Wroxham's stuttering pre-season continued with defeat on the road in sunny Yarmouth. A missed penalty by the usually dependable Jamie Forshaw was one of the low points in a game that epitomised the reason why pre-season games are often thought of as a waste of an afternoon by supporters. A glimmer of hope for fans of the Yachtsmen is that a number of key players were absent and Manager Stu Larter will be hoping that they are available for the big kick off next Saturday.

Wroxham kicked off in their red away kit this afternoon in bright sunshine. With Larter and assistant Cedric Anselin absent, Director of Football Chris Wigger and Goalkeeper coach John Mann took charge. Immediately Yarmouth put the Wroxham defence under pressure and forced a corner in the first minute. The former Wroxham player Declan McAvoy and the lively Tom Cullumbine were causing problems as they pushed forward against a makeshift Wroxham back four. There were a couple of half chances before after 10 minutes The Bloaters took a deserved lead. Declan McAvoy slammed the ball past Elliot Pride from the edge of the area after the last Wroxham defender was left to deal with two attackers.

Wroxham began to get into the game and started creating a few chances. Notably Forshaw hit a post after being played through by Jack Guyton, the ball unfortunately not bouncing kindly as he tried to bring it under control. After 24 minutes Wroxham were presented with an excellent chance to draw level. As Jack Garrod advanced into the area he was brought down and the referee pointed straight to the penalty spot. Wroxham's Senior Cup Final penalty hero Jamie Forshaw grabbed the ball and although he hit his shot with power, the Yarmouth keeper Liam Hembury made an excellent double save after the ball rebounded back to Forshaw.

On 33 minutes, Yarmouth scored their second goal. Wroxham's defence was dispossessed midway in their own half and the impressive Cullumbine advanced to slam the ball past Pride.

The second half failed to produce much of note apart from a couple of strange incidents involving the match referee. First Steve Taylor was caught out as last man and made an excellent example of a tackle more akin to Twickenham. The referee asked that Wroxham make a substitution rather than produce a red card that would have been the result in a league game. The second incident centred on Jamie Forshaw and Jack Garrod who were both asked to leave the field by the referee. Again sensibly there was no red card but as the game only had 5 minutes left, the Yachtsmen continued with 9 players.

Overall, it was a disappointing performance and hopefully improvements will be seen next Saturday when Wroxham travel to Tilbury for their opening Ryman League fixture.

Team: Pride, Taylor, Rust, Grady, King, Guyton, Garrod, Sandford, Stone, Forshaw, Beaumont.
Subs: Waters, Rogers, Horton