Great Yarmouth Town v Diss Town 23/08/2023.

Great Yarmouth Town v Diss Town.  Wednesday 23rd August 2023.

 

Report by Martin Baxter.

 

On a glorious summers evening Yarmouth played hosts to local rivals Diss Town who came into this fixture in great shape on the back of 3 straight wins and this looked like being a very tough challenge for this young Bloaters side.

 

Yarmouth made 3 changes from Saturday’s disappointing 0-0 draw with Leiston under 23’s with Adams and Sanders both returning and a full debut was given to new signing Wilson-Towns.  

 

The match was only a minute old when a speculative long range drive from Sanders was spilled by the Diss keeper Self right in front of Couzens, who reacted instantly but was unable to hit the target with his shot and the chance went begging.

 

The game then settled into a pattern of both sides struggling to keep possession, however in the 10th minute ex Bloater Kyle Baker had a free header from the 6 yard box following a free kick but put his effort over the bar and a minute later Webb tested Yarmouth keeper Lane with a strike from the edge of the penalty area which he dealt with and turned around the post for a corner, however the Tangerine’s were now looking the more likely side to open the scoring on the night.    

 

Baker seemed to be revelling in coming back to play against his old club and and had another opportunity in the 27th minute, but once again his shot went over the bar and the Bloaters were clearly missing their injured skipper Cantwell who gives them a creative spark in the middle of the park with his driving runs and his excellent range of passes.    

 

Just before half-time man of the match Baker hit a curling volley that Lane turned over the bar for a corner and the two sides went in at half-time all square at 0-0.

 

Half time:  Great Yarmouth Town 0  Diss Town 0.

 

The 2nd period started with both sides looking to improve after a somewhat lacklustre first 45 minutes and the home side were now looking a lot brighter and in the 47th minute new boy Wilson-Towns had the first shot at goal of the 2nd half which went wide and 2 minutes later Diss striker Erith struck an excellent free kick from 25 yards out that Lane just about managed to hold onto at the 2nd time of asking. 

 

Around the hour mark Yarmouth made the anticipated changes with Fenn and Belmar both being introduced into the battle, which is exactly what happened at the Norwich CBS game 2 weeks previously when they both came on and turned the match around with their pace and positivity running at defenders and causing mayhem and after only being on the pitch for a matter of 2 minutes Belmar had a strike at goal from 15 yards out that was well saved by the Diss keeper. 

 

In the 65th minute Akpen went down in the box but the referee was not interested in Yarmouth’s muted penalty appeals and in the 67th minute and somewhat against the run of play Baker finally came back to haunt his old club with a sweet strike from 15 yards out that sailed into the top left hand net following a free kick to put the Tangerines 1-0 up.

 

To their credit the Bloaters responded well to this setback and the hard working Akpen who was now finally getting the ball in the final third of the pitch connected with a cross from Belmar 6 yards out that went narrowly wide and on 78 minutes Barber was placed by Cork as the home side pushed for an equalizer.      

 

In the 82nd minute Adams had a header from a corner saved by Self and finally in the 92nd minute Fenn tapped the ball home from close range to send the 180 watching faithful home a lot happier and deep into injury time it could have got even better when following a goal mouth scramble from a corner the ball was somehow cleared off of the line with several Yarmouth players appealing to the referee that the ball had actually crossed the line, but he was not interested.    

 

Full Time:  Great Yarmouth Town 1 Diss Town 1.   Attendance: 180.

 

GYTFC: Lane, Halliday, Duffield, Melo, Philpott, Adams, Wilson-Towns, Barber, Akpan, Couzens, Sanders.  Subs: French, Belmar, Spooner, Cork, Fenn.

 

Man of the match: Kyle Baker.  (Diss Town)

Yarmouth man of the match: Manny Akpan.