Great Yarmouth Town v Dereham Town FC. Norfolk Senoir Cup.
Wednesday 25th January 2023. Report by Martin Baxter.
On a very wet and miserable winter’s evening Yarmouth played hosts to cup favourites Dereham Town in the Norfolk Senior cup.
Given the gulf between the two sides this was somewhat of a free hit for the young Bloaters, as unlike a normal league match they could enjoy their evening without really having anything to lose as they were huge underdogs.
It was also a great chance for them to test themselves against high quality opposition and use it as a learning curve in their football progression.
Yarmouth made only 2 changes from the defeat against Debenham with Trenerry and Cantwell both making starts.
The game started and it took a while for both sides to adapt to the wet conditions, however from the very first few minutes the Magpies were dominating possession and Yarmouth were struggling to get the ball out of their own half and it looked only a matter of time before the visitors would score and the inevitable first goal arrived in the 20th minute when Swift put in a cross from the left that somehow evaded everyone and sailed into the bottom right hand corner of the net.
2 minutes later Cooper had an effort from a free kick sail just over the bar and 1 minute later the same player rounded Yarmouth keeper Lane but had his shot cleared off of the line and the home side were now really under the cosh.
5 minutes later Lane made a very good save from a Swift effort from 15 yards out and this was followed by man of the match Cooper curling a shot just past the post and just before half time Cooper finally got his reward with a shot that took a deflection and wrong footed keeper Lane to put Dereham 2-0 up at the break.
Half time: Great Yarmouth Town 0 Dereham Town 2.
The 2nd half started as was ony 5 minutes old when Halliday took a knock and was replaced by Vincent and 5 minutes later Cooper was once again foiled by a very good save from Lane who turned his close range shot away for a corner.
Dereham then seemed content to keep possession knowing they had the firepower to step up a gear if required, however the Bloaters although outclassed still gave 100% and could not be faulted for their efforts.
On 70 minutes Trenerry was replaced by Fenn to give the home side some fresh legs and Yarmouth’s best player on the night Lane once again came to his team’s rescue on 78 minutes with another really good stop to deny Magpies striker Johnson.
In the 80th minute Adams came on for the hard working Beeson who had worked very hard all evening trying to give Yarmouth an outlet into the oppositions half of the pitch and in the 84th minute after a coming together in the box Greenslades had to be taken off with suspected concussion and as Dereham had already used all of their subs they finished the match with only 10 men.
Deep into stoppage time Vincent put in a mis-timed tackle in the box on Cooper and the ref pointed to the spot, and Johnson stepped up to clinically convert the spot kick.
Full Time: Great Yarmouth Town 0 Dereham Town 3.
GYTFC: Lane, Halliday, Duffield, Philpott, Barnes, Perry, Melo, Cantwell, Trenerry, Beeson, Jacobs. Subs: Smith, Fenn, Adams, Meakins, Vincent.
Man of the Match: Josh Cooper (Dereham Town)
Yarmouth Man of the Match: Rueben Lane.
