On a very wet Tuesday evening in Suffolk the Bloaters faced a crunch relegation battle against Leiston reserves.

 

Yarmouth made 4 changes from their last game at Cornard with Lane returning from a one match ban and starts were also given to Barnden, Mc Queen and Fenn and Leiston included 6 first team squad players in their line up.

 

When you are down near the bottom your luck always seems to go against you and once again Yarmouth faced Leiston reserves on an evening when their first team were not playing and they were able to field a very strong and experienced line up.   

 

Before the match their was a minutes silence impeccably observed to pay respects to the recent passing of Yarmouth’s life president Arthur Fisk.     

 

The game started in a real positive fashion with both sides moving the ball around quickly on a wet and zippy surface and the early signs were encouraging for a really entertaining evening of football and the first chance fell to the home side on 11 minutes when Fowkes hit a volley on target and although the ball bounced very awkwardly in front of him, keeper Lane was eventually able to deal with it.   

 

Yarmouth then had a sight at goal themselves when following excellent build up play between Mc Queen and Fenn, the latter hit a shot from 10 yards out that went straight to the Podd the Leiston keeper, however these were the only real clear cut opportunities created by either side in the first half hour or so.    

 

In the 35th minute Fowkes hit a superb free kick from fully 30 yards out that just missed the target by several inches, and the same player went on mazy run cutting through the visitors defence 2 minutes later however his effort at goal was again well saved by Lane, who was starting to look the busier of the 2 keepers.  

 

Then in the 41st minute and somewhat against the run of play a Halliday free kick was pumped into the box and after a couple of deflections the ball fell to Barnden who coolly slotted home from close range to put Yarmouth 1-0 up on the night.  

 

The away side then held firm to make sure they went in at the break with a vital 1-0 advantage.    

 

Half Time:  Leiston Reserves.  0  Great Yarmouth Town.  1.

 

The 2nd period started and in the 51st minute Yarmouth left Godbold with far too much time and space on the edge of the box and he hit an unstoppable shot which sailed into the top left hand corner of the net to pull the home side level and just 3 minutes later they failed to learn from their previous mistake as once again they failed to close the same player down quickly enough and he was able to pick his spot from 20 yards out to clinically put his side 2-1 up. 

 

It almost got even worse for the away side and they were thankful for a last ditch goal line clearance from Philpott  just 1 minute later, and this now looked a completely different match as Leiston’s senior players Fowkes and Godbold were now running the show and their class was shining through.   

 

To be fair to Yarmouth they did not in anyway throw in the towel and they started to get more possession without really creating that clear opportunity to pull level, however Fenn did test the Leiston keeper with a close range strike which he was equal to and that valuable away point still looked possible, however it was made a lot more improbable in the 70th minute when Halliday was shown a second yellow card and was sent off following a late challenge.   

 

To try and find a way back into this battle the Bloaters made a triple substitution with Soares, Smith and Adams all coming on to try and make a difference. 

 

However now down to to 10 men Yarmouth were now under the cosh and the home side were in total control and after several near misses man of the match Fowkes tore through the Bloaters defence and finished superbly to put the home side 3-1 up and out of sight in the 85th minute and Fowkes then added a 4th in injury time from close range to make it a very bleak night in Suffolk for the bloaters.

 

Yarmouth have another vital relegation 6 pointer on Saturday when they host Parsons Drove and there will be a minutes applause prior to kick off to celebrate the life of life president Arthur Fisk, kick off is 3.00 pm.    

 

Full Time: Leiston Reserves 4  Great Yarmouth Town 1.

 

GYTFC: Lane, Halliday, Duffield, Barnden, Barnes, Phippott, McQueen, Melo, Couzens, Jacobs, Fenn.  Subs:  Soares, Smith, Derry, Adams.

 

Man of the Match:  Ben Fowkes.  (Leiston)

Yarmouth Man of the Match:  Louie Duffield.