Adam Lakeland got the reaction he wanted from his King’s Lynn Town team as they went toe-to-toe with Rushall Olympic in a bruising encounter at The Walks.

The Linnets boss was a frustrated man after the weekend defeat at Alfreton, but saw another side of his team on Tuesday – the entertaining, free-flowing footballing side and, in the second half, the gritty, sleeves-rolled-up fighters.

It was a game played on the edge: feisty, close to boiling over at times, full of blood and thunder – and at times in need of stronger officials, according to Lakeland.

“I think they made it that to be honest,” he said. “I think the referee allowed too much of it for my liking. You probably shouldn't be third game in saying it, but I thought he was poor tonight.”

Gold Omotayo nodded home a Josh Hmami corner to give Lynn an early lead, but the visitors levelled through a controversial penalty when referee Declan Brown decided Kian Ronan had upended the flying Roddy McGlinchey in the area – and Jaden Charles scored from the spot.

“It looked like their lad’s been watching too much of the Olympics for my liking,” said Lakeland. “For him (the referee) to then be conned by it and give it, I think it's really poor.”

The match was ultimately won by a piece of brilliance as two players starting their first games of the season combined – Josh McCammon drove from his own half to the edge of the Rushall area and then nicked a perfect little pass left to Jonny Margetts, back from suspension, to slide home.

“I thought we played excellent first half,” said Lakeland. “I thought we played with tempo, we played with energy, we scored an early goal which we wanted to do, the crowd were right behind us. We fully deserved to win the game.

“But the penalty gives a team that's travelled up to Scarborough at the weekend and then travelled down here on a Tuesday, a way back into the game.

“And from then on, although we scored the the second goal, which was a brilliant goal, we probably didn't have the same level of control and rhythm in the game and obviously the incident with Kian just disrupted the flow of the game, made it a little bit scrappier and a little bit subdued in here.

“It was tough then the last half an hour, we had to really compete and grind it out and I thought our players were magnificent in that last 25 minutes because they made it a real battle. They kept breaking the game up - the number of times their lads were late on ours and went unpunished.

“It's just frustrating and poor, but credit to them as well for keeping going right until the end - they made us work really hard for the three points, but I felt we deserved it and we showed a different side in the second-half to what we showed on the first and it was important that we bounced back.”

Ronan left the pitch on a stretcher after a nasty-looking collision, but was conscious and responsive before he was taken to hospital, later writing on social media, ‘Appreciate the support from everyone and incredibly grateful for the physios and paramedics. All is okay, just going through all the precautionary measures now. Great response from Saturday’s result and three more important points on the board.”

King’s Lynn: Jones, Ronan (Crowe 61), Sass, McFadden, Taylor, Johnson, Hmami, McCammon (Hughes 90), Crane (Coulson 88), Omotayo (Wilson 90), Margetts. Subs not used: Boyes. Goals: Omotayo 6, Margetts 45.

Rushall Olympic: White, McDonald, Offler, Cameron, Bood, McGlinchey (McAlinden 78), Martin, McLintock, Charles (Campbell 80), Benbow (McDonagh 85), Arlott-John (King 90). Subs not used: McWilliams. Goal: Charles 32.

Att: 1,070.