Great Yarmouth Town 1, Cornard United 0THE Bloaters gained another three points in their quest for promotion but manager Paul Tong admitted: “We are struggling to get over the line.

Great Yarmouth Town 1, Cornard United 0

THE Bloaters gained another three points in their quest for promotion but manager Paul Tong admitted: “We are struggling to get over the line.

“We are still not scoring enough goals but we do have the best defence in the league; that's down to the defenders and our excellent keeper Michael Hilton. It's not about pretty football now, it's about getting points and we are still unbeaten at home in the league.”

Missing five regulars through injury, the Bloaters stuttered to their 14th victory in 15 home games over a mostly youthful Cornard side, who might have embarrassed their hosts but had a goal ruled out for offside after 16 minutes and were later denied a penalty shout.

But Yarmouth could point to a Jake Reed cross that was headed off the Cornard line after half-an-hour before they took the lead five minutes from the interval with a rare move of real quality.

Jake Reed and Gavin Norman combined on the right for the latter to get in a centre to Fernando Vide on the edge of the area, and he bent a beautiful right-foot shot round the visitors' youth keeper Matt Walker.

Cornard's Liam Whittaker was unlucky with a header made under pressure from Michael Hilton in the Bloaters' goal, the ball just skimming the post early in the second half, and Vide saw his low shot saved by Walker after a throw from substitute Luke Fell was helped on by Norman.

On the hour mark, Cornard were unable to profit from an almighty scramble in the Yarmouth box.

Bloaters' substitutes Scott Woodcock and Mark Thompson tried to inject some threat into the home attack. A Woodcock goal-bound shot took a wicked deflection off a defender and ended up in Walker's arms, then Thompson seized on a clearance and passed to Reed, whose shot just shaved the back post.

The importance of the result became clear when it was learnt that leaders Brantham had lost at March, their first away defeat, leaving Yarmouth two points off the top with a game in hand.

Yarmouth: Michael Hilton, Bernardo Junior (Luke Fell, 34 minutes), Olly Savage. Craig Roberts, Marcus Saunders, Ross Catchpole, Jake Reed, Dominic Smith, Stewart Roach (Scott Woodcock, 54 minutes), Gavin Norman, Fernando Vide (Mark Thompson, 75 minutes). Unused subs: Eddie Short, Vida Formoso.