Match Report

Match Report By Martyn Sinclair

The Bloaters VS Whittlesey Athletic – Wed 7th Feb 2024

On a chilly but dry Wednesday evening we welcomed Whittlesey Athletic to the Wellesley for
our latest league match. The Bloaters made just the one change from Saturdays starting line
up with Sanders coming in for Cantwell.
The Bloaters settled well and started to pass the ball about well, but it was clear that the
experienced Whittlesey back line were not going to give much away and Yarmouth found
space in behind difficult to find and resorted to playing long balls which the away defence
coped with without many problems. The away side did pick up two early yellows with some
pretty tough tackles.
Barber and Sanders linked up well with the front three of Couzens, Duffield and Belmar but
just couldn’t find a clear pathway to the Whittlesey goal.
Midway through the half Whittlesey won a freekick on their right-hand side which was drilled
into the box with real quality and with hesitation in the Bloaters back line gifted a goal to an
unmarked Whittlesey player to give the away side the lead.
The rest of the half was played out in pretty much stale mate as neither keeper had too
much to do and the Bloaters trudged off with plenty to think about.

HT – The Bloaters 0 -1 Whittlesey Athletic

The Bloaters kicked off the second half and started to knock the ball around on the floor
which certainly started to cause the away side much more of a problem. On 55 minutes
Duffield was bundled over in the box but the Referee waved away the very strong appeals.
Moments later a clever Belmar freekick was tucked away by Sanders from 6 yards but
amazingly the Flag went up very late to rule the goal out. The game became stretched and
now very open, a Barber mazy run on 65 minutes saw him wiped out on the edge of the box
by a player already on a yellow but somehow the Ref decided not to punish him further.
Sanders stepped up and fired a superb freekick into the top corner of the net to bring the
game level.
Within minutes the away side were almost back in front when a shot was superbly saved by
Ling the rebound was smashed against the post and into the grateful arms of Ling. Moments
later a Whittlesey free kick was drifted into the box and again the home defence froze, the
Whittlesey no.5 headed the ball across the goal and a it was inches away from being tapped
into an empty net, a real let off for the Bloaters.
Fresh legs again were introduced early with all Cantwell, Thompson, Spooner, Fenn, and
Jacobs all coming on. Chances fell to Halliday, Sanders and Barnes as the home side went
looking for the win. With 8 minutes left on the clock the Whittlesey no.2 received his second
yellow after hauling back Fenn when he wriggled clear of the away defence. This gave the
home side a real lift in the closing minutes and 3 minutes into 7 added minutes of injury time
Sanders weaved his way through the midfield from a neat Cantwell pass, he played it into
Adams ( who was now playing as a centre forward) who calmly rolled the ball into the path of
Jacobs who smashed an unstoppable low shot from the edge of the box into the bottom
corner of the net to spark mayhem from the bench and the stands. The Bloaters then held on
to grab another vital 3 points and make it 8 wins on the bounce.

FT – The Bloaters 2 – 1 Whittlesey Athletic

Team – Ling, Halliday, Adams, Barnes, Philpott, Barber, Sanders, Wilson-Towns, Belmar,
Duffield, Couzens. Goals Sanders 65, Jacobs 90.
Subs – Cantwell, Jacobs, Spooner, Thompson, Fenn.

Management – Honeyman, Blissett, Cleverly, Riches.