Yate Town 1 Cribbs 2
Larvin (91) Weaver (26), Croome 54 (pen)
Southern League Division One South
Tuesday 3rd December 2024
Cribbs, in the bottom four, caused a major upset by turning the form book on its head, and in a classic smash and grab encounter came away with all three points, beating top of the table, Yate Town on their home soil.
Yate Town manager, Darren Mullings, made changes to the side that drew at Melksham on Saturday with Dan Dempsey replacing Lewis Hall in defence and Lucas Tomlinson starting in the place of James Byrne.
The opening exchange saw Reece Hedges head over the Yate crossbar from a Leighton Tuodolo cross from the left after two minutes but then it was one way traffic with Yate Town in possession for much of the next 20 minutes with Will Christopher shooting over from long range, Joe Guest had a goal disallowed after 11 minutes. Lucas Tomlinson and Dan Dempsey had shots but neither were on target and despite Yate Town’s dominance visiting goalkeeper Kyreese Johnson was rarely troubled.
Ollie Dewsbury in possession during the first half.
After 26 minutes a long ball out of the Cribbs defence caught the Yate defence in trouble and when Spike Weaver gained possession he showed strength in brushing aside two home defenders on the edge of the penalty area and drove forward to beat Aaron Sainsbury and put the visitors ahead.
Ten minutes later Bailey Croome found space and shot straight at Aaron Sainsbury from 20 yards but it was Yate who continued to see the majority of the ball and Johnson was tested for the first time when he saved well from Ollie Dewsbury and this was followed by Marlon Jackson heading wide and then as Yate searched for the equaliser before half-time Lucas Tomlinson side footed wide when well placed.
The second half started slowly with Cribbs continuing to pack their defence and frustrating the home side and when a long ball again caught out the Yate defence Will Larvin fouled a Cribbs player in the penalty area and Bailey Croome gleefully slotted home the penalty to give the visitors an unlikely 2-0 lead on 54 minutes.
Stan Wyatt faces a packed defence in the second half.
Cribbs were happy to sit back and protect their lead and slow the game down as Darren Mullings made some substitutions to try to freshen up the team but despite continuing to dominate possession there were few gaps to exploit despite a concerted effort from the home side. Shots were generally from near the edge of the penalty area and Dewsbury, Tomlinson, Larvin and Taylor either had their shots blocked or they were off target.
When the board when up for stoppage time it read 8 minutes and a minute later Will Larvin drove towards the penalty area and struck a low shot from 20 yards that found the bottom corner of the net and home fans hoped that something may be salvaged from the game.
Will Larvin fires home through a body of Cribbs players
Lucas Tomlinson then headed wide from a Stan Wyatt cross and another Will Larvin shot was deflected for a corner and in the final seconds of the game Lucas Tomlinson fired over the bar from a free kick on the edge of the area.
This was a frustrating game for home fans but Cribbs came with a game plan and executed it perfectly to gain their first win for over a month. For the Bluebells this was hopefully just a blip and with a home game against Bideford they have the chance to get back to winning ways in just a few short days.
Yate Town: Sainsbury, Taylor, Christopher (White 53), Dempsey (Wyatt 66), Larvin, James, Stearn (Byrne 72), Guest, Jackson (Hillier 72), Tomlinson, Dewsbury
Unused sub: Hall
Bookings: Guest (65), James (66)
Cribbs: Johnson, Tuodolo, Mara, Burns, Crouch, Hedges, Clayton, Cainey, Eward-Baptiste, Weaver, Croome.
Unused subs: Kellow, Jasper, Mugondi
Bookings: Cainey (31), Weaver (50), Clayton (65), Croome (67), Johnson (90+2)
Attendance: 338
Referee: Zak Demetriades
Photographs by Aaron Norman.