Match Report
Poole Town 2 Yate Town 2
Saied 29, Gwengwe (pen) 90 | Bennett 55, Jackson (pen) 72
Southern League Premier Division South
Saturday 17th January 2026
Yate Town visited second placed, an in form Poole Town, where they more than matched their opponents to return home with a point, that was so close to being three, with Poole equalising near the end of the game.
Yate Town manager, Darren Mullings, was forced into making changes from the side that lost the previous Saturday at Sholing, with James Taylor returning to the starting line up in place of the injured Oli Jenkins, Jack Hooper starting in place of Rex Mannings and Omar Taylor-Clarke in after the departure of Corey Evans.
The opening period was evenly matched with Yate Town winning a couple of early corners and Josh Bennett having a shot blocked with the division’s leading goal scorer, Shaquille Gwengwe, shooting straight at Aaron Sainsbury in the Yate goal.
Poole Town opened the scoring in the 29th minute when Billy Lowes shot was parried by Aaron Sainsbury and the ball eventually fell to Selim Saied who tapped the ball home from close range.
Marlon Jackson managed to break away but he could not find James Ollis and his pass was intercepted whilst Kristian Campbell’s cross found Hill whose shot was superbly turned away by Aaron Sainsbury, in what was a fairly even first half.
At half time Rex Mannings replaced James Ollis and Yate Town came out with real purpose as they started to dominated periods of play. James Taylor’s cross was cut out by Poole goalkeeper Adam Parkes whilst Poole’s Harvey Slade went on a mazy run and Jack Hooper was pleased to see his clearance go just over the crossbar and out for a corner.
After more pressure from the visitors, they eventually drew level when James Taylor won the ball on the half way line and surged forward into the Poole penalty area. His shot was saved by Adam Parkes and after a goalmouth scramble Josh Bennett gleefully tucked the ball away from 10 yards with a cool finish to score his first goal for the club.
Josh Bennett celebrates after scoring his first goal for the Bluebells.
Following a long throw by Josh Bennet Yate Town nearly took the lead when Rex Mannings saw his shot go inches wide of the far post with Parkes beaten.
Poole responded and Will Larvin cleared an effort from Shaquille Gwengwe off the line but Yate were now dominating play and when a move involving James Taylor and Marlon Jackson ended with Rex Mannings finishing superbly, the goal was ruled out for a very marginal offside decision. Soon afterwards, Josh Bennett had a shot saved by Adam Parkes and Marlon Jackson saw his effort blocked.
This Rex Mannings effort is ruled out for offside.
With substitutes Charlie Moody and Jake Hicks adding energy to the midfield Yate were taking control of the game. Following a corner in the 71st minute Marlon Jackson was fouled by Ryan Campbell in the penalty area and after dusting himself down Jackson cooly slotted home the penalty to put the Bluebells in front.
Marlon Jackson scores from the penalty spot to put the Bluebells in front.
The home side made a number of substitutions and James Taylor was forced off injured in the 82nd minute but the visitors defended superbly and Aaron Sainsbury was not tested but in the 90th minute substitute Adulai Sambu was adjudged to have fouled Poole substitute Sam Faniyan and Shaquille Gwengwe scored from the spot to draw the home side level.
The referee indicated 7 minutes stoppage time and in this period Yate substitute Lucas Tomlinson broke free but elected to shoot from 25 yards, when he could have got closer to goal and Adam Parkes dealt easily with his effort whilst Shaquille Gwengwe headed straight at Aaron Sainsbury. With the clock showing 9 minutes added time there was an almighty scramble in the Yate Town penalty area and two shots were blocked on the goal line, as Yate Town players put their bodies on the line to protect a richly deserved point in what was a highly entertaining game.
The Bluebells now face Uxbridge next Saturday at the South West Interiors Stadium.
Poole Town: Parkes, Campbell R, Olumuyiwa (Jordan 66), Lowes, Campbell (K), Gwengwe, Hill (Spalding 66), Saied, Slade (Davis 74), Dore, Diaz (Faniyan 66),
Unused Subs: Whisken
Bookings: Campbell R (23), Gwengwe
Yate Town: Sainsbury, Taylor (Sambu 82), Larvin, Ball, Hooper, Bennett, Monks, James (Hicks 65), Taylor Clarke (Moody 50), Jackson (Tomlinson 90+3), Ollis (Mannings 46).
Unused sub: None
Bookings: Larvin
Attendance: 675
Referee: Oscar Whiting
Photographs by Aaron Norman