Great Yarmouth Town v Swaffham Town.
Monday 2nd January 2023. Report by Martin Baxter.
On a festive and sunny holiday Monday Yarmouth played hosts to Swaffham Town and were looking for another vital 3 points over the Christmas period after their excellent 1-0 win at Diss on boxing day.
The Bloaters had arguably their best performance of the season so far in this reverse fixture back in October, winning 4-0 on the night, and they made only 1 change from boxing day with Trenery coming in for Willetts.
The game started and in the 3rd minute Smith had a header from a free kick that went straight to the Swaffham keeper and 5 minutes later Barnes tried his luck from 20 yards out with a shot that the keeper spilled, however no one in a Yarmouth shirt was able to follow up on his mistake and the ball was cleared.
After the initial early pressure from the hosts the game then settled down with both sides looking very evenly matched and as they sat on the same number of points in the table this was always going to be a tight encounter and chances were at a premium until the 42nd minute when following a Swaffham corner Yarmouth broke away with a swift and decisive counter attack which ended with Connor Smith superbly slotting his effort from 15 yards out into the net giving the keeper Eyre no chance of stopping and Yarmouth went into the break with a very important 1-0 lead.
Half-Time: Great Yarmouth Town 1 Swaffham Town 0.
The 2nd period started and was only 5 minutes old when from a corner Barnes connected with a flick on to head the ball into the net and put the home side 2 -0 up, and finding the net just before and just after the break was perfect timing for the Bloaters.
On 55 minutes the very impressive Smith took a knock and was replaced by Beeson and following this change the Pedlars who had so far offered very little up front started to exert some pressure on their opponents and Yarmouth’s defence were working very hard to keep them at bay, and on 65 minutes things got even worse for the visitors as their manager was shown a straight red card by the referee and sent to the stands.
In the 70th minute Yarmouth replaced Averies with Lacon and the loanee had impressed once again following his very good performance on boxing day and the best of luck to him in the USA.
Halliday also picked up an injury on 75 minutes and was replaced by Soares and on 78 minutes Swaffham striker Davey had an effort at goal from 5 yards out that just went past the left hand post and the Pedlars were now looking the better side as Yarmouth appeared to be affected by losing two players to injuries which seemed to unsettle them tactically.
Yarmouth made one final change on 82 minutes when Trenery was replaced by Fenn and 2 minutes later Bruce went clean through on goal but had his effort blocked by Lane in the Yarmouth goal who came out very quickly to snub out the threat, and 1 minute later Beeson had an opportunity to score a 3rd goal for Yarmouth with a fierce volley that was tipped over the by the Pedlars keeper Eyre and then substitute Fenn had an effort at goal from close range superbly stopped once again by Eyre.
Beeson had a great chance to convert again in the final minute but just missed to connect with a cross by inches and deep into injury time Swaffham were awarded a penalty after a foul in the box which was converted by Bruce, however the ref then immediately blew for full time and it was another 3 points for Yarmouth to give them a very productive 6 points over the Christmas and New year period!
Full time: Great Yarmouth Town 2 Swaffham Town 1.
GYTFC line up: Lane, Halliday, Duffield, Barnes, Philpott Perry, Averies, Melo, Smith, Jacobs, Trenery. Subs: Hacon, Soares, Beeson, Fenn, Riches.
Joint man of the match: Cameron Barnes and Connor Smith,
