Wivenhoe Town v Great Yarmouth Town.
Saturday 12th August 2023. Report by Martin Baxter.
On a warm and overcast Saturday the Bloaters made the long trip to North Essex to face old foes Wivenhoe Town in their 4th consecutive away fixture.
The Dragons have just returned to the Thurlow Nunn north division after playing in other leagues for the last few seasons and they got they got their first win of the new campaign mid week in the league cup beating Haverhill Rovers 5-3.
Yarmouth made 4 changes from their mid -week cup win at Norwich CBS with Lane, Fenn, Cantwell and Belmar all coming back into the starting line-up.
The match started with both teams looking sharp on the ball and the first chance fell to the home side in the 10th minute when Willoughby tested Lane with a long range strike that the keeper was equal to and it was already becoming clear that Wivenhoe were playing a very direct style of football which given the physical advantage their team had over the Yarmouth players was no great surprise and this looked like being a real battle for this young Bloaters side.
Couzens sent a header over the bar from a Cantwell corner on 15 minutes and then just 3 minutes later the away side were dealt a huge blow when their captain Cantwell had to go off with an ankle injury and was replaced by Melo, however 7 minutes later and against the run of play Yarmouth should have taken the lead when a free kick sent into the box was spilled by the Dragons keeper right in front of French, however he somehow put his shot over the bar from 3 yards out when a goal looked certain.
Man of the match Willoughby went on mazy run through the Yarmouth defence 3 minutes later and put his shot just wide of the right hand post and Wivenhoe came even closer in the 34th minute when a curling effort from Hughes was very well saved by Lane.
It was clear that the Bloaters were not going to get too many clear cut chances against such physical and organised opponents and the Dragons started to dominate the midfield battle and it only looked matter of time before they took the lead and indeed they finally did in the 43rd minute when a Harms free kick took a deflection off a defenders head before sailing into the net to make it 1-0.
Half Time: Wivenhoe Town 1 Great Yarmouth Town 0.
The 2nd period started in much the same fashion as the first half finished with the home side on top and their striker Dialu was causing havoc with his pace and power down both flanks and with the Yarmouth players starting to look a little leggy after 3 tough games on the road in a week, Perry came on for Cork and Akpan replaced Barber to bring some fresh legs into the battle.
On 65 minutes Harms went clean through but was denied by Lane who dived bravely at his feet to prevent a certain goal, however less than a minute later the 2nd goal did finally arrive when Dallinger scored with a unstoppable shot from 10 yards out to make it 2-0.
5 minutes later Yarmouth almost grabbed a lifeline back into the match when following a corner a flick on from Couzens struck the crossbar before the ball went out for another corner and on 75 minutes Fenn was replaced by Spooner.
In the 85th minute Duffield tried his luck with a speculative shot from long range that went straight to the keeper Brand-Barker.
In stoppage time Yarmouth paid the price with a defensive mistake that allowed Gallifant to go clean through on goal to make it 3-0 and a minute later it became 4-0 when substitute Nwankwo slotted home from 5 yard out.
Having to start a new season playing their first 4 games away from home has always been a major disadvantage to Yarmouth teams , however massive credit must go to this group of players who have managed to win 3 out of the 4 of these very tough fixtures.
Full Time: Wivenhoe Town 4. Great Yarmouth Town 0. Attendence: 94.
GYTFC: Lane, Halliday, Duffield, Cork, Adams, French, Fenn, Cantwell, Couzens, Barber, Belmar. Subs: Akpan, Perry, Melo, Spooner.
Man of the Match: Harry Willoughby. (Wivenhoe Town)
