A youthful King's Lynn side made it through to the next round of the Errea League Cup following a comfortable victory over Hitchin Town at The Walks.

King's Lynn 3, Hitchin 1

A youthful King's Lynn side made it through to the next round of the Errea League Cup following a comfortable victory over Hitchin Town at The Walks last night.

As expected, manager Keith Webb made wholesale changes to his starting 11 with only Joe Francis remaining from the team that beat Cirencester at the weekend.

The Linnets' smallest crowd of the season had barely settled into their seats when the fit again John Turner gave his side the lead with a spectacular overhead kick following Stephen Spriggs' centre after only 30 seconds of play.

Lynn had Stephen Harvey to thank as he cleared the lively David Iwediuno's header from the line and Murray was called into action again, turning Lance Gentle-King's header away.

But a minute later the Linnets doubled their lead with a classy move that resulted in Spriggs sliding the ball into the net following Francis' cross.

On 39 minutes the task facing Hertfordshire's Canaries became even more difficult as full-back David Deeney was shown two yellow cards, first for fouling Francis and then for shoving the same player under the nose of referee Wayne Porter.

However, within six minutes of the restart Gentle-King prodded home from close in after the Lynn defence had failed to clear Hill's corner. But the Linnets' nerves were soon settled as Dean Miller found Mark Heath-Preston who rifled the ball past Perks.

King's Lynn: Murray, Buhlemann, Lake, C Defty, Miller, Harvey, Spriggs, Keegan, Turner (Vincent 80), Heath-Preston, Francis (Nicholls 63). Subs not used: Spittlehouse, McAnally.

Hitchin Town: Perks, Deeney, Ducket, Frater, Gentle-King, Childs (Mountford 74), Olaleye, Hill, Jackman (Seeley 45), Iwediuno (Pringle 45), Mills. Subs not used: Simpson.

Referee: W Porter, Lincolnshire

Attendance: 336