Great Yarmouth Town 0, Saffron Walden Town 0A second successive goalless home draw for the Bloaters, following three excellent away performances, was poor fare for the 79 spectators who turned up on Saturday.

Great Yarmouth Town 0, Saffron Walden Town 0

A second successive goalless home draw for the Bloaters, following three excellent away performances, was poor fare for the 79 spectators who turned up on Saturday.

It was a blow to their promotion hopes with the teams around them all winning, writes Gerry Brown.

The start was delayed by 15 minutes after an accident on the A11, but a difficult pitch and gusting wind made for a frustrating afternoon. Passes went astray and awkward bounces made good control a testing activity.

Playing against the wind first half, Yarmouth were pushed back but a good chance from a Woodcock ball under the bar saw visiting keeper Pledger make a fine catch with Roach lurking.

Bartley, who started in place of the unavailable Reed, had a fine half and almost connected with a reverse Woodcock pass into the area. Roach went for a pass from Hill, but slightly misjudged the bounce, and another chance had gone.

The Bloaters had a lucky escape just before the break when Hilton came out for a through ball which was also chased down by Darby and Walden's Richardson - the latter getting a toe in, but the ball passed by the post.

Yarmouth started the second half in better fettle and attempted to get the ball forward at every opportunity, but the wind often took passes away from the intended recipients.

Despite the exhortations of their manager Paul Tong, Yarmouth were unable to get the ball into the opposition box as frequently as he wished.

A rare shot on target saw Woodcock's free-kick deflected up. Then a great ball down the line from Bartley led to Roach's first shot of the game, a cracker from 25 yards that had Pledger on his knees to save. A 30-yard free-kick from Woodcock also saw the keeper get behind the ball well.

Seventy-one minutes brought a great save from Hilton who appeared to have lost the ball on the line while grounded but, showing great reactions, reached up his arm to re-claim.

The final minutes were the most incident-packed.

Hilton came out of his box and baulked a visiting player for which he was booked and perhaps was fortunate not to get sent off, as the Walden management demanded.

The free-kick was blocked by the wall. Moments later, Richardson was dismissed for a second yellow card amid renewed anguished cries from the visitors.

Another free-kick in a dangerous position was eventually awarded to Walden after Hilton was adjudged to have carried the ball out of his area, though the match officials took their time to sort it out. But after several moments' preparation the kick ended up over the bar.

Yarmouth: Michael Hilton, Adam Sewell, Ollie Savage, Gareth Palmer (Chris Squire 74), Adey Ager (c), Alan Darby, Scott Woodcock, Bobby Hill, Stewart Roach, Liam Bartley (David Lawrence 80), Mark Thompson (Johnathan Watt 69). Unused sub: Joe Bryanton.

Referee: J Smith (Ipswich). Attendance: 79.