FA Trophy: Keeper Craig King scores as Hemel Hempstead reach round three
- Published
Craig King joined Hemel Hempstead from Dartford in 2021
Just a week before their televised FA Cup tie against Stevenage, King's Lynn Town found out the hard way just how fickle football fortunes can be.
Unbeaten at home in the league, they were knocked out of the FA Trophy on penalties by Hemel Hempstead Town after conceding an added-time equaliser - scored by goalkeeper Craig King.
With his side trailing 1-0 at The Walks, King went forward for a corner and his glancing header bounced up off the pitch and into the top corner.
And he then saved two King's Lynn penalties as his side won the shoot-out 5-4 to go into Tuesday's third round draw.
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Linnets boss Tommy Widdrington saw his side hit the woodwork three times during the game and then fail with three of their spot-kicks, one of them by striker Gold Omotayo, who scored the winner in their FA Cup first-round tie against Doncaster Rovers earlier this month.
"If you can hit the bar, you should be hitting the net, shouldn't you? It's the error of the striker, it's not any work by the defender or the goalkeeper, it's them not hitting the target," Widdrington told BBC Radio Norfolk.
"Big Gold's has great publicity over the last few weeks, but he's missed two or three ridiculously easy chances - that's the life of a footballer at this level."
The tie pitted two National League second-tier sides against each other - King's Lynn are second in the North and Hemel Hempstead 14th in the South.
Given King's Lynn's home form, King said: "This was probably the hardest draw we could have got away from home.
"We stuck at it, there were tough times (in the game) and we showed we weren't going to give up, and that's the thing I'm happiest about."
But what about that goal?
"There was a corner in the 90th minute that I asked to go up for and they said no and he put it front post," the 25-year-old told Hemel's social media channel.
"I knew I was going up for the next one because I knew exactly where it was going and I knew I was going to put it in the net.
"I'm going to keep on talking about that for a long time."