Bury 2, Gorleston 7

Gorleston have still not lost a game this season, Saraj Raput competing his hat-trick in this victory.

The game started brightly with Mark Vaudin and Raput creating chances from the wings for Neil Hudson and Andrew Lilly, who both worked the keeper hard but could not find the net.

A foul was awarded to Gorleston and a Bury player was sin-binned for retaliation. A well-worked short corner fell to Simon Long who made it 1-0. Good work from Richard Pallant set up Simon Long to make it 2-0.

Gorleston were dominating with Bury hardly threatening due to the consistent defence of Rob Harlow, Kevin Mcdonald, Herman Cheung and Martin Vaudin.

Russ Crawford’s runs were a constant danger and he set up Raput who scored with ease in the bottom corner. Just before half-time Jonny Mobbs won a short corner and Raput dribbled past the oncoming defender and slotted home to make it 4-0 at half-time.

Gorleston were playing the 4-5-1 that worked so well the previous week. Going into the second half they went to a traditional 4-4-2, which didn’t seem to work well. They let Bury back into the game, and with Andrew Lilly sin-binned they were under pressure and conceded two poor goals.

With a Bury player in the box with the ball Barney King appeared to make a perfect 50-50 tackle. The umpire in Gorleston’s own half gave a penalty, but the umpire in Bury’s conversed with his opposite number before cancelling the decision. A converted penalty might have changed the game.

There were another tight 10 minutes for Gorleston but they soon changed this round and upped their game.

With a short corner awarded, Mark Vaudin scored his first goal of the season from an acute angle. With 10 minutes to go another short corner was awarded from good work from Monty Raymond and Mark Vaudin scored from the same place to make it 6-2.

Bury gave another short corner away and Raput scored a great strike for his hat-trick and seventh goal of the season.

Gorleston made a lot better use of their short corners. The team also needs to stop switching off when cruising. Next up: Dereham III at home.

Squad: King, Harlow, Vaudin, Cheung, Mcdonald (captain), Mobbs, Pallant, Lilly, Long, Vaudin, Raput, Raymond, Crawford, Hudson.

Yarmouth Ladies II 3, Norwich Dragoins III 0

YARMOUTH finally secured their first win of the season, at Cliff Park. For weeks captain Jill Day had struggled with several key players being unavailable, but this team found a winning combination.

End-to-end play from the first whistle kept Yarmouth on their toes but they refused to allow Dragons to dominate, with Ellie and Jade performing strongly in defence and Katie Riley taking command of the goal area.

Sweeper Becky Edwards, returning from injury, made an immediate impact, commanding and controlling the defence. Playing with the luxury of a substitute allowed the midfield players to rotate and play to their strengths, with Maddy in particular putting through some lovely long balls to the forward line.

Janet Thompson and Jill Day used their experience to hold firm in midfield, whilst Ree Peachey proved just how versatile she can be, playing really well as a forward, mid and defender when necessary.

At half-time the team were urged to push forward and take every chance to score. They did just that, with the skilful Emma Stolworthy giving the Dragons’ defence all kinds of problems.

Eventually Emma broke through to score, with two more goals following from Ree and forward Hannah.

Both Charlie and Hannah, playing out wide on the wings, had superb games, chasing down every loose ball and surging forward through the opposition.

The outstanding play of central defender Teresa Stolworthy, covering the pitch at an amazing rate, and an in-form goalkeeper in the shape of Katie Riley, ensured that Yarmouth kept a clean sheet.