Great Yarmouth Town v Needham Market Under 23’s. Saturday 16th March 2024. Report by Martin Baxter.
On a bright and sunny spring Saturday Yarmouth played their third home match in 8 days when Needham Market under 23’s visited the Wellesley.
Although currently 2nd from bottom in the league the Marketmen came into this encounter on the back of an excellent 2-1 win over 3rd place Stanway Pegasus last weekend and they were looking for another positive result against the Bloaters.
The home side made 2 changes from the mid-week win over Parson Drove with starts given to Thompson and Wilson-Towns.
Yarmouth had an early opportunity to take the lead when a Sanders free kick was headed towards goal by Adams, however his effort was off target and did not trouble the keeper Tucker.
This match then fell into a familiar pattern of the away side playing very deep in their own half and not allowing the space for the Yarmouth forwards to get behind them and create any clear cut opportunities.
This was a tactic that the Castlemen had used so effectively in their 2-1 win against Stanway Pegasus, when they sat deep and then waited for the chance to counter attack.
This was proving to be a real challenge for the Bloaters and reduced them to frustratingly attempting a couple of long range shots that went well wide, however on the half hour mark Duffield hit a strike from 20 yards out that struck the woodwork before being cleared to safety.
They came even closer 7 minutes later when a Barber shot from 8 yards out was very well saved by Tucker, who was also winning everything in the air and looking like a potential man of the match contender and just before half time Tucker once again made a decent save from a Sanders shot from 15 yards out.
Half Time: Great Yarmouth Town 0 Needham Market under 23’s 0.
The teams came out for the 2nd half and Cantwell came on for Wilson-Towns to add some much needed creativity in the centre of the park as Yarmouth seemed to run out of ideas in the first 45 minutes and this looked like being a positive change and indeed in the 1st minute Barber tried to beat the keeper from a very tight angle close to the right hand touchline, however once again Tucker was equal to it and turned the ball over the bar for a corner.
Barber once again had another bite at the cherry 5 minutes later, yet once again he could not beat Tucker who was now looking unbeatable on the day.
In the 65th minute following a Sanders corner it looked like the deadlock would finally be broken, however from less than 3 yards out Duffield somehow put his shot over the bar when it looked like for all the world that he was going to score.
Fenn then came off the bench to inject some fresh pace into the Bloaters attack and 5 minutes later Sanders had a goal bound shot cleared off of the line by a Needham defender and the Wellesley faithful were now getting desperate for one of these chances to finally hit the back of the net.
In the 72nd minute Duffield had the chance to make amends for his earlier miss with a free kick on the edge of the right hand side of the box, however yet again his strike was turned over the bar for a corner by Tucker and he made another superb save in the 79th minute when he turned a Halliday shot around the post for a corner.
The sucker punch almost came in the 88th minute when the Marketmen won their first corner of the the 2nd half and from this corner the ball was met by the head of Taylor who’s goal bound effort was cleared off of the line by the head of Adams.
In the 90th minute and with the tension mounting both on the pitch and in the stands Sanders was brought down in the area by Tucker and the ref immediately pointed to the spot and the ever reliable Couzens stepped up to take the spot kick and he sent the keeper the wrong way to make it 1-0 to the Bloaters.
At the final whistle the Yarmouth boys looked both physically and emotionally exhausted as they came off the pitch after 3 very tough encounters in just over a week and it may be a blessing in disguise that they have now got a 2 week break before their next match away at Whittlesey Athletic.
Full Time: Great Yarmouth Town 1. Needham Market Under 23’s 0. Attendance: 167
GYTFC: Ling, Halliday, Philpott, Wilson-Towns, Thompson, Adams, Duffield, Barber, Couzens, Sanders, Belmar. Subs: Perry, Cantwell, Spooner, Fenn, Melo.
Joint Man of the Match: Tyler Halliday & Roan Tucker. (Needham Market)
