Downham Town v Great Yarmouth Town
Saturday 28th January 2023. Report by Martin Baxter.
On a dull and overcast Saturday the Bloaters made the journey into West Norfolk to face high flying Downham Town, who currently sit in the top 4 of the Thurlow Nunn division one north league and who look like being of the clear favourites to reach the play-off’s this season, especially with their games in hand on the teams around them.
Therefore this looked another very tough fixture for Yarmouth, however as Downham have had their last 3 games called off owing to the weather, they may have been a little short of match sharpness and it therefore was possibly a good time to play them.
Yarmouth made 2 changes from the mid-week cup game against Dereham, with Willetts and Smith both making starts.
The match started and both sides looked to go on the front foot straight-away and after some promising attacking intentions from both teams the first chance fell to the hosts in the 20th minute when following a counter attack Swift had an effort at goal very well dealt with by Bloaters keeper Lane and 5 minutes later a real positive run by Beeson down the right flank ended with him putting in a superb cross which just evaded the heads of the 2 Yarmouth players in the box.
The next opportunity fell once again to the hosts this time from striker Beaumont in the 30th minute who was looking very lively, however once again Lane was equal to his effort as he turned his shot over the bar for a corner and 2 minutes later Yarmouth had their first shot on target with Smith’s effort going straight to the keeper McAnallaey, however 2 minutes later Jacobs was upended in the box and the ref immediately pointed to the spot, and skipper Cantwell stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way with an excellently taken penalty to put the Bloaters 1-0 up.
It could have got even better for the visitors as 5 minutes later Smith found himself clean through on goal with only the keeper to beat, however he tried to lob the ball over his head and slightly under hit it and McAnalley was able to make the save to deny him.
Right on half-time Smith once again had another opportunity, however after a really powerful surging run he found his angle at goal very tight and his shot went wide of the post.
Half-time: Downham Town 0 Great Yarmouth Town 1.
The 2nd half started with Downham looking to improve after a disappointing first 45 minutes, however it was Yarmouth who started the brighter of the two sides and in the 55th minute Cantwell picked the pocket of a Dowhnam defender to turn over possession and then strike a sweet effort that just missed the target and the Downham coaching staff and their supporters were getting increasingly frustrated as their team were unable to break through a very solid Bloaters defence.
On the hour mark the hosts had their first shot at goal of the 2nd period with a shot from 20 yards out from Rawson that was once again well saved by Lane in the Yarmouth goal and 5 minutes later a Downham free kick sailed right across the Yarmouth box without anyone being able to get on the end of and the ball went out for goal kick.
In the 70th minute Smith was replaced with Trenery as Yarmouth looked to put some fresh legs up into the forward positions and this was quickly followed by Jacobs being replaced by Barnden following the former receiving a knock in a tackle.
As the match entered its final phase Jackson had a shot from 15 yards out well saved once again by joint man of the match Lane, however in the 88th minute following a corner Yarmouth failed to clear their lines and Yates managed to scramble the ball over the line for an equalizer.
Yarmouth then gave both remaining subs Adams and Fenn some game time during the 8 minutes of injury time in which the away side held firm to come away with a very well earned and thoroughly deserved point on the day.
Full Time: Downham Town 1 Great Yarmouth Town 1.
GYTFC: Lane, Perry, Duffiled, Barnes, Philpott, Willetts, Jacobs, Melo, Smith, Cantwell, Beeson. Subs: Barnden, Adams, Trenery, Fenn.
Joint man of the match: Cam Barnes and Rueben Lane.
