Great Yarmouth Town v Kirkley & Pakefield. Wednesday 28th August 2024. Report by Martin Baxter.
On a mild late summers evening Yarmouth entertained local rivals Kirkley & Pakefield for the 2nd time this month after beating them in a memorable FA cup tie back on the 2nd of August, a game which was featured in a national newspaper.
The Royals currently sit in 7th position in the league and came into this match looking for revenge after their FA cup defeat.
The Bloaters made only one change from Friday nights FA Vase win over Soham with Deeks starting after returning from a slight injury.
The match kicked off and and in the 4th minute a Belmar free kick sailed into the box and was met by the head of Duffield, however his effort went a yard over the bar and 10 minutes later a Duffield free kick from around 30 yards out also went wide.
In terms of possession the early stages of this contest were pretty even and in the 20th minute the Royals had their first sight at goal when a strike from Russell went straight into the arms of keeper Ling and then on the half hour mark a surging run down the left from Belmar ended with him cutting in and putting in a perfectly placed cross to find Halliday, who had made the run into the box, however he did not connect cleanly with his header and the chance went begging.
On 36 minutes this time Wilson-Towns tried his luck with a volley which went once again went wide and although they had been restricted really to only half-chances the Bloaters were lacking finishing quality in front of goal, however this changed just 2 minutes later when after very good build up play down the left hand side the ball reached the outstretched foot of Fenn at the far post and he finished clinically to put his side 1-0 up.
The referee then blew for half-time after having a very busy first 45 minutes in which he dished out 5 yellow cards in a typical feisty local derby, where Jesse Fenn in particular was on the receiving end of a fair few hefty tackles from the Royals defenders.
Half-Time: Great Yarmouth Town 1 Kirkley & Pakefield 0.
The 2nd half started with Fenn being replaced by Jacobs and this looked like a wise decision from the Yarmouth management as the young winger was already on a yellow card and had obviously been targeted for some dark arts treatment.
In the 52nd minute the Bloaters deservedly grabbed an all important 2 goal cushion when a Belmar shot from 10 yards out rattled against the post before the ball rebounded out to Duffield who made no mistake slotting the ball home to make it 2-0.
On the hour mark a long range free kick from Russell from fully 40 yards out sailed into the 6 yard box and the ball was not picked up by keeper Ling and somehow went straight into the net giving the Royals a lifeline back into the match.
This goal somewhat out of the blue seemed to lift the visitors and Mundawarara in particular started causing the Yarmouth defenders problems with his pace and energy running through the middle of the park, however the Bloaters once again rallied from this setback and in the 70th minute a Couzens pass found Deeks in space on the edge of the 18 yard box and he hit a first time volley that went just over the crossbar.
Adams, Cooper and Perry all then came during the last 10 minutes or so for Yarmouth and in the 86th minute a volley from Royals substitute Chapman went high and wide as his side went looking for an equalizer and the same player had another bite at the cherry in stoppage time, but yet again he put his shot wide of the target and deep into injury time Duffield tried his luck with a shot from a very tight angle close to the by-line which brushed against the crossbar before going out of play.
The match then finished and Yarmouth made it 7 wins out of 7 in all competitions!
Full Time: Great Yarmouth Town 2 Kirkley & Pakefield 1. Attendance: 189.
GYTFC: Ling, Hallliday, Belmar, Wilson-Towns, Deeks, Barnes, Duffield, Fenn, Couzens, Barber, Spooner. Subs: Cooper, Perry, Adams, Jacobs, L. Spooner.
Man of the Match: Cameron Barnes. (Dealt really well with a real physical challenge posed from the opposition, matching fire with fire)
