Match Reports
22/08/07 (A) Yarmouth Town Res 4-5 West Wight Res
Yarmouth took the lead with a well-taken goal by Gabriel Perrin from just outside the box. West Wight hit back quickly with two goals but with a couple of minutes left before halftime, ex-yarmouth player Mark Dunn-Coleman inexplicably headed into his own net under no pressure to leave it 2:2 at halftime. A very open first half promised more goals to come after the break. A great team goal saw Yarmouth take the lead just after the interval when Sean Roberts turned and volleyed in a Perrin cross from the edge of the D, the ball just sneaking inside the post despite the keepers best efforts. With 25 mins to go, west wight equalized. Rob Taylor stepped up to give Yarmouth the lead once again with 15 to go and it looked like a shock win was on the cards. But West Wight grabbed 2 goals in the last five to sneak through and take all 3 points. A disappointing result but a performance that gave the reserves a huge confidence boost.
29/08/07 (A) Yarmouth Town Res 2-2 W&B Res
Prior to the game, it had been some time since the reserves had gone to W&B and picked up a result but confidence was high despite missing a couple of the players who featured against West Wight. Halfway through the half Sean Roberts pounced on a defensive mix up to roll the ball into the back of the net from inside the box, 1:0. A defensive calamity gave W&B an undeserved equalizer, but straight from the restart, Sean Roberts latched onto another mix up by the W&B defence to burst past the last defender and drill the ball past the keeper at the near post. 2:1 Just after halftime W&B equalized yet again and despite all of Yarmouths best efforts a winner couldn’t be found. Another disappointing result with a good performance. Starting to see a pattern occur.
01/09/07 (A) Yarmouth Town Res 0-1 Binstead Cob Res
Another decent performance in which Yarmouth failed to put away their chances led to a 1:0 defeat away to Binstead. First 3 games were all good performances but the Reserves only had a point to show for it. Couldn’t help but feel it should have been 9pts.
15/09/07 (A) Yarmouth Town Res 1-2 Red Star Spartans Res
Despite conceding a typically poor goal Yarmouth equalized with a beautiful set piece. From half way in the Red Star half out on the right, Clive Taylor swung the free kick around the wall for Sean Roberts to run onto and volley past the keeper. Unfortunately, despite dominating in the second half Yarmouth were the losing side as Red Star came up with the winner. Yet again, good performance and an awful result. When would the reserves season start?
22/09/07 (A) Yarmouth Town Res 3-3 Gkn Westlands Res
Away to GKN provided the reserves with a fantastic opportunity to finally kickstart the season and get that all important first win. But despite playing poor opposition, Yarmouth found themselves 3:2 down at halftime despite a hustle and bustle goal by Luke Lambert who pressured the GKN keeper into making a mistake trying to claim the goal and a nice strike by young Todd Weedon following good work by Sean Roberts. Probably the worst performance of the season by Yarmouth but the game was still up for grabs. The second half saw Yarmouth take control of the game and chances were being created at will. But the chances just weren’t put away. Then a lifeline was thrown Yarmouths way with a penalty awarded by the Ref. Up stepped Clive ‘Buster’ Taylor, the ever reliable penalty taker but the keeper was up to the task and kept the lead in tact. Finally the equalizer came, from Todd Weedons left foot, and it was game on. But GKN’s keeper had a blinder and kept them in the game. Full time and another poor result for the reserves. The missed chances would be rued. With Clive Taylor hitting the woodwork and San Roberts also hitting the woodwork twice. Truthfully, Yarmouth should have won but the only thing that matters was that the final score was 3:3.
29/09/07 (A) Yarmouth Town Res 3-10 St Helens Blue Star Res
The less said about this game the better. Despite a reasonable performance on the pitch, Yarmouth were hammered 10:3 with a goal from Sean Roberts and 2 from the little apprentice, Todd Weedon including one super strike from outside the box. The lesson to be learnt from this game is that you should never play someone in goal unless you’ve seen them play before. Harsh, but ultimately fair.
06/10/07 (A) Yarmouth Town Res 2-0 Oakfield Res
With confidence pretty low following the previous weeks thumping, a visit to Oakfield was the last thing that Yarmouth needed. A notoriously difficult place to get a result at, due to the physical nature of Oakfield s football. However, Yarmouth started brightly with Todd Weedon drilling a ball post the far post and Sean Roberts wriggling his way through the defence only to see the keeper palm his effort onto the post. Oakfield were at their physical best and reaping the benefits from no ref being appointed and a stand in kindly doing the job. Oakfield were being well contained and restricted to long range efforts which were duely dealt with by the evergreen Doug Weedon. It was only a matter of time until the first goal came. Halftime, 0:0. Yarmouth started the second half in the same vein playing with the sort of confidence that you don’t normally associate with the Reserves. Roberts was being given far to much respect and was able to turn and run at the defence time and time again, yet everytime he looked like he was about to score up stepped Oakfield’s no 8 to make the challenge. Meanwhile up the other end Oakfield were still trying to score the goal of the season from 30 yards but ol’ Weedon was never troubled. It looked like the goal Yarmouth deserved might never come when suddenly the best chance of the game presented itself at the feet of Sean Roberts. Following great work by the Little Apprentice Todd the ball broke to Sean in the middle of the box, with time to trap the ball and pick his spot. Yet despite a rocket at the near post the keeper turned it away for a corner. The goal just would not come. Oakfield went straight up the other end and looked to have a scored when their left winger got through the defence but managed to bend the ball past the defence. A real break for the boys in orange. Minutes later the goal desperately needed by Yarmouth finally came. Young Weedon took on the tiring Oakfield defence and was just about to pull the trigger from the edge of the box, when Roberts yelled ‘Sean’s ball’, and stepped up to place the ball in the top left corner. 1:0 Yarmouth. Oakfield just collapsed with less than 15 mins left on the clock. Todd Weedon grabbed the second with a thumping strike into the top right corner to put the nail firmly in the coffin. A fantastic team performance to grab the first league win of the season with a clean sheet to boot. Well done, lads!
13/10/07 (A) Yarmouth Town Res 2-3 Northwwood St Johns Res
Following last weeks good win away to Oakfield the reserves were feeling very confident leading up to the Northwood game. However, due to a couple of injuries there was a change in the hub of the team with Clive ‘Buster’ Taylor missing from midfield. In my opinion this was to prove decisive. With Clive missing, leading scorer dropped into midfield and Paul Cooper came into the side to play up front. The line up was as follows: Doug Weedon; Dave Cotton, Paul Telfer, Rick Wheeler, Jermaine Mortimer; Chris Gardner, Sean Roberts, Ben Mercer, Chris Richards; Todd Weedon, Paul Cooper. The first 10 minutes of the game were quite quiet as the sides felt each other out. It became apparent quite quickly that despite Ben’s tireless efforts in the middle of the park and Sean’s headless chicken impersonations, that Northwood were in control of the midfield. Buster’s absence was starting to tell already and it wasn’t even half time. Northwood had the better share of the possession but it was Yarmouth who took the lead. A long all down the right hand side gave the Little Apprentice, Todd Weedon, something to chase and chase it he did. Just reaching the ball ahead of the keeper, Todd knocked the ball past the keeper and into the net. Great finish from a difficult angle! For the remainder of the half, the reserves rode their luck as Northwood had three free headers from set pieces which should all have been goals. After halftime, a second goal came for Yarmouth following a swift counter attack. Good work by Todd and Paul Cooper allowed Sean Roberts to race through on goal. A poor first touch left him with work to do and just when it looked like the chance had gone, Sean hit the ball on his left and the ball settled into the back of the net following some help from a Northwood defender. The effort looked like it was maybe going wide but the goal was given to Sean Roberts. I don’t know what happened next, maybe complacency, but Northwood suddenly seemed to have all the time in the world especially down their left flank and in the space of 10 minutes Yarmouth found themselves 3:2 down. Despite some good work by Paul Cooper, Yarmouth just couldn’t create the chances for the equalizer. Cooper had a great chance, one on one, but seemed caught between shooting and squaring the ball to Roberts for a tap in and the keeper came away with the ball. Come the final whistle it was probably a fair result, but you always feel gutted when you’re two nil up with 25 to go and you lose. Ah, well! Such is life. Cup action next week will hopefully bring a fresh start yet again. Honourable mentions for Ben Mercer in the middle of the park who gave his all and a much better 90 minute performance from the Little Apprentice but I’m sure there’s more to come from both.
Yarmouth Reserves Match Reports Supplied By Sean Roberts