Great Yarmouth Town 5 March Town United 2

There was some doubt whether Saturday’s fixture would fall prey to the persistent rain, however the Wellesley seemed to fare well despite the conditions and the home side took advantage to score five times and take all three league points.

There was an early chance for Mitch Forbes, as Declan McAvoy’s delightful chipped pass found the striker in behind the visiting defence, but his volley was well saved by David Beeney in the Hares goal.

Beeney also did well from the resultant corner punching the ball clear. Then there was a chance for the visitors as Dan Woods’ excellent ball found Matthew Cox, who fired over.

Yarmouth were struggling to keep hold of the ball and the visitors appeared to have the better control of the conditions. The dangerous centre-forward Woods was causing problems although he was getting caught in the Bloaters’ offside trap,which was well-marshalled by Ady Ager.

The visitors were looking good, but against the run of play the Bloaters took the lead when Chris Holmes cleverly held up play and guided the ball to his strike partner Mitch Forbes, who finished well to put the Bloaters in front on 17 minutes.

They could have extended that lead when good play between Lee Roots and Mitch Forbes was only just cleared for a corner.

The visitors were probing and Woods and Ondre Odain were proving a handful for the Bloaters rearguard. A couple of efforts from the visitors were dangerous and Whatmough had to be alert from a free kick.

A few feisty challenges then ensued as the game threatened to boil over. In fairness to the visitors they deservedly equalised when a lapse in the Bloaters defence allowed Woods to turn and fire in a powerful drive, that gave Jack Whatmough no chance on 38 minutes.

The visitors were in the ascendency and scored again on the stroke of half time when a good move on the left was finished by a fierce drive by full back Joshua Jackman to give the plucky visitors the lead.

A sensible change by the management at half time saw Thomas Daniels replaced by Payton Swatman for his home debut.

Swatman’s impact was immediate as he played the ball into Forbes who helped the ball onto Holmes who was adjudged to be offside when well placed.

There was no sign of the visitors sitting on their lead and Whatmough saved well from a Max Mattless header and Odain was foiled by the home custodian when a slip by Jordan Forbes allowed the striker to get his shot at goal.

At that point the Bloaters were struggling for answers as the visitors continued to press forward.

A series of corners from the Bloaters all came to nothing as the Hares keeper and defence were in a defiant mood.

Further chances for the visitors were not taken due to poor finishing and good work by Whatmough.

Another Bloaters corner then saw Ager climb highest to plant a firm header past Beeney to put the Bloaters level at 2-2.

Five minutes later a carbon-copy of the second goal was denied as the ball sailed past the upright from another Ager header.

The Bloaters were finally applying pressure on the visiting defence as they went in search of all three valuable points.

With 15 minutes to go, and the game in the balance, Ager once again rose majestically above everyone to put the Bloaters ahead from another McAvoy corner.

Sean Perfect then made way for Chas McAra and immediately he combined with McAvoy and Swatman to produce yet another corner for the home side.

The diminutive Swatman fired the corner into the visitors’ box and keeper Beeney managed to claw the ball away, although the alert assistant on the far side was flagging to indicate the ball had crossed the line to controversially deliver the killer blow to make it 4-2.

Mitch Forbes wrapped up the game in the dying minutes as he chased down a back pass and pinched the ball from Beeney and tapped it into an empty net to make it 5-2.

The scoreline flattered the home side whose defence had been caused problems all afternoon. The Bloaters were clearly not at their best but a 5-2 scoreline against a good side augers well for the run in.

Victory puts the second-placed Bloaters – who visit Downham Town on Saturday – three points clear of Ely City and with previously unbeaten leaders Wivenhoe losing at home to Braintree Reserves and Halstead picking up points, it looks like being another exciting challenge for the promotion places from the Thurlow Nunn League First Division.

Before Saturday’s match there was a presentation to Roots and McAvoy who couldn’t be separated in winning the player of the month award for February following a string of fine performances from both.