Walsall who were in the midst of some decent form.

The Saddlers had not lost in any competition since the end of September, with October seeing them winning three and drawing four in all competitions, with one of those draws resulting in a penalty shoot out win, so on paper at least this tie looked like it could only go one way, but could the magic of the cup be sprinkled over this part of Norfolk?

King’s Lynn had obviously won their last FA Cup match here at The Walks against Peterborough Sports, although they were fortunate to do that after holding off a spirited performance from a side two levels below them in the football pyramid, but they did win, although the task today was a much much tougher prospect. But this is football, and football is not played on paper, and The Linnets had nothing to lose so may as well go for it and enjoy the occasion.

Sadly, for the hosts the first half saw them look rather edgy and nervous, and they rarely tested their EFL opponents who looked fairly comfortable in the opening forty five minutes, and they took a 15^th minute lead when a cross from the right from full back Hayden White took a deflection, looping the cross over Linnet’s keeper Paul Jones and towards the back post where Brendan Kiernan was on hand to turn home right on the line.

This meant they did go into the break a goal to the good, it had been a fairly scrappy first period with not a lot of goalmouth action, although The Saddlers would have been satisfied at how the cup tie was going up till this point, whereas Lynn needed to shake things up a bit and try and put some pressure on their opponents otherwise they were going out of the competition.

They certainly upped the tempo second half and caused the visitors a lot more of a headache, and the introduction of Gold Omotayo definitely made a difference for The Linnets going forward, with Junior Morais and Aaron Jones also causing problems too, and Walsall certainly had to dig much deeper in the second period to maintain their lead, that was for sure.

Linnets skipper Michael Clunan probably had the hosts best opening, seeing a goalbound effort headed off the Walsall line, and the visitors also had to block several other attempts, one which appeared to strike the arm of a defender, but no penalty was forthcoming, goals have been a problem for the hosts this season, and it was proving problematic again today.

The Saddlers weren’t without their moments either in the second period, Kiernan fired into the side netting and Emmanuel Osadebe saw a decent chance well blocked by a last ditch sliding block as the visitors looked for a second goal to kill the contest, they didn’t find it but in turn stood firm and repelled whatever the hosts could throw at them, meaning the EFL side got through to the Second Round and into the hat for Monday’s draw.

A very decent effort from King’s Lynn though, especially second half, had they played that way all game the outcome may have been different, but fair play to the visitors who avoided a cup shock here to get into the next round, it may have not been the best cup tie, but both sides were fully committed to the cause, and it made for a decent battle.

Finally, many thanks to the hosts for the superb hospitality, the food was very good, and the service was also very good, so thank you for helping make the day very enjoyable, and well done to Walsall, I will see you in the next round, and will find out where on Monday…

Full time King’s Lynn Town 0 Walsall 1