Match Report

Match Report By Martyn Sinclair

Great Yarmouth Town FC VS Soham Town Rangers

On a breezy but warm and dry Saturday afternoon at The Wellesley the Bloaters returned to league action (after their recent cup heroics) hosting Soham Town Rangers who arrived having just beaten Step 4 side Mildenhall Town 4-1 in the FA Cup.

Honeyman and Blissett were forced into two changes with Ling and Adams being unavailable, so it meant a return to the starting XI for Wilson-Towns and Antoni Bort who signed on at short notice to provide cover in Goal for Ling.

The Bloaters kicked off defending the Smudgers End against the breeze and settled into the game better of the two sides. After just two minutes a good move down the right saw Fenn and Duffield combine to play in Couzens who was bundled over in the box, but the referee was not interested. Moments later a dangerous Soham free kick was whipped into the Bloaters box but was met superbly by Barnes who rose highest to head clear. This would be the story of the match as Halliday, Belmar, Barnes and Deeks were all rock solid in defence with Bort looking very assured with his confident display throughout.

Yarmouth were breaking well from midfield with the hard working and impressive trio of Jacobs, Wilson-Towns and Barber finding gaps to pass the ball around and started to ask questions of the Soham defence. Belmar delivered several dangerous free kicks and corners which saw shots from Wilson – Towns and Couzens blocked. Fenn who was finding space which caused the away side some problems raced clear but his low drive from 20 yards was well saved by Iron in the Soham goal. On 23 minutes Belmar went past two Soham defenders and drove into the box, but a covering defender clumsily bundled him over which would have probably been deemed as a foul outside the box but because it was inside the box it was waved away again by the referee.  A few minutes later and another fine delivery from a Belmar free kick saw Fenn flick the ball goalwards but it was inches off target. Soham showed glimpses of their counter attacking threat, but it was Yarmouth who always looked more likely to open the scoring.

As half time loomed Fenn chased down two defenders forcing one to under hit a back pass which saw Fenn challenge the keeper some 25 yards out, the loose ball was only half cleared but with Iron stranded out of his goal Duffield arrived to lob the ball into the net from fully 45 yards out with an outstanding piece of brilliance to the send majority of the 211 crowd into jubilant scenes with the Mascots (Under 8 Gladiators) doing the Conga in front of Smudgers. This lead was fully deserved as Yarmouth were much the better side in the opening 45 minutes.

HT – The Bloaters 1 – 0 Soham Town Rangers

The second half kicked off with the home side trying to grab that all important second goal and they came close with a Deeks header from a Barber cross, A Duffield free kick which drifted just wide but slowly Soham started to get on the ball more and on 65 minutes Varela wriggled free on the left and delivered a dangerous cross but to everyone’s surprise the referee awarded Soham a penalty for a foul on the Soham 7 by Halliday after the ball had gone. Up stepped Jackman whose penalty rebounded off the foot of the post straight into the path of Lambert who looked certain to score before Bort somehow incredibly saved his follow up shot, the ball dropped at the far post where again it looked likely that a Soham player would score but Barnes heroically threw his body across the goal to stop a certain equalising goal.

Soham were now on the hunt for a goal and their substitutions certainly helped their cause but the Bloaters defence stood strong. Barnes was booked for late lunge on the edge of the box and free kick was struck just wide by Jackman. On 68 minutes Duffield headed just wide from a Couzens cross and moments later Couzens found space to drill a low shot on target, but the Soham keeper made a smart save as the Bloaters steeped up the pressure again.

On 75 minutes Jake and Leo Spooner came off the bench to add some much-needed fresh legs into the match for the home side, they were soon joined by Cooper and Perry as the Bloaters battled hard to see the game out. In the closing stages Howe received his second yellow card which saw him sent off and Iron made a great save from a Deeks header from another superb Belmar freekick. The Bloaters managed to see out the game to secure another 3 valuable points and maintain their remarkable start to the new season. Player of the match sponsored by Pink Group was Louie Duffield.

FT – The Bloaters 1 – Soham Town Rangers 0

Team – Bort, Halliday, Deeks, Barnes, Barber, Wilson-Towns, Belmar, Duffield, Couzens ©, Jacobs, Fenn. Goal – Duffield 38 mins.

Subs – L. Spooner, Perry, J. Spooner, Cooper, Sacramento.

Management – Honeyman, Blissett, Bond, Riches, Crux.