Michael Clunan: King's Lynn skipper hopes FA Cup fans will return for promotion push
- Published
Michael Clunan joined King's Lynn from Histon in 2015 and signed a contract extension in the summer
King's Lynn skipper Michael Clunan hopes fans who attended their FA Cup tie against Stevenage will return to cheer them on to possible promotion.
More than 4,200 were at The Walks on Saturday, but the Linnets were beaten 3-0 by their League Two opponents.
They had defeated Doncaster Rovers 1-0 to earn a place in the second round.
"Hopefully at the back end of the season, when promotion is on the horizon, we can have many more days like this," he told BBC Radio Norfolk.
"When the manager came in, there were 471 people here when we played Dover at home and 12 months later 4,200 people are here, it just shows how far as a club we've come.
"The manager, his staff and the new players brought in have breathed a bit of life into the club and it was great to see so many fans here - hopefully they do come back.
"Looking round The Walks when you've got the advertising boards, the (TV) cameras around, it gives you the hunger for more. Now we can focus on the league and keep chasing that top spot down."
King's Lynn Town 0-3 Stevenage - highlights
Their involvement in the FA Cup, and results elsewhere, meant Tommy Widdrington's side slipped a place to third in National League North - but they are only three points behind leaders Brackley and now have three games in hand.
They won five ties in all to reach round two of the competition but after going in at half-time on level terms, Stevenage scored three times in five minutes to put themselves into the third-round draw.
"Stylistically, Doncaster like to play and that probably suited us. A physical team that likes to put the ball in the area is something we probably deal with a little bit less well," Clunan admitted.
"But we have to learn how to do that, because in our league we're going to get teams who want to play and teams who want to go long.
"When it's in our league, when we go down a goal, our instinct is 'we need a goal back straightaway'.
"The better decision (against Stevenage) would have been 'let's settle the ship first for five or 10 minutes and stay in the game'. We didn't do that and before we knew it, the game was out of our reach."