MAGNIFICENT 7 FOR BLOATERS!
Great Yarmouth Town FC v Swaffham Town. Saturday 23rd December 2023. Report by Martin Baxter.
On a mild and sunny Saturday and just 2 days prior to Christmas Yarmouth played their last home match of 2023, with a “Norfolk derby” against Swaffham Town.
The Pedlars came into this local derby with their first team manager Johnny Alflatt stepping down from his job only 6 days earlier after a recent run of poor results and Paul Faulkner and Callum Madigan took temporary charge for this game.
One interesting fact about the Pedlars is that they have not drawn any of their 16 matches played so far this season.
Yarmouth made only one change from last Saturday’s emphatic win against Haverhill Borough with Cantwell coming in at right back for the unavailable Halliday.
The game started in slow fashion with Yarmouth finding their opponents very physical and some strong tackles came flying in and it was vitally important that the Bloaters did not get sucked into a bruising battle, instead of playing their usual attacking style of football.
In the 20th minute a very late tackle on Philpott by Swaffham defender and interim manager Madigan looked as if it would earn him a straight red card, however he escaped with only a yellow and at this point the game was very disjointed and scrappy.
However that all changed in the 35th minute when following a Cantwell corner the ball reached Sanders who placed his shot perfectly from 15 yards out into the bottom right hand corner of the net to make it 1-0 to the home side.
It got even worse for the away side just 5 minutes later when both Madigan and striker Davey had to go off after picking up knocks and this now looked like being one of those days for the Pedlars and in the 42nd minute Belmar forced Pedlars keeper Sutton into a superb point blank save from only 4 yards out and then with virtually the last action of the first 45 minutes Couzens jiggled his way past the Swaffham left back Hutton, before crossing the ball into the box for Duffield, who’s header rattled against the cross bar before being cleared.
Half Time: Great Yarmouth Town 1 Swaffham Town 0.
The 2nd half started and the Bloaters made 2 changes within the first 10 minutes with Fenn with Jacobs coming on to add some extra pace into the side and straight away it started to pay dividends as a Couzens header just missed the target by inches following a cross from Fenn and there was only really one team in this contest now, however Karanicholas had a half-chance for the Pedlars on 58 minutes with his tame effort being well dealt with comfortably by Ling in the Yarmouth goal.
The 2nd goal finally arrived just after the hour mark when following a Sanders corner, the ball was headed down by Adams and Couzens reacted first to smash the ball into the net to give his side that all important 2-0 cushion.
A Swaffham defender then received a sin bin yellow card for his protests to the referee in allowing the goal to stand and with their opponents temporary being reduced to 10 men and already 2-0 down the Yarmouth players took full advantage with a devastating spell of attacking football, scoring 3 goals in only 10 minutes.
Firstly on 63 minutes Fenn lobbed the ball over the keepers head with a superb strike from 15 yards out and just 2 minutes later a Fenn cross into the box was missed by a defender, allowing Couzens to slot home from close range and then Fenn scored his 2nd of the game in the 73rd minute when Couzens turned over possession on the edge of the 6 yard box and played the ball to him and his deflected shot went into the net to make it 5-0.
Thompson and Perry then came on for the remaining 10 minutes and the former scored his first goal for his new club in injury time with a bullet header following a Sanders corner and in the last minute of the match Fenn was tripped in the box and Couzens stepped up to send keeper Sutton the wrong way and complete his excellent hat-trick with the resulting penalty.
It was obviously a good time to play Swaffham with their recent managerial issues, however full credit must go to this young Bloaters side who took full advantage with a fantastic second half display of attacking football!
Full Time: Great Yarmouth Town 7. Swaffham Town 0.
GYTFC: Ling, Cantwell, Philpott, Wilson-Towns, Adams, Barnes, Couzens, Duffield, Barber, Sanders, Belmar. Subs: French, Perry, Thompson, Jacobs, Fenn.
Joint man of the match: George Couzens and Jesse Fenn.
