Malvern Town 1 Yate Town 1 Bell 29 Tomlinson 90+5 Southern League Division One South Tuesday 22nd October 2024
Lucas Tomlinson’s stoppage time goal earned Yate Town a deserved point against a Malvern side that took a first half lead and nearly clung on to all three points.
Yate Town manager, Darren Mullings, had some players unavailable for this game and with the Bristol Rovers loanees, Ollie Dewsbury and Jerry Lawrence required by their parent club and Will Christopher unavailable, Stan Wyatt and Ross Staley started with the bench much changed and only Ryan Hillier being in a similar position as Saturday.
The game, on the 3G pitch, started with little goal mouth action with both teams content to play a passing game but will little end product. However, the game sprang into life after 28 minutes when Yate Town goalkeeper Aaron Sainsbury made a superb save tipping the ball over the bar from a fierce shot from Alex Bell. Then from a corner the Yate defence failed to clear the ball and Bell, on the left edge of the penalty area, curled a wonderful right footed shot off the far post and into the net to give the Hillsiders the lead.
Yate Town responded and in the 34th minute; Staley’s shot from an angle lacked enough pace to beat Alexander Kovacevic in the home goal and the goalkeeper made a comfortable save. Ross Stearn headed over from a James Taylor cross but the visitors were often caught off-side as they failed to get into their usual attacking rhythm.
Ross Staley shoots for goal.
The second half saw Yate Town come out with far more threat as they started to gain a lot more possession and were often camped in the Malvern half but the home defence was compact and finding pockets of space was a real challenge for the Bluebells. They won four corners in the opening six minutes of the half and then a flowing move down the right saw Stearn shoot straight at Kovacevic. A good move down the left saw Ross Stearn set Joe Guest clear on the left by the Yate captain decided to pass the ball rather than shoot and the chance was gone as the Malvern defence cleared the ball.
James Taylor attacking down the right in the second half.
Lucas Tomlinson came on for Ross Staley after 55 minutes to add a more attacking threat and the next 20 minutes saw Malvern under increased pressure but chances were few and far between with Stearn shooting just wide and Kovacevic making a good safe, low down to his left, from a Tomlinson shot.
The last ten minutes saw Yate throw more men forward and Malvern then exploited the spaces and created three excellent chances to make the game safe. Firstly, after 82 minutes Sam Clark missed a great opportunity when put clear but Aaron Sainsbury stood up and made a save. Five minutes later a similar chance fell to Lewis Spurrier but again Sainsbury saved well and a minute later Clark broke free again, after a poor defensive header, and Aaron Sainsbury made a superb save to push his shot round the post for a corner.
Lucas Tomlinson shoots for goal.
As the game went into stoppage time Malvern tried to keep the ball near the corner flag to see the clock down but with just seconds remaining another Yate attack ended with Lucas Tomlinson curling a well-placed shot into the corner of the net to earn the Bluebells a point, on a night when they were far from their best and again came up against a team that defended in depth but this time trying to keep the lead that they had gained. Their goal was the first that Yate had conceded in 392 minutes of football and only the sixth in eleven league games.
Yate Town now take a break from League football when they go to Hungerford for an FA Trophy First Round game on Saturday before entertaining Thatcham Town next Tuesday in a Southern League match at the South West Interiors Stadium.
Yate Town: Sainsbury, Taylor, Byrne, Dempsey, Larvin, James, Staley (Tomlinson 55), Guest, Jackson, Stearn, Wyatt (Hillier 74)
Unused subs: Keet, Felix, McMillan
Bookings: Dempsey (54), Larvin (60)
Malvern Town: Kovacevic, Bell, Platt (Francis 60), Molyneux, Ferguson, Payne, Spurrier, Johnson, Clark, Tumelty, Bevan
Unused subs: Adams, Malcolm, Frazer
Bookings: Tumelty (49)
Referee: Lewis Smith
Attendance: 197
Yate Town Man of the Match: Aaron Sainsbury