King’s Lynn boss feels striker is slowly returning to form following injury lay-off
Adam Lakeland says Jonny Margetts is slowly getting back to the player he was before a serious back injury sidelined him for two months.
Margetts scored his first goal since the end of August as the Linnets ended a losing sequence of four games in league and cup with a slender 1-0 victory over Southport at The Walks.
After missing a penalty at South Shields a fortnight ago, the frontman held his nerve from the penalty spot as Lynn began a run of four successive home games with a crucial three points.
Lakeland said: "He's looked sharp all week this week for training and it's been good for him to have a full a full week of training.
"He knows where the back of the net is and I think a fit Jonny Margetts, for example, gets two or three goals against Farsley Celtic but he'd been out before that, he'd been out for eight weeks.
"He'd had a couple of sessions and he played 20 minutes ahead of schedule at Chorley.
"Today you only have to look at his work rate and the way he's competing, leading the line with Josh (Hmami), against three physical centre-halves. It's tough, but he doesn't shy away from it.
"He was unlucky at the start of the second-half where it kind of bobbled around and he tried to turn and let his shot go with his left foot and he didn't quite manage to get hold of it, but.
"Players like Jonny, they're worth the weight in gold because they know where the back of the net is and if you can get the ball into areas enough, he will score goals.
"He's not had too many opportunities today, but the crucial moment in the game when you need somebody with that quality and composure to score the penalty, he's got it and I wouldn't have had anyone else taking it.
"I do think he's getting fitter, stronger and back to what he was before he got injured and that's only going to make us better."
The Lynn boss was happy for a change in fortune and a slice of luck with the late penalty award after decisions have gone against his side in recent weeks.
"I was surprised that he gave the penalty, yeah, purely because of how little he gave us in the game," he admitted.
"I get criticised sometimes for speaking about officials and people think it's a blame, it's not.
"I just don't believe that for the level of football that we're at they're up to scratch, that's just my opinion and I'm entitled to my opinion, as is everybody else.
"I don't know how many people were in the ground today but I tend to think that the majority would agree with my opinion.
"Today I felt some blatant foul, easy decisions were not given so to get the penalty surprised me.
"Would I be disappointed if it was given against us? Yeah.
"But as I said earlier on, we've not had a great deal of luck from officiating in recent weeks, and today we've maybe got a slice of it. If you work hard and stick it out you deserve that little bit of luck."
King's Lynn Town (3-5-2): Boyes; Wilson, Coulson (Barnes 73), McFadden; Taylor, Johnson, Hughes (Sass), McCammon, Crane (Crowe 82); Hmami, Margetts (Williams 90). Sub not used: Walker
Southport (5-3-2): Renshaw; Minihan, Stafford (Thomson 88), Quansah, Moore, Knight-Percival (Proctor 85); Williams (Hilton 88), Philliskirk, Morgan (Angus 71); Carver, Burgess. Sub not used: Arthur.