Lincoln City title winner Adam Marriott, a veteran of the 2016/17 National League season, has been confirmed by Pitching In Southern League Premier Division Central side Leiston for the upcoming season.
The 35-year-old, who seems to have flitted between King’s Lynn and Boston for a while, has moved to the Blues as they look to improve on their tenth-placed finish last season. He’ll now play at the same level as Stamford Town, a division below the National League South.
Marriott arrived in the summer of 2016, having scored 62 times in 76 outings for Cambridge City, but did not quite make the grade in League Two with Stevenage. He started well for us, netting on the opening day of the 2016/17 season, and going on to score three in his first six outings.
He lost his place after the 2-0 defeat against Dover, with loanee Macauley Bonne coming in, and an injury ruled him out until November. He never truly recovered, missing another chunk of the season between January and March, but he still had three huge moments that helped shape our season.
The first came in December, when he scored a late winner against Tranmere to earn us a 2-1 win. His calm finish gave us a huge lift going into the Christmas period, and even caused this writer to tumble down icy steps and break his wrist.
A few weeks later, he played a pass that is still mentioned almost as much as the goal it led to. In the dying embers of our FA Cup replay against Ipswich, we turned a free kick into a counterattack, and Marriott waited patiently before threading an inch-perfect pass through the Championship defence for Nathan Arnold to score.
Finally, on Good Friday, 2017, he came on after 65 minutes of our tepid game against Torquay United. We needed points desperately, but trailing 1-0 with only a few left, it looked unlikely. We remember Harry Anderson levelling, but it was Marriott’s effort which was parried for the on-loan player to score.
We also remember Sam Habergham’s free-kick, a wicked strike that sent Sincil Bank into raptures, but it was Marriott, ‘using all his experience’ on the edge of the area to win a foul that set up the chance. It was his final game at the Bank in red and white, but it capped off a significant role in an even more significant season.
After leaving the Bank, Marriott stayed in non-league football and quickly reminded everyone what he did best. Royston Town got the first burst, with 31 goals in 44 games, but King’s Lynn Town became the real story. He joined in October 2018 and rattled in 66 goals in 99 appearances, firing them through the Southern League play-offs and then into the National League after back-to-back promotions. His 2019–20 campaign was brutal: 30 goals in 39 games, including 28 in the league, as Lynn went up again on points per game.
There were more flashes after that, even if nothing quite matched Lynn. He was briefly with Eastleigh, but a spell at Barnet was emphatic, with 20 goals and a Player of the Season award, before a switch to Bromley brought another solid National League return. He later went back to Boston United, first on loan and then permanently, before completing another return to King’s Lynn in 2025.
Everyone at the Stacey West wishes him the best with his latest club. At least, I assume they do, I haven’t asked them, I just write these myself and speak on everyone’s behalf.
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