Holbeach United v Great Yarmouth Town.
Wednesday 21st February 2024. Report by Martin Baxter.
On a mild February evening Yarmouth made the long trip up the A47 and beyond into Lincolnshire to face Holbeach United. The Tigers have only lost at home once all season and were sitting in 6th position in the league coming into this fixture, therefore this looked like being another real challenge for the Bloaters who only made one change from Saturdays win at Haverhill Rovers, with Barber coming in for Cantwell, who was named amongst the substitutes.
The match kicked off and the first thing of note was the condition of the pitch which had seen a lot of rain in the previous 24 hours and was not at all suitable for playing passing football on and with so many ball players in their squad the already difficult task suddenly looked even more daunting for the visitors. It got even harder in the 10th minute when a combination of poor defending and a lack of concentration allowed Frost to ghost into the 6 yard box and plant the ball into the net to make it 1-0 to the Tigers.
Just 2 minutes later Belmar surged into the box and was clearly pushed in the back by a Holbeach defender as he toppled over, however the referee was not interested in the strong penalty appeals from the Yarmouth players and waved play on. Holbeach seemed to be coping with the heavy pitch far better than their opponents and their big striker Vieira was causing problems with his height and physical strengh and was battering the Yarmouth defence at ever oppurtunity.
On the half hour mark a Belmar cross was met by the head of Duffiled, however his effort went wide of the post and in a match that was looking like chances at goal would be at a premium the Bloaters would need to be more clinical if they were going to get anything out of this encounter and 2 minutes later a Halliday cross was met with a flick at goal by Duffield once again and this time the ball went straight into the arms of keeper Rigby.
Both teams then trudged off the pitch for half-time in what had been a really poor spectacle for the watching spectators including around 25 plus from Yarmouth.
Half Time: Holbeach United 1 Great Yarmouth Town 0
The 2nd period started in the same fashion as the first with neither side being able to play any decent football on a surface that looked more suited to rugby than football and the frustration started to show with strong tackles flying in and both sides were picking up yellow cards and it was looking increasingly likley that we would finish the match with at least one red card being brandished. The first opportunity of the 2nd half fell to the Tigers when Barnes hit a shot from 15 yards out that went went wide of the left hand post and then in the 58th minute Sanders tested keeper Rigby with a long range strike which he just about managed to parry away to safety, however these were both speculative half-chances at best and as much as Yarmouth were trying to get back into this match they wre finding it very difficult to break down a vey stubborn Holbeach defence, who were clearly looking to hold on to what they already had.
Melo and Cantwell both came on after 70 mintes to try and add some fresh energy to the away side and 5 minutes later Fenn was also introduced into the battle and in the 90th minute following a Cantwell corner the ball took a deflection off of a Tigers defender and hit the left hand post before being cleared from danger and in injury time Barnes received a straight red card for an elbow in the face of a Holbeach player and thankfully the referee then called time on this scrappy ill tempered football match.
The Bloaters after having 2 very long away trips in the face of 4 days, now have 5 of their next 6 fixtures at the Wellesley and they will be looking to take full advanatge of this.
Full Time: Holbeach United 1 Great Yarmouth Town 0. Attendence: 91.
GYTFC: Ling, Halliday, Philpott, Wilson-Towns, Thompson, Barnes, Duffiled, Barber, Couzens, Sanders, Belmar. Subs: Melo, Cantwell, Jacobs, Adams, Fenn.
Man of the Match: Adam Thompson.
