Great Yarmouth Town v Leiston Reserves.
Wednesday 28th September 2022. Report by Martin Baxter.
On a chilly evening at the Wellesley, Yarmouth hosted mid-table Leiston reserves.
For the first time this season woolly hats and scarves were back out in force amongst the Bloaters faithful and it felt like winter was certainly on its way.
Yarmouth made 2 changes from Saturday’s cup exit at Newmarket, with McQueen and club captain Cantwell returning to the starting line-up.
Before the match a minute’s silence was impeccably observed for club life Vice President Wally Giles who has sadly recently passed away, and Wally had been a regular at the club since the 1940’s.
The home side started the match on the front foot and were looking to be both positive and lively, carrying on from the decent performance in Saturday’s FA Vase fixture.
The early opportunities however fell to the visitors with a couple of half chances that were not taken and then in the 8th minute a cross from the right was somehow firstly smothered and then kept by Lane to prevent Mersuria from tapping in at close range.
Yarmouth like for the first 45 minutes on Saturday at Newmarket were attempting to play balls over the top for striker Trenery to run onto, however the majority of these passes were nowhere near accurate enough to reach him and they were continually giving the ball back to the opposition.
In the 15th minute Cantwell had shot at goal from the edge of the box which deflected out for a corner and Yarmouth then won 2 more corners in succession, without really testing the Leiston keeper and missing an opportunity to really put pressure on their opponents.
The first real bit of quality in this match happened on 26 minutes when Leiston’s Fletcher turned a first and then a second defender inside out before making space for himself to place a perfectly placed effort into the bottom right-hand corner of the net to put the away side 1-0 up, and barely a minute later Fletcher again went clean through on goal looking for his second, however this time Lane covered his goal angles well and the shot went wide of the left hand post.
However the reprieve was short lived as in the 32nd minute a worldy from fully 40 yards out by man of the match Lewis Dyer sailed right into the top right-hand corner of the net to put Leiston deservedly 2-0 up.
Leading up to half-time Trenery had a great chance to put Yarmouth back in the game when he stretched and connected with a right wing cross, however his effort went agonisingly over the crossbar.
Half time: Great Yarmouth Town 0 Leiston Reserves 2.
The 2nd period began slowly with Leiston and the Bloaters cancelling each other out in the midfield areas and the first real chance of the half did not happen until the 58th minute when Dyer went clean through on the Yarmouth goal, but keeper Lane again managed to block his effort and kept his side in the game.
On 70 minutes the home side made a couple of changes including Fenn coming on for Jacobs.
However, barely a minute later Lane was called into action yet again, this time when Fletcher went clean through on goal, however the Bloaters keeper stood firm, once again making a decent save.
In the final period Yarmouth had a couple of half chances through firstly McQueen and then Cantwell, however neither strike tested the visitor’s keeper and the match ended with a very disappointing defeat for the home side.
Great Yarmouth Town: Lane, Willets, Duffiled, Vincent, Perry, Barnden, McQueen, Cantwell, Jacobs, Couzens, Trenery. Subs: Philpott, Melo, Fenn, Woodhouse, Riches.
Man of the match: Lewis Dyer. (Leiston)
