Match Report
Yate Town 2 Gloucester City 1
Jackson (35), Guest (90+6) Waite (7)
Saturday 18th April 2026
Southern League Premier Division South
A wonder strike from Yate Town captain Joe Guest earned Yate Town a valuable three points as they look to stay in the division having now been undefeated in the last six games and amassing fourteen out of eighteen points, in a recent upsurge in form.
Yate Town manager, Darren Mullings, was forced into making a number of changes following last Saturdays 2-0 win at Gosport, with Alex Monks unavailable though illness, Dani Gonzalez-Birchall injured and Oli Jenkins carrying a knock. Will Larvin started his first game for nearly two months and Dan Ball retuned to defence with Omar Taylor-Clarke also starting.
The visitor’s opened the scoring in the 7th minute when Sion Spence’s pass found James Waite in space in the Yate penalty area and Waite fired his shot from 15 yards in to the net. Ten minutes later, Will Larvin, showing that he had lost none of his form, was badly injured following a tackle on a Gloucester player, and was replaced by Henry Sady, as Yate were forced to change their shape
A long throw from Josh Bennett caused panic in the Gloucester defence but the ball was eventually cleared for a corner and Henry Sady started making an impact for Yate, forcing Gloucester goalkeeper Jared Thompson to tip his shot over the bar. After Sion Spence saw his shot flash just wide of the post for Gloucester, shortly afterwards, good interplay involving James Taylor and Joe Guest resulted in Rex Mannings finding Marlon Jackson who progressed onto the Gloucester penalty area and his low shot into the bottom corner of the goal beat Thompson to level the score.
Marlon Jackson equalises for the Bluebells.
Sady forced Thompson into another good save but in stoppage time Gloucester almost gained the lead when Michael O’Regan saw his shot crash against the crossbar but moments later, at the other end, following a Yate corner, Archie Taylor saw his header go wide.
The second half saw Yate Town looking for a winner and apart from Aaron Sainsbury in the Yate goal making a good save at his near post from Kane Simpson, the hosts saw James Taylor’s shot tipped over the bar by Thompson, whilst Sady and Lloyd James had their efforts blocked. Marlon Jackson shot over with two minutes of normal time remaining and it looked like the game might end in a draw.
But with the referee indicating a minimum of 5 minutes stoppage time and then a substitution being made, plus stoppages, the clock ticked just passed this time and following a throw down the line by Josh Bennett the ball was eventually worked to Joe Guest to rifle in the winner from edge of the penalty area, with virtually the last kick of the game, to spark scenes of jubilation amongst the Yate Town players and home fans.
Joe Guest finds space on the edge of the area to fire in this shot that earned all three points for the Bluebells and below: cue celebrations.
Yate Town now play their final game of the season, at Havant & Waterlooville next Saturday, and will need one point to ensure their safety.
Yate Town: Sainsbury, Taylor (J) (Jenkins (90+2), Larvin (Sady 16), Ball, Bennett, James, Guest, Jackson, Mannings, Taylor (A), Taylor-Clarke (Zebroski 77)
Unused subs: Mehew, Felix
Bookings: Bennett (90+5), Jackson (90+6)
Gloucester City: Thompson, O’Regan, Williams (Wildig 66), Spence, Watts (Siddall 9 – Hanks 66), Thomas (Phillips 86), Waite, Cross (Leadbitter 66), Stretton, Mohammed, Simpson
Unused subs: None
Booked: Siddall (45), Williams (56)
Attendance: 876
Referee: Craig Scriven
Photographs by Jack Palmer
Yate Town Player of the Match: Joe Guest with match sponsors Trashman Clearance.
