Whittlesey Athletic v Great Yarmouth Town.
Saturday 5th November 2022. Report by Martin Baxter.
On a damp and cold Saturday Yarmouth made the long trip deep into the fenland’s of Cambridgeshire to face Whittlesey Athletic.
The ground is situated on the outskirts of the town in actual fenland which makes it quite unique!
Both sides sat on 18 points each with only goal difference separating them, so this looked like being a very tight battle.
Yarmouth made 2 changes from the mid-week victory over Diss with Soares replacing injured skipper Cantwell and Fenn also came into the starting line up.
The march started and for the first 10 minutes Yarmouth looked the better side and they created 2 half chances when firstly Duffield had a shot that went wide and then a McQueen effort was saved by the Athletic keeper Congleve.
However the bright start for the Bloaters did not last as the game started to get bogged down in the mid-field areas, with two very evenly matched sides cancelling each other out and both teams were guilty of playing too many inaccurate long balls over the top and it all became a little scrappy and dis-jointed.
In the 35th minute Barnden had a shot at goal from 5 yards out which was blocked by a defender who was perfectly placed in front of the goal line and in the last 5 minutes of the first half the home side suddenly went on the offensive, firstly Carter had a flick at goal from close range which Lane in the Yarmouth goal just managed to palm away for a corner and then Carter once again just missed connecting with a header from a right wing cross.
Half Time: Whittlesey Athletic 0 Great Yarmouth Town 0.
Whittlesey started the 2nd period in the same manner as they finished the 1st one on the front foot and on 50 minutes De Sousa somehow managed to squeeze his shot past Lane at his near left hand post and put the home side 1-0 up.
2 minutes later Athletic almost made it 2-0 when that man Carter again twisted and turned the Bloaters defence and then unleashed an effort from 10 yards out that Lane did well to turn around the post for a corner.
Yarmouth were struggling to get a foot hold in this 2nd half and Vincent was brought on to tighten up the defence and it seemed to work as they finally started to get more possession and were able to stem the tide of Athletic attacks.
On the hour mark Barnes had a header from a free kick that went just wide of the right post when he should really have done better with his effort and on 65 minutes the away side had an appeal for a penalty for hand ball waved away by the referee.
A minute later man of the match Carter had a surging run at goal, but put his effort just wide and it looked like being one of those days for the young striker.
Late on Soares was replaced with Rix and Roberts came on for Trenery as Yarmouth were at this stage looking very leggy after 3 tough matches in the last 8 days and they did not have enough left in the tank to create that clear cut opportunity and return home with a point and it ended with no early fireworks on Guy Fawkes night.!
Full Time: Whittlesey Athletic 1 Great Yarmouth Town 0.
GYTFC Line up: Lane, Halliday, Duffield, Philpott, Barnden, Barnes, McQueen, Soares, Lonergan, Fenn, Trenery. Subs: Rix, Roberts, Vincent.
Man of the match: Jack Carter. (Whittlesey Athletic)
