King's Lynn boss praises brave effort of Ashington in the FA Cup
King's Lynn Town manager Tommy Widdrington saluted the opposition after seeing his side book their place in the First Round Proper of the FA Cup for a third successive season.
Defender Adam Crowther shattered the Colliers' cup dream late on after a brave display from the Northern League Division One outfit.
Ben Stephens fired the Linnets in front before the North East outfit levelled through Luke Salmon.
Jordan Ponticelli restored Lynn's slender advantage before the break and the tie remained in the balance until Crowther sealed the deal in front of more than 1700 fans at The Walks.
Widdrington said: "A lot of credit has to go to Ashington and to Ian and his group. To get to this level of the competition is an achievement in itself and they gave us problems.
"I don't think we were as fluid as we can be but on the occasions we were we scored two fantastic goals.
"They've done the club and the area very proud but I didn't expect anything else really as the people of Newcastle live for two things, work and football.
"I'm delighted to be in the hat even though I felt we could have gone through a few more gears and that was our objective at 3pm.
"I've lost and won games in the cup being an underdog and a favourite and it's not easy when the scenario is like that because it's a one-off game."
Lynn took the lead after 13 minutes as Ben Stephens picked up a deft Jordan Ponticelli before firing under the body of Karl Dryden.
A lovely finish from Luke Salmon stunned the home faithful seven minutes later, but the hosts soon restored their lead after Ponticelli controlled the ball and fired into the roof of the net.
Ashington were excellent in the opening quarter of the second period but their brave resistance was finally broken when Crowther added a third with 12 minutes remaining.
Colliers boss Ian Skinner said: "The boys have been brilliant on this cup run. We thought we could come here and have a little bit of a chance, but knew we'd have to be really good and Lynn would have to have an off day so it wasn't to be.
"I thought first half we gave them too much room and if I'm honest I was disappointed with the three goals we conceded.
"In the second half we used the ball better but didn't threaten their goal enough so maybe it was a step too far for us on the day.
"We've given a great account of ourselves, now it's about doing what we want to do and that's climb the football pyramid through our league position."
