Acle 0 King’s Lynn 3

Acle’s joint manager Martyn Sinclair was extremely pleased with his side’s Norfolk Senior Cup fourth round performance against their illustrious opponents who brought a full strength side.

Back for the Linnets were first team team regulars Street, Bexfield,Bughlemann,Spriggs, Harris,Thurlbourne and Danny Beaumont all class players on show to ensure Lynn’s qualification as front-runners for Norfolk’s most senior football competition.

Acle made a strong start and gave the Linnets some problems as Adam Hipperson curled a brilliant effort just over the crossbar and Harry Maddison stung the hands of visiting keeper Street within the first ten minutes. The Linnets finally broke the deadlock when Acle’s defence twice failed to cut out Thurlbourne’s curling corners and the visitors never looked back from the two goal lead that Spriggs and Harris gave them. Acle were always in the game with a shout and could have made things more interesting as Randall forced a good save from Street and Nathan Thompson was unlucky when following up on the rebound with an acrobatic effort.

For 85 minutes Daniel Foreman kept the most dangerous player on the field quiet in Spriggs as he was pushed further back towards his own goal. Helped by Hodds and skipper Goreham, who again showed class with every touch, along with Oldham they kept the highly-respected Linnets midfield playing their football in the centre of the park.

King’s Lynn scored a third with minutes left from a breakaway that saw Modiera lob the keeper after forcing his way through the left wing but the good crowd of nearly 400 witnessed a fine performance from an excellent Acle team who covered themselves with glory for 90 minutes.

Robin Tungate