GYTFC Match Report – Haverhill Borough V Great Yarmouth Town (23/09/2023)
The bloaters travelled to Haverhill Borough for their sixth away league match of the season hoping
to extend their impressive form, and they didn’t disappoint.
Despite their lowly league position our hosts had only lost once in their last four league games so
managers Ryan Honeyman and Paul Blissett knew we had to be at our best to bring the points away
with us.
The game was played on a very good surface on a fine mild day which saw the Bloaters make one
change to their starting line up with Mitch Belmar coming in for the unavailable Jesse Fenn.
A good start by the bloaters saw them win two quick corners which were swung in dangerously by
the excellent Sanders, but they came to nothing. This was followed by a neat through ball from
Wilson-Towns who picked out Sanders who twisted and turned only to see his deflected shot go
narrowly wide. The resulting corner taken again by Sanders was met at the near post by Couzens and
his solid header went just over the bar.
Our attacking players Akpan, Belmar, Couzens and Sanders were causing the home defence
problems but couldn’t create anything clear cut. Wilson – Towns and Barber were bossing the
midfield and linking up well with the forward players. Chances for Barber, Couzens and Sanders were
kept out by the home side who slowly started to grow into the game and caused us a few
uncomfortable moments with deep crosses into our box but our back four of French, Adams,
Philpott, and Spooner coped well. Lane in Goal looked commanding and was sharply off his line
when needed.
On 24 minutes the Bloaters opening the scoring when French came forward with the ball and picked
out Sanders with an excellent pass and our number 10 controlled the ball before sliding a perfect
pass behind the home defence for Belmar to run onto to neatly fire home from 10 yards. Akpan was
then replaced by Halliday on the right wing due to a hamstring injury. The game restarted which saw
a much more open match with both teams looking to get forward, on 30 minutes a long ball caught
our back line out and the Haverhill right winger raced clear before cutting in from the right to finish
well past Lane to equalise.
This didn’t knock the bloaters off their stride as within a minute they regained the lead after a
Barber shot was blocked and Couzens pounced to score from 20 yards with the help of a slight
deflection. Moments later and it got even better for the away side as a clever ball down the line
from Spooner found the lively Couzens in space, he controlled the ball and cut inside the centre back
before unleashing a fierce low drive from the edge of the box which caught the home keeper out
who couldn’t stop the ball from hitting the net giving the bloaters a 3-1 half time lead.
The 2 nd half kicked off with the linesman replacing the injured referee and a Haverhill youth manager
taking the flag, which he did very well.
The home side came out strong and started to ask a few questions of our defensive unit with Lane
tipping over a long-range effort from Haverhill. A few free kicks and corners put pressure on the
bloaters but some solid defending especially by Adams and Philpott kept Haverhill out.
Slowly the bloaters started to play their short passing game again and soon started to create chances
with Sanders and Couzens going close. New signing and returning Chaz McAra came on for Spooner
as the Bloaters moved some players into different positions. Cantwell and Perry replaced the
impressive Wilson-Towns and Barber to provide fresh legs to the team.
The changes gave us some extra energy with Perry and Cantwell getting on the ball and linking up
well with our front line. On 80 minutes Sanders superbly picked out Cantwell in the box and his shot
was blocked by the keeper with a despairing dive only for Sanders to pounce and smash the loose
ball into the roof of the net to make the game safe.
McAra, Couzens, Belmar and Sanders all combined well as the Bloaters went for more goals,
Cantwell’s dipping shot was tipped over well by the busy Haverhill keeper.
Haverhill did threaten late on, but Lane made two decent saves to keep them out before a brilliant
raking pass from Halliday found McAra in space on the right, he then played in Sanders to complete
the rout with an excellent finish into the top corner from 15 yards to finish the game off with
Yarmouth’s fifth goal of a very satisfying afternoon. This was the bloaters fifth away win from six
matches this season which equals the entire amount of away wins last season already so although
we still have a lot of work to do there are steady signs of progression.
The whole side played well with Sanders shading the player of the match accolade, but he was run
close by Couzens, Adams and Philpott in what was an entertaining attacking display of football.
Full Time – Haverhill 1 – 5 Great Yarmouth Town
Team – Lane, French, Spooner, Adams, Philpott, Wilson-Towns, Barber, Akpan, Belmar, Couzens,
Sanders. Subs all used – Halliday, Perry, McAra, Cantwell.
Coming Soon!
