Three more points as Beccles’ promotion push stays alive
Liam Harvey-Cooper, on the far left, slides in goal number three for Beccles. Picture: David Walters. - Credit: Archant
Beccles entertained North Walsham for a game that was expected to have an influence on the Division One promotion race and gained a 4-2 success.
Beccles started off at pace forcing North Walsham to defend in depth and apart from a couple of breakaways, the play was all in the away end.
With Waterman and Shaw pulling the strings in midfield, Beccles were rewarded quickly when on eight minutes, Luke Bailey got a right foot to Lee Glover’s cross to open the scoring.
The pressure mounted on Walsham and following a series of corners Tom Galer scored number two for the home side, from close in, with 23 minutes on the clock.
On the stroke of half-time Liam Harvey-Cooper made it 3-0 when he guided his shot from the left of the penalty area, through a mass of legs and into the net and that looked to have made the game safe even at that early stage.
Kevin Waterman then saw his long shot fly just over the bar before the visitors managed to open their account with a scrambled goal from Tom Wiley before the half-time break.
North Walsham took advantage of that break to get more organised and they started to compete better, putting the Beccles defence under more pressure. On 60 minutes captain Danny Cable was called in to action and produced a great save to deny the visitors.
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North Walsham gained momentum and pressed a tiring Beccles defence, and managed to score their second via Matt Downing.
On 66 minutes Keiron Bale received a nasty injury and had to have treatment, but three minutes later, was unable to continue and was replaced by Harley Pluck.
On 81 minutes Beccles made the game safe when Harvey-Cooper wriggled free of his marker and hammered a right-foot shot into the corner of the visitors’ net.
Kevin Waterman was then replaced by Callum Grimmer in midfield and the last five minutes of the game, ably refereed by Adrian Sannerude, petered out via attacks from both sides that did not change the 4-2 scoreline.
Beccles: Cable, Glover, Galer, Jones, Currie (Masters), Bailey, Waterman (Grimmer), Shaw, Bale (Pluck), Harvey-Cooper, Clark.
Tomorrow, Beccles travel to Attleborough for what will probably be the defining game for the season (kick-off 2.30pm) and the Reserves entertain East Harling at 2.30pm.
