Team Gryphon Reserves scored 4 first-half goals to claim all 3 points at home against a battling Yetminster side short of reinforcements. Manager Ben Jones' hand was forced after a spate of late withdrawals, but was dealt a further blow as winger Craig Biss and full-back Max Howard failed to show, leaving the Welshman with an 11 man squad, unable to make substitutions and having to form a new backline, partnering Stuart Toft, with Norton Payne and Adam Roman resuming their positions at full-back.
Gryphon started brightly, and immediately looked to exploit the new centre-half pairing, with Tim Durston the focal point of the attack, Luke Farrell and Adam Bealer also stretching the Yetminster defence. The hosts opened the scoring after a poorly defended in-swinging corner took a touch off of Ben Johnson before it evaded visiting goalkeeper Marcus Partridge, and drifted across the face of goal and into the net.
Yetminster responded though, and equalised with their first meaningful attack of the game. Some neat link-up play down the left flank set Adam Roman loose, the full-back seeing off the unwanted attention of the 2 would-be Gryphon defenders before driving a low cross across the face of goal for Sam Carver to tap-in.
With Johnson at the heart of things once more, the visitors surged forward, dismayed at having been pegged back and forced a moment of confusion between Jones & Toft, Durston stealing in to regain the lead for Gryphon with a cool finish. Once more Yetminster sought out an equalising goal, but Carver's strong effort from the right-hand-side of the penalty area was well saved by Marc Lock.
The home side proved how devastating they can be on the break though, and extended their lead soon after. Bealer was felled in the box by Partridge, leaving Johnson to fire home from the resulting spot-kick.
A fourth was soon to follow with Durston making the most of a decent overlap, before turning the Yetminster defence and leaving Partridge flat-footed with a classy finish from just inside the penalty area.
After the interval though, Yetminster were well organised, Jones & Toft building a more solid partnership, with Jamie Lukosius beginning to exert some authority on the Sharks' passing play. Payne & Roman began to work increasingly effectively too, with the former often dispossessing players before setting off with the ball at his feet in an attempt to build a counter-attack.
Chances came and went for the hosts as the half progressed, with a string of fine saves from Partridge and some superb defensive work from the backline keeping them at bay, while in return, Yetminster worked and charged but without any real end product.
With 20 minutes to play Jones was wincing, and after suffering a groin injury was forced to swap with his first-choice stopper Partridge, the latter taking Jones' place in the Yetminster back-four.
In spite of this though Yetminster still held firm, as the final quarter of an hour saw a sequence of end-to-end assaults, with Jones forced to make a string of one-on-one saves.
Irrespective of the result on the scoreboard, Yetminster showed a die-hard spirit in the second period, and their dogged resillience ensured that they could walk away very respectably from a difficult game against one of the finest sides in the Division, especially in light of their lack of reinforcements and defensive reshuffle.
