10-08-2025
'I'm so proud' - Linnets boss Rowe after opening day show
King's Lynn Town 1 AFC Telford Utd 1
'It was always going to be eventful, wasn't it, if I was the manager? It always is.'
And so, in just 17 words, James Rowe summed up what it will be like for King's Lynn Town fans this season.
The head coach was more like a ringmaster in his dugout - animated, cajoling, urging his team on, berating them when it went wrong. When his opposite number Kevin Wilkin bemoaned a referee's decision, Rowe was ready to pounce with his opinion. Officials get rarely a moment's rest, and Rowe even urged the crowd to get on their backs as well – not that it takes a lot of doing.
It was high energy stuff – on and off the pitch.
And, when the 90-minute storm had final abated, Rowe was calmness personified, happy to give his thoughts but keen to get to his family and some different post-match banter.
Lynn started with just three players from last season - Gold Omotayo, Ross Crane and Tom Wilson – with new owner Joseph Phua sitting in the stands, after a whirlwind 16-hour trip from Singapore, the return leg of which began immediately after the game.
It was all very 'new' – and if what transpired on the pitch is repeated, Lynn fans will surely love this rollercoaster ride. Yes, Lynn should have won and on another day might have had the game tucked up before half-time. But a new squad, considerably younger than last season's, will live and learn.
'I'm so proud, because we're a young group and the enthusiasm and the attacking intent that we played was outstanding,' he said. 'To have 24 shots at home, you expect to score more than one goal. And I think we got 34 box entries as well, so those stats back up the pride, really.
'And 1-0 at home against us at half-time, as a young group could have gone the other way, but they've showed great character. They've come out even stronger and we played better in the second half. I thought for 30 minutes before their goal, we were very, very good. And again, that shows a young group that, after their goal, they had the best spell of their game. So we need to make sure we react better when adversity comes, that'll come as we learn along the journey.
'But my overriding feeling is pride.'
It took a Michael Gyasi equaliser just before the hour mark to earn a point, after Matt Stenson had put the visitors ahead on 35 minutes from the penalty spot.
Lynn had enjoyed the bulk of the play for much of the opening period, before the visitors came into the game. Gyasi had the balI in the net on four minutes but was ruled offside, but the returnee then slipped in Crane who, with the keeper advancing, fired over from close range.
All the opening forays were in the visitors' half, and debutant Joe Nyahwema almost made the most of it on 17 minutes when he cut in from the left and fired a rocket of a shot against the bar from 25 yards.
Louis Chadwick, preferred in goal to the experienced Paul Jones, denied Stenson a second, but whatever Rowe said to his players at the break worked. Bar the odd foray from the visitors, it was all Lynn.
The reward came when Crane found Gyasi with a drilled ball down the middle and the striker switched on the after-burners before slotting the ball past keeper Alfie Brooks.
Gyasi twice went close to scoring a winner, but make no mistake, this is a very different player to the one that struggled at times during his first spell at The Walks. His upper body strength, his confidence, his speed – all improved.
In the final reckoning, despite some close shaves and some excellent defending by the visitors, Lynn had to settle for a point. But the thumbs up verdict from the crowd was unanimous. They rather like this bright new world.
King's Lynn Town: Chadwick, Hall-Johnson (Williams 89(, Clements, Wilson, Fleming, Clunan, Nyahwema, M Williams, Crane (Forde-Brown 69), Gyasi (Collins 81), Omotayo. Subs: Jones, Doherty, Dickens, Marriott.
Goal: Gyasi 59
AFC Telford Utd: Brooks, Harper, Cranston, Pendley, Williams (George 77), Rowe, Stenson (Ilesammi 77), Cawthorne, Hilton (Lawal 57), Leshabela, Walker (Armson 86). Subs not used: Fletcher, Allen-Hadley, Cook, Armson.
Goal: Stenson 35 pen
Att: 1,354
