Great Yarmouth cruised into the preliminary round of the FA Cup with an emphatic 5-0 victory over visitors Diss Town.
The home side fielded four debutants in their starting line-up. Joel and Josh Glover, Aaron Sanders and Miles Palmer, all of whom went on to play significant roles in the match.
The Bloaters had suffered an indifferent pre-season while the visitors were not untroubled themselves, having lost two management teams and a host of players in two months.
The hosts started brightly and within three minutes Sanders reacted quickest to Davis’ blocked shot and neatly turned the ball into the net, a dream start for the new signing from Acle.
The young striker was at it again three minutes later as he hit a powerful shot from 30 yards that found the bottom corner to make it 2-0.
Fifteen minutes into the game the heavens opened, making life difficult for both sides. Sanders almost completed his hat-trick, only to be denied by keeper Riches before Sanders and Davis exchanged passes and Davis curled in a beautifully weighted shot that sailed over the keeper to put the hosts three up after 20 minutes.
With the torrential rain dispatching most of the crowd to the East Stand the play became scrappy and the break arrived with no further goals.
The rain had almost cleared as the players emerged for the second half and again the Bloaters started well. Joel Glover almost scored on his debut but headed wide from Perfect’s cross before Luke Priestley of Diss received his marching orders for a second yellow card on the hour mark.
In the 65th minute a long ball by Forbes found Glover and he muscled his way past a defender and fired home an unstoppable shot to cap a fine debut performance.
McAra then had a goalbound header cleared of the line before former youth player Kyle Gallant showed his quality as he beat two defenders and fired in a cross that was turned into his own goal by a defender. Some more excellent play between Doddington and Davis almost brought a sixth as McAra missed from barely a yard out.
Bloaters: Josh Glover, Palmer, Savage, Bartram, Ager, Applegate, Sanders, Davis, Forbes, Joel Glover, Perfect. Subs (all used) McAra, Doddington, Gallant. Attendance 176.
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