Great Yarmouth Town v Norwich CBS.  Wednesday 19th April  2023.

 

On a cold evening at the famous Wellesley the Bloaters entertained mid-table Norwich CBS in a local derby.

 

Yarmouth came into this match on a very rich rein of form having gained 9 points from a possible 12 on offer and they have now guaranteed their safety from any relegation fears.   

 

They made only one change from Saturday’s excellent 2-1 win against Holbeach, with skipper Cantwell coming back into the side. 

 

CBS included ex Bloaters Peyton Swatman and Jordan Attree in their starting line up to add a little bit of spice to this derby and the match started with the home side on the front foot and looking very positive and the front 3 in particular were asking all the early questions and in the 15th minute Fenn had their first sight at goal testing the keeper with a long range effort. 

 

In the 25th minute following a Cantwell corner Philpott headed home at the far post to deservedly put his team 1-0 up on the night, however the lead lasted for only 5 minutes as CBS equalised when Pye hit a perfectly curled strike from 15 yards out that settled into the bottom left hand corner of the net to make it 1-1.

 

Amazingly parity was only restored for 2 minutes as Yarmouth then re-took the lead when Halliday hit a sweet strike from the left flank that sailed into the net to make it 2-1. 

 

This highly entertaining encounter then took another twist in the 40th minute when Perry was shown a straight red card following a high and dangerous looking tackle on a CBS player and Yarmouth now had to see the next 50 plus minutes out with only 10 men, however right on half time Belmar was fouled in the box and the referee pointed to the spot and Cantwell stepped up to take a perfectly executed penalty to send the Bloaters went in at the interval  3-1 to the good.  

 

Half time:  Great Yarmouth Town  3  Norwich CBS  1.

 

The 2nd half stared and within 2 minutes CBS pulled another goal back with a clinical finish from Richardson from 10 yards out and this now looked like being a very long 45 minutes for the home side with one player light and with their opponents now firmly back in this battle and now in the ascendancy with the extra man advantage.

 

However in the 50th minute a Duffield free kick was spilled by Hemming the CBS keeper and Belmar was first to react and he tapped the ball into the net to make it 4-2 to the Bloaters!

 

On the hour mark Cantwell who was clearly not 100% was replaced by Willetts and Fenn was then sin binned for dissent and Yarmouth went down to 9 men for 10 minutes and during this period Swatman scored against his old club with a close range header from a corner and this game was now incredibly poised at 4-3 on the night and on a knife edge. 

 

Somehow with 9 men against 11 the Bloaters did not concede any further goals and Fenn came back into this battle and in the 85th minute following an excellent counter attacking move he was dragged down from behind in the penalty area by Hemming, who was shown a straight red card and the home side were awarded a  2nd penalty. However as Couzens stepped up to take the spot kick he double kicked the ball and although he scored the goal was disallowed and a free kick was awarded to CBS. 

 

Norwich CBS put an outfield player in goal as they did not have a keeper on the bench. 

 

Belmar was then replaced by Soares and 3 minutes later Yarmouth were awarded yet another spot kick following yet another foul on Fenn in the box and the CBS defender was also shown a red card for his trouble and the visitors were now down to 9 players.   

 

This time Couzens made no mistake with the penalty and it was now 5-3 and game, set and match to Yarmouth!

 

McQueen then came on in injury time and within 2 minutes of being on the pitch he picked the pocket of a CBS defender and raced though on goal to smash the ball into the nest to make if 6-3.  

 

This was for sure the most entertaining match at the Wellesley for many years and for the lucky ones who witnessed it a great game of football! 

 

Full Time:  Great Yarmouth Town  6.  Norwich CBS.  3.

 

GYTFC: Lane, Halliday, Duffield, Perry, Philpott, Barnden, Fenn, Cantwell, Couzens, Jacobs, Belmar.  Subs: Willetts, McQueen, G.Soares, I. Soares, Smith.

 

Man of the match:  George Couzens.