BRAVE BLOATERS BOW OUT OF FA CUP!
Great Yarmouth Town v Cheshunt FC. Sunday 1st September 2024. Report by Martin Baxter.
On a very warm and bright late summer Sunday afternoon at the famous old Wellesley ground the Bloaters were attempting to reach the 2nd qualifying round of the FA cup for the first time in 22 years.
Standing in their way were Isthmian League Premier division opponents Cheshunt FC who play at 2 levels higher than Yarmouth and who were until very recently a National League South side and to to make it even more daunting Cheshunt included 2 players on loan from Leyton Orient and one from Luton Town in their line up. However after their cup heroics in the previous round against Cambridge City the Bloaters were hoping for another major cup upset on the day.
Cheshunt currently sit in 16th place in their league and were looking to improve on their slow start to the season with a decent cup run.
The home side made 2 changes from the mid-week win against Kirkley & Pakefield with Adams coming in at right back for Halliday and Jacobs started on the wide right replacing the unavailable Duffield.
The match started and in the 3rd minute Spooner looked to have a found a route through on goal, however his threat was quickly wiped out by the visitors keeper Nabbad and in the 12th minute Yarmouth were unlucky not to take the lead when a superb strike from Belmar from 15 yards out hit the inside of the woodwork before being cleared after rolling across the goal line.
The Bloaters were certainly matching their more illustrious opponents in the early stages, however in the 20th minute Cheshunt thought they had taken the lead when a superb passing move from a corner ended with Wood tapping in from close range, however the linesman spotted a foul and raised his flag and the goal did not stand.
The visitors then had a second goal once again rightly disallowed for a foul in the build up and to be fair Yarmouth went in at the break deservedly all square at 0-0.
Half-Time: Great Yarmouth Town 0 Cheshunt 0.
The 2nd half started with the Ambers on the front foot and they took the lead in the 51st minute when Deeks turned the ball into his own net after attempting to clear the ball following a corner, however just 2 minutes later Yarmouth received a lifeline back into this match after Cheshunt defender Curran was shown a straight red card for an off the ball stamping on Bloaters skipper Couzens in the box and the home side were awarded a penalty. Deeks stepped up to take a perfect spot kick and send the vast majority of the huge watching 444 spectators into raptures.
In the 63rd minute it almost got even better for the home side when Jacobs hit a volley from 15 yards out that rattled into the side netting just missing the target and this game after being somewhat on the back burner for the first 45 minutes was now a full bloodied cup tie with both sides giving everything.
In the 65th minute the visitors made a couple of changes and this had an immediate impact as with the quality they had on their bench they had a huge advantage over their opponents and their striker Wood was causing problems with his height and physical strength in the final third of the pitch and he almost put his side level with a header from a corner in the 70th minute, but it just went narrowly wide.
In the 82nd minute Cheshunt were awarded a penalty when the referee spotted a push in the back in the area and their skipper Miles made no mistake with his spot kick to put the visitors 2-1 up and it now looked a very tall order for the Bloaters to get back into this cup tie and they made some late changes with Cooper, Perry and Leo Spooner all coming on as several players were clearly running out of steam after putting in a real shift for their side in very warm conditions.
In the closing stages the visitors should really have put this tie to bed, firstly in the 89th minute when after a defensive lapse in the Bloaters back line substitute Vasilion went clean through on goal, but was denied by a fine save from Ling and then a minute later another substitute Wynter hit the post with a shot from 10 yards out when it looked almost certain he was going to score.
In injury time Yarmouth had an appeal for a penalty turned down after skipper Couzens went down in the box after coming into contact with a Cheshunt defender, however the referee was not at all interested and waved play on.
This cup tie then finished and although on the losing side for only the 2nd time in 34 matches this young Bloaters side can hold their heads up very high after giving everything they had, however their opponents extra quality and their strength in depth was at the end of the day the difference between the 2 sides.
Full Time: Great Yarmouth Town 1 Cheshunt FC 2. Attendance: 444.
GYTFC: Ling, Adams, Belmar, Wilson-Towns, Deeks, Barnes, Fenn, Jacobs, Couzens, Barber, J. Spooner. Subs: Cooper, Perry, McQueen, L. Spooner.
Joint Man of the Match: Charlie Barber & Tommy Wood. (Cheshunt)
