Cribbs FC 1 Yate Town 4
Davis 13 | McCootie 47, 67, Baidoo 52, Christopher 74
Southern League Division One South
Friday 31st January 2025
Yate Town bounced back from the disappointing result last Saturday, in emphatic style, as, after going behind to local rivals, Cribbs, in the 13th minute, they dominated possession for much of the game and scored four second half goals in an entertaining local derby, on a Friday night, to now have an 8-point lead at the top of the table.
Yate Town manager, Darren Mullings, was forced into a number of changes from the game last Saturday with both Marlon Jackson and Ross Stearn injured, but he was able to bring back captain Joe Guest from suspension and welcome back Nick McCootie into the starting line up with both Will Larvin and Lucas Tomlinson also starting and Stan Wyatt plus James Byrne now on the bench.
Yate Town fans were out in force.
Yate Town started brightly and in the 4th minute Nick McCootie’s shot brought a fine save by Cribbs goalkeeper, Kyreese Johnson, down by his right-hand post, as he pushed the ball out for a corner, following a flowing move involving Lucas Tomlinson and James Taylor after a quickly taken free kick by Lloyd James. Yate Town continued to dominate possession and won a series of corners, with King Baidoo firing well over but being a threat down the left.
With 13 minutes on the clock Cribbs broke down the right and as a cross came in Joe Thomas, in the Yate Town goal, left his line, but was beaten to the ball in the air and as it ran loose Joseph Davis cleverly hooked the ball into the empty net to put the hosts 1-0 up.
Not to be deterred by this set back Yate continued to play their flowing, possession football, but as many times this season, came up against a packed defence, as Cribbs looked to defend their advantage by putting men behind the ball. With the Cribbs goal under a lot of pressure goalkeeper Johnson had to be at his best and was confident in punching the ball clear when needed and also made excellent saves from King Baidoo, a Dan Dempsey header and from a corner superbly tipped a header from King Baidoo over the crossbar. Cribbs only threatened once when Fraser Bell shot just wide from a rare break by the home side as the half came to a close.
With fans barely settled back in position after the half time break Kind Baidoo broke down the left and from his cross Nick McCootie levelled the scores with an acrobatic finish from 8 yards out.
Nick McCootie levels the scores.
Just five minutes later a cross from Nick McCootie was blocked and as the ball ran lose King Baidoo snapped up the chance to put the visitors deservedly in front.
King Baidoo puts Yate Town in front.
Cribbs did briefly exert a bit of pressure and on the hour, following a corner, they had a shot that was deflected that went narrowly wide of a post, for a corner.
However, with three quarters of the game gone, with the Cribbs defence slow to clear the danger in their penalty area, Nick McCootie pounced to slam home his second goal of the game from 10 yards, much to the joy of the large contingent of travelling fans.
Nick McCootie makes it 3-1.
In the following minutes Darren Mullings made a number of changes but Yate still continued in the same vein and when, after 74 minutes, a Lloyd James free kick from just outside the penalty area was spilled by Johnson, Will Christopher, on his 26th birthday, reacted quickest to score his fourth goal of the season. Before the end of the game James Bryne brought another fine save from Johnson.
This was a good evening’s work from the Bluebells who now have a challenging February starting with two home games; against Bideford on Tuesday evening and in form Falmouth Town next Saturday (8th February) before two away games against Thatcham and Westbury United.
Yate Town: Thomas, Taylor, Christopher, Hall, Dempsey, Larvin (Byrne 46), Guest, James (Lenihan (81), McCootie (Hillier 70), Tomlinson (Nderemani 81), Baidoo (Wyatt 73)
Unused subs: None
Bookings: James (11)
Cribbs FC: Johnson, Spiller, Bell (Lock 88), Nicholls (Clayton 81), Crouch, Hedges, Davis, Cainey, Crawford (Kellow 66), Bonnick (Ono 75), Crome
Unused subs: None
Bookings: Crouch (38), Cainey (72)
Referee: Dale Wootton
Attendance: 315
Photographs by Aaron Norman