Wednesday 20th January 2010
Lowestoft Youth 5, Bloaters Youth 1
Yarmouth started the game in splendid fashion with the goal of the game – and possibly the season – from Lee Roscoe after only 16 minutes: the Bloaters’ captain took aim from 25 yards and his fierce shot arrowed into the net giving the Lowestoft ‘keeper no chance.
But thereafter it was all downhill for Yarmouth although their man-of-the-match Jake Sharpe had an exceptional game and was not at fault with any of the goals later conceded.
Lowestoft equalised when Joe Clark virtually walked the ball into the net six minutes later, and he and his strike partner Kyle Baker proved a dangerous combination with some lightning raids on the Bloaters’ goal.
Sharpe produced a fantastic double save after 40 minutes, and then saved a Jack Garrod penalty a minute later. Right on the interval, Adam Blanch hit the Lowestoft bar and fastening onto the loose ball in a follow-up attempt Josh Trett did the same. And just to rub salt into the wounds, the Blues went 2-1 up in added time through Harley Peek.
Two minutes into the second half, Roscoe took a pot-shot from 30 yards but Yarmouth’s luck was right out as the ball again struck the bar with the ‘keeper stranded well out of his goal, and that was as good as it was going to get for the Bloaters as the half deteriorated into a flurry of fouls and yellow and red as the referee resorted to cards to stamp his “authority” on the game.
Lowestoft took a 3-1 lead with a strange Baker goal on the hour before the first of the sendings-off, Yarmouth’s George Brooks seeing red for what was nothing more then a mistimed challenge from which his “victim” got up and walked away as soon as the referee reached for his cards. Minutes later, Lowestoft’s Clark received a yellow card for a similar-looking offence, and to complete a crazy spell, the home side’s Garrod was then sent off after receiving a second yellow.
Lowestoft’s Baker completed a hat-trick in the 81st and 90th minutes as Yarmouth became demoralised by the turn of events.
Eight bookings and two sendings-off did not reflect an admittedly fiercely contested local derby which was never a 'dirty' sort of game.
Yarmouth’s Mark Scales said he was bitterly disappointed with both the result and the refereeing performance: “To be honest, I think this game came too early for us following the weather disruptions. It was a game we needed to win and in light of the recent postponements and missed training we didn't have the best preparation. Lowestoft are a very good side so we needed to perform to our best, however fitness told in the end and I believe that was the main difference between the two sides.”
He also thought that Lowestoft took their chances whereas Yarmouth did not: “The two boys up front for them were clinical. The scoreline did flatter our opponents when you consider we hit the crossbar on three occasions. The boys are far better than this scoreline suggests and they will need to forget this defeat and concentrate now on the games coming up, one of which is another extremely hard game away to Dereham in the cup.”
On the refereeing performance the Yarmouth assistant manager said: “I believe the bookings and sendings-off for both sides were harsh. In the first half the referee didn't give us anything and things didn't get that much better in the second.
“The third goal was the killer after being scored at a time when we were on top. The frustrating thing with that goal was that they scored from our set piece: a poor corner led to them breaking quickly and taking full advantage. After that, heads dropped, frustration got the better of some and fitness dropped too, whereas Lowestoft seemed to get stronger. We started both periods strong but didn't take advantage.”
Yarmouth – J Sharpe, D Harvey, K Howe, E Short, S Pullin, G Brooks, A Blanch, R Catchpole, L Roscoe, J Trett, D Burgess. Subs used: H Silva, K Bartley, J Deeley