Saturday 15th April 2023.    Report by Martin Baxter.  

 

On a very mild and sunny early spring Saturday afternoon Yarmouth entertained Holbeach United in another very important fixture for the home side.

 

Following their dramatic last minute win at Framlingham in mid-week the Bloaters came into this fixture knowing that another 3 points should be enough to ensure their survival in the Thurlow Nunn league for another season.

 

Heacham sat in 10th place coming into this match, so were exactly the right type of opposition, with only their pride to really play for.

 

Yarmouth made only 2 changes from their mid-week victory with Perry and Philpott both in the starting line up.

 

This game started with the home side looking in buoyant mood after an upturn in recent results and Belmar in particular was very lively on the left flank and he had the first shot at goal after 10 minutes which was deflected out for a corner.   

 

However Holbeach would not be in such a comfortable position in the league without being a decent footballing side and David had their first opportunity in the 20th minute, however his cross come shot was well dealt with by Lane in the Yarmouth goal.     

 

2 minutes later Yarmouth almost opened the scoring with a rasping effort from fully 25 yards out from Belmar that rattled the crossbar and 5 minutes later it was Jacobs who this time tried his luck with a sweet strike from fully 30 yards that just went wide.  

 

Fenn then should have done better connecting with a flick on from Barnden, however he put his volley over the bar and the Bloaters were lacking that final bit of composure in front of goal despite all their excellent passing and movement, with both wing backs Halliday and Duffield working tirelessly down the flanks creating much needed width. 

 

The breakthrough came just before half time when a back pass from a Tigers defender failed to reach keeper Rigby and Fenn ghosted in between the 2 players to capitalise on the error and slotted the ball into an empty net to give the Bloaters a much needed 1-0 advantage going into the break.

 

Half time:  Great Yarmouth Town 1.  Holbeach United 0.

 

The 2nd period started with the Tigers looking to improve after a lacklustre first 45 minutes and they did exactly that on 51 minutes When Henderson headed home from a cross to put the away side firmly back into this match. 

 

They could have then taken the lead on the hour mark when striker David went clean through on goal, however his shot was well blocked out by the ever reliable Lane in the Yarmouth goal and this was now very much an encounter that could go either way. 

 

The Yarmouth management then decided to make changes on 70 minutes and Soares was introduced to tighten up the central midfield area and Conner Smith also came on to add some much needed fresh legs in the final third of the pitch.  

 

This seemed to work as the home side started to rally and Philpott had a flick from close range go just over the bar and Fenn then had a strike at goal from long range that also went over the upright and then on 75 minutes Couzens was pushed to the ground in the box by a defender and the referee immediately pointed to the penalty spot, and Couzens got up and brushed himself down to take the spot kick himself and he sent the keeper the wrong way to put Yarmouth 2-1 up.

 

3 minutes later Lane was called into action yet again making an excellent save from a long range effort from Wirchoski and Holbeach were now pushing for another equaliser, however the Bloaters very nearly scored a third  when substitute Smith had a tap in cleared off of the goal line by a Tigers defender in the 80th minute. 

 

Fenn was then replaced by Trennery to see out the last few minutes and in the 85th minute a great free flowing counter attack from Holbeach ended with Barnes just missing the target by inches and this highly entertaining game was now end to end.  

 

A minute later Jacobs received a red card for a later challenge and a Holbeach player received a second yellow for his reaction to the foul and this match finished with both sides reduced to 10 men.

 

The final whistle then went and this win should now ensure that Yarmouth are not involved in any last day relegation nail biters.   

 

Full Time:  Great Yarmouth Town  2.   Holbeach United  1.

 

GYTFC:  Lane, Halliday, Duffield, Perry, Philpott, Barnes, Fenn, Barnden, Couzens, Jacobs, Belmar.  Subs: Vincent, Trennry, Soares, Melo, C. Smith.

 

Joint Man of the Match: Mitchell Belmar and Rueben Lane.