Again the Bloaters made changes from their first defeat of the season at Braintree on Saturday with Mitch Forbes, Neil Hurren, Sam Giacomelli, and Johnny Jarvis replacing Fernando Vide, Diogo Fernandes, Micael Adamo and Jordan Forbes in the starting line up.

The match started perfectly for the away side with Mitch Forbes curling a free kick low past the wall into the bottom corner, Josh Thomas winning the free kick after being felled after a good run with only 2 minutes on the clock.

Before the ten minute mark the scores drew parity with the impressive Jack Seecombe capitalising from panic in the Yarmouth defence. A corner was conceded cheaply by Cudden and from that the crossbar was hit through a melee of players, Yarmouth failed to clear their lines and Seecombe was adjudged to have had the last touch in a real scramble in the six yard box.

Five minutes later and Yarmouth had scored again. Thomas intelligently hooking the ball into the box and George Barnden nicked in ahead of the defender to fire in from close range.

Yarmouth were on top and almost scored again shortly after, Barnden producing a deft flick for Callum Jones who in turn released Thomas, he was brought down and Yarmouth won a corner from the free kick, the first corner was cleared but at the second attempt and effort was cleared off the line as Debenham fought to be in the game.

Then came two minutes of madness as the boys in burgundy relinquished their lead into a deficit. Seecombe headed in unmarked after a cross from the left on 27 minutes, then before the half hour mark Giacomelli hooked out a leg from another cross, which resulted in the ball hooking over Cudden to make the score 3-2.

Two goals in two minutes is a rare occurance in football but you wouldn’t have guessed it as Debenham repeated the feat minutes before halftime. Seecombe secured his hattrick by expertly turning Giacomelli before calmly slotting past Cudden. Then Nathan Vincent capitalised on AWOL defending by heading in from a corner from the right, making the half time score 5-2, a scoreline considered high over the course of 90 minutes.

Could there be a way back? Hope was offered on 53 minutes when a Debenham defender and the the goalkeeper had a mix up under pressure from Forbes and Barnden floated the ball into the goal for his second of the night and the season.

At 5-3, could the comeback be on? No, within three minutes the score was 6-3 with the unfortunate Giacomelli’s second OG of the night.

Further defensive frailties in the Yarmouth backline were exposed when Vincent hit the crossbar, but Debenham’s defence was equally exposed where Barnden almost secured a hattrick of his own but the ‘keeper was equal to his quick header.

The game became more scrappy and hostile with a few skirmishes, and again Barnden was close to his third goal after a top class turn and run from inside his own half by Mitch Forbes, but Barnden was adjudged offside when the ball was released.

The final goal from a crazy night arrived in injury time, Barnden passing past the goalkeeper for a simple finish for substitute Charlie McAra, who appeared offside but the goal counted for nought as the team lost 6-4.

Team: Ben Cudden, Johnny Jarvis, Joe Bryanton, Sam Giacomelli, Sim Lee, George Barnden, Neil Hurren (Marian Jobbagy 74), Callum Jones, Mitch Forbes, Danny Burkle (Jordan Forbes 65), Josh Thomas (Charlie McAra 53). Unused Subs: Barney Lawrence and Lee Hackleton. Goals: M Forbes, Barnden (2), McAra. Booked: Jones, McAra and Barnden.


THANKS TO COLIN JONES FOR THE MATCH REPORT