Yate Town extended their lead at the top of the table to three points following a much needed win in Cornwall against Helston Athletic with title rivals, Evesham United, only managing a draw at home to Exmouth Town.
Yate Town manager, Darren Mullings, made two changes following his sides draw against Bemerton last Saturday, moving James Byrne into defence, for the unavailable Lewis Hall which meant starts for Nick McCootie & Ross Stearn in attack with Marlon Jackson dropping to the bench.
The Bluebells played into wind in the first half and an early opening for Helston saw a long-range shot go past Isaac Finch’s left-hand post. This was to be an isolated attack as Yate inserted their style of football as best as the conditions would allow. On 9 minutes following a good move, Lucas Tomlinson, was played into the area but was unable to cross the ball as the lively pitch took the ball away from him.
A minute later King Baidoo escaped his marker, but his pull back failed to find a Yate player and then King again, caused havoc in the Helston box which saw Nick McCootie’s left footed shot cleared off the line. Yate then had a goal disallowed for offside following a free kick on the edge of the Helston area, which was rightly ruled out with Ross Stearn clearly in an offside position.
Lucas Tomlinson made clever run and made a good cross into the box which was cleared only as far as Lloyd James whose shot from 18 yards was well saved by the diving Helston goalkeeper.
A rare Helston attack following a Yate error saw the home side almost take the lead on 31 minutes. Fortunately, Dan Dempsey managed to clear the ball acrobatically from the goal line and that was last real danger that the Yate goal came under for the rest of the game.
Yate dominated the second half. After five minutes Jamie Adams headed over the bar from a Ross Stearn free kick and two minutes later James Taylor had a shot parried by the goalkeeper but the visitors failed to find a final touch and the flurry of Yate chances then saw Nick McCootie have a header kicked off the line.
The opening goal of the game came on 56 minutes. A Lloyd James corner caused panic in the Helston six-yard box and Ross Stearn was on hand to smuggle the ball into the goal despite the attention of at least three Helston defenders.
The onslaught didn't stop after the first goal and it was only six minutes later when the second came for the visitors. Yate Town stopped a Helston play in their own half and broke quickly moving the ball from right to left and James Byrne's excellent first-time ball released King Baidoo who cut into the penalty area and passed across to Ross Stearn. Despite shouts of shoot, Stearn showed his experience and clinical edge cutting inside, dumping two Helston defenders on the floor before arrowing his shot into the top corner.
The Bluebells maintained their dominance to see out the rest of the goal with very little threat to their clean sheet. Isaac Finch in our goal was only called on to field a few crosses whilst in attack they always looked likely to add to their goal total, but never managed to find the right ball or last-ditch Helston defending kept out a potential third.
The Yate Town management were very pleased with the result and performance given the testing conditions and means we can travel to Cornwall again next week, Mousehole, looking forward to the final four games of the season with everything still in our own hands.
Yate Town: Finch, Taylor, Byrne, Larvin (Christopher 65), Dempsey, James, Tomlinson (Wyatt 77), Adams, Stearn (Lenihan 85), McCootie (Jackson 70) and Baidoo (Nderemani 90)
Bookings: None
Helston Athletic: Sowden-Bird, Barker, Elkington, O’Brien, Colwell (Mariko 78), Smith, Eddy (Redd 70), Stayt (Bye 84), Smith, Mitchell, Copp
Unused Subs: Duff-Dick, Tucker
Bookings: Copp (53) and Barker (78)
Attendace: 147