Chris Angulo (Page 2)

Marcus Stewart’s Top Five Goals for Yeovil

To celebrate the return of Marcus Stewart to Huish Park 14 years after his departure – that can’t be right, can it? – we are celebrating some of his finest goals in green and white.

In his career Stewart played in the Premier League for Ipswich and Sunderland, and in 2000/01 was the second-top scorer with 19 goals for Ipswich. Born in Bristol, although he spent the early part of his career at Bristol Rovers, he actually grew up as a City fan which played a part in him choosing to sign for them after leaving Sunderland in 2005.

He arrived at Ashton Gate at the age of 32, and eventually came to us courtesy of our former manager – Gary Johnson had arrived at Ashton Gate in September 2005, and after sending Stewart out on loan to Preston towards the end of the 2005/06 season made it clear that the veteran striker was free to find another club even though he was still under contract.

Although Yeovil had started better than expected in 2006/07, new manager Russell Slade clearly felt the need to add to his striking options of Wayne Gray, Arron Davies and Lee Morris, who was still working his way back to full fitness. With Matt Harrold starting the season but moving to Southend right at the end of the transfer window, this left room in the budget for Slade to bring in the experienced striker.

Stewart was an immediate hit, grabbing five goals and four assists in his first 11 games. Initially signed on a maximum three-month loan, he was then unavailable for the month of December as the Glovers awaited the opening of the transfer window with the hope of signing him on a permanent deal. As a temporary replacement, Slade signed Leon Best on loan from Southampton, who would also go on to be a spectacular success. As expected, Stewart signed permanently when the window opened, and his first game as a permanent Yeovil player was in the televised game against Huddersfield on 5th January 2007.

Marcus scored 9 goals and 6 assists in the memorable 2006/07 season. Almost all of his goals were crucial – he scored late equalisers away at Blackpool and Chesterfield early in the season, and towards the end scored the only goal in 1-0 wins over Swansea and Rotherham plus of course, the most memorable goal of all against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.

Marcus also played 40 times in 2007/08, scoring 5 goals and 3 assists. He left at the end of the season for Exeter, where he played for another three seasons before retiring in 2011. One of his last ever games was against Yeovil, in the 3-2 win for the Glovers at St James’ Park in March 2011. His last game as a professional was against his first club Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium, ending his playing career where it had begun.

Marcus Stewart’s Top Five Goals (in no particular order):

Brighton, 26 September 2006 – Marcus scored this spectacular goal early in a 2-0 home win over Brighton. It was part of a run of four consecutive wins which took the Glovers up to 2nd in League One.

Tranmere, 1 September 2007 – this excellent solo goal gave us a second half lead, but we frustratingly dropped points to an injury time equaliser, which would be a recurring theme that season.

Torquay, 11 November 2007 – a first half goal gave Yeovil the lead in an FA Cup match that was televised on the BBC. At the time Yeovil were in League One and Torquay were in the Conference, and we were faced with the unusual prospect of being on TV in the hope of being on the receiving end of an upset. Unfortunately, despite taking the lead in the first half, they got their wish.

Carlisle, 5 April 2008 – A familiar story, as a brilliant Stewart goal gave us the lead in a game that was ultimately lost in injury time. There is also a version with hilariously biased local commentary which suggests that the goal is a fluke that takes a lucky deflection.

Nottingham Forest, 18 May 2007 – Marcus unforgettably scored the equaliser to complete the comeback from 2-0 and 3-1 down, to draw 3-3 and take the play-off semi-final to extra time, which of course the Glovers won.

Welcome back Marcus!

Yeovil Town 4 Hereford United 0 – Saturday 1st March 2003

March 2003 was crunch time in the chase for the Nationwide Conference title. Although Yeovil had led the way since the end of September they were not having everything their own way and behind them Doncaster, Chester, Morecambe and Dagenham were all waiting for them to slip up. In recent matches, the Glovers had to grind out a win against a Farnborough side stripped of their best players following Graham Westley’s defection to Stevenage, and dropped points away at relegation-bound Nuneaton. In addition they had needed very late goals to squeak through FA Trophy matches against Morecambe and Northwich. In February they had mainly played lower to mid-table opposition but March promised to be much tougher with three matches in a week at home to Hereford, away to Halifax and then away to Woking, who were resurgent and a much tougher proposition following the arrival of Glenn Cockerill as manager. A lot of opposition fans seemed confident that the Glovers would drop points in at least two of these games.

Following the win at Farnborough, Yeovil were 12 points clear of Doncaster having played two games more. They faced an extremely tough run-in with Doncaster away, Dagenham away and Chester at home all to play in the last four games. Despite their cushion at the top, the Glovers would hope to be well clear ahead of that run-in to avoid an extremely tense finish. There was also the potential fixture pile-up caused by a two-leg FA Trophy semi-final if we could negotiate the quarter final against Burscough. For their part Donny fans were very confident that they would win their games in hand, beat us at Belle Vue and the lead would be down to three points which Chester or Dagenham would take off us. It would all be so simple! The problem is Doncaster fans, that games in hand are not any use unless you win them, as we had found to our cost two years before. For much of the second half of 2000/01, once they lost the lead Yeovil were around four points behind Rushden with two games in hand. The problem was, the two games in hand were against Doncaster and Hereford, and both were lost along with the Conference title. Never count your chickens, Donny fans.

Of course, it had to be old rivals Hereford who put the final nail in the coffin of our title hopes in 2001, and they were very bullish about their chances of doing the same thing again. Games against Hereford always had an extra edge to them, attendances were usually boosted and there was a lot riding on this one. To add to the spice, Yeovil included former Bulls Michael McIndoe and Gavin Williams, while former Glovers Jamie Pitman and Ben Smith (as well as future Glover Michael Rose) were in the Hereford side. Ben Smith was part of the team who’d missed out in 2001, then left at the end of the season as he was out of contract and there was no manager to offer him a new one. He must have wondered how life could have gone had he stayed and it had been him rather than Lee Johnson who won the FA Trophy, Conference and then League Two titles. They were very similar players and Johnson was clearly intended as Smith’s replacement in the summer of 2001. Smith would go on to have a spectacular season in 03/04, scoring 13 goals in 28 games from midfield, although Hereford ultimately lost the title by a point despite scoring 106 goals and were then knocked out of the play-offs on penalties, which is a shame.

By this point Kevin Gall had established himself in the team following his move from Bristol Rovers and this was the first Conference game in which he and Kirk Jackson were partnered from the start, so they were still a new strike force. The Yeovil line-up had a very familiar look to it of Weale, Lockwood, Pluck, Skiverton, Johnson, McIndoe, Williams, Jackson and Gall. The only absentees were Nick Crittenden, who was unavailable but on the way to recovery following an operation on a groin injury, and Darren Way who was suspended for one game for an accumulation of yellow cards. One vital difference between the teams of 02/03 and 00/01, was squad depth. While both sides had a strong starting XI, there was very little on the bench in 2001, as Colin Addison only had a bench of about half a dozen kids with an average age of 20. When Patmore was injured and Smith lost form, there were no back-ups. In 2001, Crittenden would have had to play on with the injury, but Gary Johnson had the luxury of El Kholti in reserve with the additional option of Andy Lindegaard. He also had cover in the form of Collis, O’Brien, Aggrey and Grant, who between them had most positions on the field covered. The only real lack of cover lay in central midfield, where only O’Brien and at a push McIndoe could cover Johnson and Way, who that season played almost 100 games between them.

February and March are critical months as that is when injuries, suspensions and loss of form can start to pile up on top of postponed fixtures. It is an important time to strengthen, which Gary Johnson was able to do, bringing in Neil Mustoe to cover in central midfield and Kevin Gall as a striking option. Defender/ midfielder Jason Blunt also arrived on the same day as Gall, but after one substitute appearance decided to sign for Doncaster instead, and was in the side who got stuffed 4-0 at Belle Vue in April. Unlucky Jason! Mustoe, signed from Gloucester City, made only two appearances, covering Darren Way’s absence against Hereford and Margate, and to be fair did not impress in either. He was way off the pace of the rest of a team who were a well-oiled machine and far above Conference standard by that point.

The game began as a tense affair in front of 6,487, only slightly less than the 6,674 who had turned out against Doncaster in October, including 700 or so expectant Hereford fans. The first half was very even, but the deadlock was broken when following a Johnson free kick, Skiverton headed back across goal for Lockwood to nod home from close range. The decisive moment occurred just before half time, when a tussle for the ball with Hereford’s Danny Williams on the ground turned into a brawl, with John Grant charging in elbow first right in front of the referee and rightly receiving a red card. It was difficult for the fans to see what had gone on with virtually every player being involved, so there was a great deal of tension when Skiverton was called over – only to receive a yellow card when many might have expected the referee to even up the numbers. In this instance the referee was correct as Grant led with his elbows and the rest was all handbags, although that was difficult to tell from the crowd and Skiverton had previously been sent off during a very similar incident against Halifax.

To be fair to Hereford they did play exceptionally well with ten men in the second half and created a number of chances. They gave Yeovil as much of a game as anyone did in the second half of the season, with the exception of Halifax who were up next. However class eventually told, as on 77 minutes McIndoe dispossessed Williams and fed Gall, who expertly curled around Matt Baker from a difficult angle. Less than 30 seconds from the re-start and Gall returned the favour, going on a run down the right and crossing for Jackson to smash home from close range. 78 minutes, 3-0 against ten men, job done. There was some icing on the cake, as in the 90th minute Grant was brought down by Tony James when clear through on goal, earning a straight red. He might have got a bit of the ball, but he also scythed right through Grant to get it. Up stepped former Bull McIndoe to make it 4-0. It had taken most of the season for Yeovil to realise that McIndoe is an expert penalty taker, as previous to then (and the previous season), Crittenden had mostly taken them, with mixed results. But McIndoe rarely misses, and did not do so against his former club. By this point Gavin Williams was off the field, having already been booked and showing the kind of enthusiasm that might have brought a second, so he was taken off as a precaution.

To emphasise the gulf in class, Yeovil were able to pass the ball amongst themselves to cries of ‘Ole!’ from the crowd, putting together a move of 32 passes, only ended by an offside flag. During that move every single Yeovil player had at least one touch on the ball, including the goalkeeper. It was clearly time for a new challenge!

4-0 might have given a slightly flattering look and mis-represented how long Hereford were actually in the game for, but nobody who was also at Huish Park on 1st May 2001 was going to care about that. The 2-1 win in 2002, courtesy of a last minute goal from Yeovil-born Andy Lindegaard while Hereford players were feigning injury in a bid to waste time, was a good measure of revenge, but a 4-0 win in front of almost 7,000 on the way to the Conference title including a goal from a former Hereford player was much, much better.

The Glovers would end up getting seven points from their three tough fixtures, fighting back from 2-0 down to beat Halifax 3-2 thanks to a hat-trick from Kevin Gall, and drawing 1-1 at Woking with ten men, after Adam Lockwood was sent off and Darren Way perhaps lucky not to follow him. The lead was nine points, with only one more game played than Doncaster but 15 ahead of Chester who were falling away badly but were still kind enough to beat Donny when the two sides met, denting their hopes even further. Doncaster lost their other game in hand and ended the season 17 points behind the Glovers.

As a footnote to this story, Neil Mustoe might not have impressed much during his two appearances for Yeovil but he did play, and score, in the 1995 FA Youth Cup Final for Manchester United. It was not that United youth side (Beckham, Giggs etc had graduated, although Phil Neville was still in the side), but interestingly in the Spurs side they faced that day were future Glovers Sam Winston and (blink and you’ll miss him) Simon Spencer, who made a grand total of one substitute appearance in 1998 under Colin Lippiatt. Also in the side were future Southend captain Kevin Maher and future FA Trophy final loser Simon Wormull, who signed for Stevenage after spending a season or two in Rushden’s reserves.

Team that day: Chris Weale, Adam Lockwood, Terry Skiverton, Colin Pluck, Neil Mustoe (Roy O’Brien, 75), Lee Johnson, Abdelhalim El-Kholti, Michael McIndoe, Gavin Williams (Andy Lindegaard, 75), Kirk Jackson (Kim Grant, 83), Kevin Gall. Subs not used: Stephen Collis, Jimmy Aggrey.

Yeovil Town 4 Chertsey Town 0 – Saturday 3rd May 1997

Following their move to Huish Park in 1990, Yeovil found themselves in a desperate financial situation. Escalating costs between the time the deal to sell Huish to Tesco had been agreed and the time the new stadium was completed left a severe shortfall, the true extent of which was not known until Gerry Lock departed as Chairman in 1991. Having to reduce costs meant that Yeovil were not able to be competitive in the Conference, although there was a brief renaissance in 1992/93 under player-manager Steve Rutter who took the Glovers to a Third Round FA Cup tie against Arsenal which saved the club financially, and also to fourth in the Conference, the club’s highest ever finish until Colin Addison’s run in 2001. While the FA Cup run enabled the club to survive off the pitch, the stress of managing an ageing squad under such difficult conditions caused Rutter to step down the following season. This led to the return of Brian Hall, whose second spell as manager was not a happy one, leading to some unpleasant scenes on match days.

Hall was sacked in January 1995 and eventually replaced by former Spurs, Chelsea and Rangers player Graham Roberts, who at the age of 35 was playing for Conference side Stevenage. He was initially restricted from playing for his new club as Stevenage retained his player registration and were demanding an extortionate fee for it. Roberts was unable to save the club from relegation but his recruitment was part of a longer term plan as he immediately began a process of moving on some of the older players and bringing in his own team. In contrast to the cautious approach of Brian Hall, Roberts’ aim was to play energetic football and score lots of goals to bring the crowds back, as they dropped well under 1500 as the club unsuccessfully fought relegation.

Relegated to the south-east dominated Isthmian League – then sponsored by the unfortunately named ICIS sportswear company – by the start of the the 1995-96 season only one player from Brian Hall’s tenure remained, and that was defender Chris White. Players like Paul Wilson, Mickey Spencer and Andy Wallace were all gone. In came a lot of players with connections to the south east such as Mickey Engwell, Graham Kemp and Steve Browne. Two of Roberts’ first signings in the Isthmian League era would in time become legends for the club – goalkeeper Tony Pennock and striker Warren Patmore, who would go on to score 140 goals between 1995 and 2001. In Roberts’ first season he also signed Giuliano Grazioli, who scored 16 goals in 13 games on loan from Peterborough. Yeovil’s form stuttered in the middle of the season but they ended strongly, finishing fourth with 80 points. Crowds had also increased significantly, from 1500 at the start of the season to well over 2000 and for some games pushing 3000 by the end, as entertaining football and plenty of goals were back on the menu.

The last game of the season was a spicy affair marred by crowd violence, as the Glovers lost 1-0 at home to Enfield. Enfield were in a title fight with Hayes and thought they had won, but a late goal from Hayes ensured the West London club won the title by a goal difference of 1.

The following season, the core of the team remained and to them was added among others Paul Turner, Tony Pounder and Lee Harvey. We were also able to take advantage of Bath’s own financial worries by poaching Jerry Gill and Rob Cousins from them. Bryan Moore stepped down and was replaced by John Fry, who had recently sold his business interests and been serving as a board member and chief executive for several years. Fry’s focus was to consolidate the club financially off the pitch, to enable the team to move forward on it. At the time some fans mocked Fry’s ‘five year plan’, but to be fair he took over in 1996, and the team were promoted for the first time in its history in 2003, coming very close in 2001 and winning the FA Trophy in 2002, so he wasn’t actually that far out.

There is not much footage of that season, but one video that does exist is the 3-0 win over Kingstonian, including a long range goal from Gill and a superb lob from Warren Patmore.

The title quickly became a two horse race between Yeovil and Enfield, and the London side drew first blood with a 3-0 win at Southbury Road in November. With the two teams neck and neck, Yeovil made the crucial signing of Howard Forinton in January. Having been released by Oxford United, the 21-year old striker had only been at rivals Oxford City since the start of the season, but had done enough to convince the manager to splash out a then-club record fee of £17,500 for him. It was without doubt Forinton’s 26 goals in 24 games that fired Yeovil towards the title, and to demonstrate that his debut goal was the winner in a 1-0 win over Hitchin.

The Glovers only lost one league game after the signing of Forinton, but there was still the matter of Enfield to overcome. As the season wore on, it became clear that the game between the clubs at Huish Park on 25th March 1997 would be a vital one. A bumper crowd of around 5,000 was expected, but what was not expected was that 10,000 people would turn up, forcing a delay to kick-off and the gates being closed with some season ticket holders locked out. The stewards had to improvise, with the Enfield fans being moved along the away terrace to accommodate more home fans, resulting in a recorded attendance of 8,007. The atmosphere was electric, particularly when Yeovil got off to an unbelievable start, taking a 2-0 lead inside the first ten minutes with goals from Engwell and Turner. The visitors did come back into it, and thanks to a very dubious penalty were level at 2-2 at half time. Yeovil did have chances in the second half, but overall the game was high on atmosphere but low on quality, and it ended 2-2. This was one game that Forinton didn’t score in, not aided by the fact that due to defensive injuries, Patmore had to play at centre half while Forinton was partnered up front by Dean Birkby.

The club was understandably caught out by 10,000 people wanting to watch a league match in the sixth tier of English football, but learned from that and went on to take a very cautious approach towards all-ticket matches which would ensure the same issue would not happen again.

With Enfield safely negotiated, it was just a case of Yeovil holding their nerve for the remaining ten games. Forinton and Patmore kept banging in the goals, as the Glovers went on a run of six consecutive wins to put them in with a chance of securing the title away at Essex side Heybridge Swifts. They were followed by an HTV camera crew and several hundred away fans with red flares, although they were all disappointed as the game ended 0-0. They would have to do it all again a few days later, making an almost identical journey to Bromley the following Tuesday night. This time the Glovers got over the line, with two more goals from Forinton giving them a 2-1 win, securing the league title with a game to go.

The season ended up with a party atmosphere, as over 6,000 turned up to celebrate promotion with a 4-0 win over relegated Chertsey, the goals coming from Forinton (twice), Turner, and the unusual sight of Tony Pennock stepping up to take a penalty! It wasn’t the only penalty Pennock would take, as he also took one in the successful shoot-out against West Auckland in the FA Cup in 1998.

The club ended the season with some more silverware, in the Somerset Premier Cup against Bristol City. The win was sealed by goals from departing heroes Gill and Forinton, who had been sold for a combined £100,000 to Birmingham City. From memory Forinton’s goal was a rocket into the top corner which deservedly capped his Yeovil career of 26 goals in 24 games, but as that game was not recorded it can only live in the memory. Forinton’s career was beset by injury, but he would return on two occasions as the Glovers pushed for promotion – unsuccessfully in 2001, but then successfully in 2002.

Yeovil 1 Telford 0 – Saturday 5th May 1990

On 5th May 1990, Yeovil played their last game at the old Huish ground with a 1-0 win over Telford in what was then called (and is still by some) the GM Vauxhall Conference. The Glovers finished 7th that season, and under manager Brian Hall contained such well known names as Mickey Spencer, Mark Shail, Paul Wilson and Andy Wallace. The last goal at Huish was scored in that game by Neil Cordice with an excellent volley. Yeovil were able to celebrate with a trophy which was presented on the final day, having beaten Kidderminster over two legs in the Bob Lord Trophy, also known as the Conference League Cup. The competition was axed in 2001 but the trophy itself, which resembles the FA Cup, is currently awarded to the winners of the Conference Play-Off Final.

Huish was not the first home of Yeovil Town, as the Glovers moved to the town centre ground from Pen Mill in 1920. Also known as the Huish Athletic Ground, it was home to tennis in the summer and greyhound racing until the late 1940’s. The club brought with it the main stand from Pen Mill, with the rest of the ground being flat until the Queen’s Street terrace was constructed in 1923, and the following year the Brutton’s End terrace was added. The Queen Street terrace was originally covered, and indeed split due to the weight of fans standing on it during an FA Cup match against Sheffield Wednesday in 1939. After the war, more developments were made with the terrace roof being removed and a cover put over the North Terrace. Work on that terrace along with the installation of floodlights was completed in 1954.

It does seem that many of the earlier ground developments were made in advance of big FA Cup ties, including Bristol Rovers in 1924, Liverpool in 1935 and Crystal Palace in 1963 which saw the completion of a new grandstand. The building housing the main stand also housed a supporter’s bar and boardroom. In addition was the unusual sight of the ‘Director’s Box’ which stood in the corner next to the Queen Street terrace from 1935 until 1983. The highest attendance at Huish was of course 17,123 against Sunderland in 1949, surpassing the 14,329 against Sheffield Wednesday ten years earlier. Over the years the stadium capacity was reduced as more safety measures were introduced and 9,717 against then top-flight QPR in 1988 was also a sell-out.

Discussions began to move to an out of town location at Houndstone as early as 1985. The prospect of levelling the sloping pitch had been raised many times in the past and been deemed too expensive, although it later become one of the main things Yeovil were known for. However as Football League ground regulations were increased it became a barrier for Yeovil’s hopes of promotion. In addition the deteriorating main stand was facing costly repairs and the location of the ground, with a dual carriageway running behind the Queen Street end since the late 1960’s, meant that developing the ground to meet Football League requirements would be costly if not impossible.

It was decided under Chairman Gerry Lock that if the Glovers were to be promoted, they would need to move. The sale of Huish for £2.8 million was agreed and construction at Houndstone began, but was delayed by a public enquiry that lasted from 1987 to 1989. Despite hoping to move in the summer of 1986, construction did not begin until 1990. In that time, escalating costs would see expenditure on the new facilities far outstrip income from the sale of the old ground. This left the club with a looming financial crisis which would not come to light until some time afterwards. Initial plans were for both terraces to be covered, but these had to be scrapped to reduce costs. In the end, the home terrace was eventually extended and covered in 2001, at a cost of around £1 million while the away terrace remains uncovered.

Crowds did not increase enormously after the move beyond the initial surge – the average league crowd in Yeovil’s last three seasons at Huish was around the 2300 mark, although this was an improvement over the severe doldrums of the early and mid 1980’s when it was nearer 1100. The average in the first season at Huish Park was 2639, followed by 2103 and back up to 2615 in 92/93. The only season that has seen average crowds below 2000 was during relegation in 1994/95, which could not be said for the old ground.

The extent of the financial problems did not come to light until after Gerry Lock, who had overseen the move, was removed as chairman in 1991. Under new Chairman Bryan Moore the extent of the financial situation became known, with debts of between £500,000 and £750,000. Assets had to be sold, with the irony that the construction of a stadium which would enable Yeovil to take part in the Football League had led to a team less able to achieve it as assets were sold and costs reduced. Collection buckets at Huish Park became a common sight from 1991. There was an unexpected temporary reprieve under player-manager Steve Rutter, as the Glovers finished 4th in the Conference in 1992/93 and secured a home FA Cup tie against Arsenal which arguably secured Yeovil’s future off the pitch. Indeed, although Conference finishes were mediocre apart from that season – 14th, 15th, 21st and then 22nd – it was FA Cup runs that kept us going, with bumper crowds against Walsall (1991), Fulham (1993), and old rivals Hereford (1992) which boosted the finances.

However on the pitch, the reprieve was temporary due to the financial situation and the Glovers were unable to compete as they finished 21st and then 22nd and were relegated to the Isthmian League in 1995. Bryan Moore stepped down as Chairman, and was replaced by John Fry, with Graham Roberts being appointed as the new manager after an unsuccessful second spell from Brian Hall, the man who had been in charge five years earlier when the club moved to Huish Park.

After two years in the Isthmian League, the good times eventually did return, as under Graham Roberts Yeovil won the Isthmian League with 101 points, enjoying an epic tussle with Enfield including the memorable 2-2 draw in front of 8,008, before beating Chertsey 4-1 on the last day to be presented with the championship trophy. On 16 August 1997, the Glovers celebrated their return to the Conference with a 2-1 win over Stevenage Borough with goals from Owen Pickard and Warren Patmore, as Yeovil’s drive towards the Football League began again.

Lincoln City 2 Yeovil Town 3 – Saturday 8th May 2004

In May 2004, Yeovil ended their first Football League season away at Lincoln, with an outside shot of getting into the playoffs. Regardless of the result, it had been a successful first ever campaign at League level, with the team always in the top half, attendances averaging over 6,000 and a televised FA Cup run which resulted in a creditable performance against Liverpool on the BBC.

It had clearly been Gary Johnson’s plan to persevere with the majority of his Conference squad and see how far they could go. There were not a huge number of summer signings, and most of those also were known mostly for their performances against the Glovers – Paul Terry (Dagenham), Simon Weatherstone (Boston), Lee Elam (Southport) and Jake Edwards (Telford), there was also Jamie Gosling from Bath. The only major signing who did not have mainly non-league experience was Hugo Rodrigues, continuing Gary Johnson’s love affair with exceptionally tall centre halves (arguably starting with Jimmy Aggrey, continuing with Luke Oliver and taken with him to Jamie McCombe at Bristol City).

Results were mixed. Opening wins against Rochdale and Carlisle raised hopes, as Kevin Gall opened with four goals from the first two games, but reality then set in with three consecutive defeats culminating in a 4-1 stuffing at Macclesfield. Yeovil found that the 3-4-1-2 that had served them in the Conference was not working so well in League Two because it left them too open at the back and there was no naturally left sided player following the departure of McIndoe to Doncaster. After Macclesfield, Gary Johnson brought in left back Ronnie Bull on loan from Millwall, which started a run of four consecutive wins with no goals conceded, including wins away at eventual champions Doncaster and at home to early leaders Swansea. It was clear that 4-4-2 worked much better with the personnel he had available, and it would be used for most of the 03/04 and 04/05 seasons.

The Glovers did well to establish themselves around the play-off places in the first half of the season, peaking in 3rd with a win over Scunthorpe just before Christmas, but their form fell away after that with only four points from the next seven games. They fought on though, and even though they had dropped to 9th with just a few games to go, the arrival of Dani Rodrigues in April sparked a late revival, as his spectacular overhead kick against Bury helped to turn that game around, as the Glovers won the next two to take them to the brink of the play-offs. A sell-out crowd saw Yeovil face 2nd-place Hull in their last home game, and narrowly lose 2-1 despite Hugo Rodrigues’ equaliser giving some hope.

We travelled to Lincoln on the last day with a slight hope of playoffs – we needed to beat the Imps who themselves occupied a play-off place, and also hope that Northampton dropped points at Mansfield. The two sides would finish 5th and 6th, but if Mansfield won, Yeovil could sneak above Northampton. In theory, we could also overtake Lincoln but only by overturning a -10 goal difference, and the chances of going away to a team who had conceded less than one goal per game all season was to say the very least, unlikely. Our best bet was to ensure we won, and hope Mansfield could do us a favour.

What followed was an encapsulation of Yeovil’s entire season in one game. Starting with Gall and Weatherstone up front (Dani Rodrigues was injured), Yeovil struggled to create any chances against Lincoln’s giant defence. Under Keith Alexander, Lincoln employed a 5-2-3 with two holding midfielders (or 3-4-3 if you’re being generous), they generally played on the counter-attack and lumped it up to their admittedly very effective front three of Simon Yeo, Gary Taylor-Fletcher and Francis Green. They were very physical and giant at the back, including 6’5” Jamie McCombe and 6’7” Ben Futcher. This was the type of side that Yeovil often struggled against and in the first half, continued to do so.

Gary Johnson took off both strikers at half time and replaced them with Stansfield and Edwards, which had an immediate impact. It took Stansfield less than two minutes to get on the scoresheet, and Edwards added a second to put Yeovil 2-0 up but some absolutely suicidal defending in search of more goals almost lost the game altogether as two goals on the counter-attack let Lincoln back in at 2-2. There was a point when the Mansfield v Northampton game was 1-1, and with Yeovil winning we were in the play-off places, but Northampton got a winner in the second half and hung on. As the game threatened to fizzle out, again characteristic of the season, up popped Gavin Williams to at least win on the day with an 89th minute free kick.

On a side note, one player who really stood out that day was one Kevin Ellison, a wide left player who could defend but could also put a very decent cross in. Yeovil had been without a decent left sided player since McIndoe, and would go on to sign Adrian Caceres to replace him. Ellison was out of contract that summer and could have been a capable replacement, but signed for Chester where he scored 11 goals in 29 games. He would go on to play as a winger for most of his career, most notably at Morecambe where he played until he was 41, scoring 88 goals in almost 400 appearances.

Although the Glovers missed out on the playoffs, the season was a success and we hadn’t missed out by much. Our total of 74 points would be enough for play-offs in virtually any other season so we were unlucky to miss out. Conversely, the following season the Glovers would win League 2 with only nine points more, on 83 – the lowest total to win that division up until that point.

Our first League season had been a learning experience, as we were perhaps a bit too gung-ho in search of goals and were often caught on the counter attack, especially away from home. There are times when a point away from home is a good result, but Yeovil didn’t do draws – literally, as we did not draw a single game until December and only five all season. If a couple of those 12 away defeats had been converted into draws, we would not have needed Mansfield to do us a favour.

The season had also given Gary Johnson an idea of who could thrive at League level and where the squad needed to be improved, with up front being the obvious example. Although the Glovers had scored 70 goals which was not far off the leaders (Torquay went up automatically with only 68), there was no obvious focal point for goals and Gavin Williams was top scorer from midfield with 13 including penalties, with Edwards and Gall both getting 10. This was addressed with the two biggest signings of the summer being Phil Jevons and Bartosz Tarachulski, in addition to Scott Guyett at the back, Michael Rose as a specialist left back and Adrian Caceres in the troublesome left midfield position.

One player who could perhaps feel hard done by was Adam Stansfield who only started when Gall was injured or on international duty and never got a sustained run in the team. His first start of the season was at home to Swansea, when Yeovil won 2-0 and Stansfield got a goal and an assist. Arguably a striker cannot do more than that against the top team, and yet he was dropped for the next game. He scored as a substitute in his next game, but this was not enough and he was benched for the next three months. Every time he was recalled he scored, but he was only given seven starts all season, ending on six goals. That last game at Lincoln proved his value, taking less than a minute to score, but it would be his last game for the club. He had proven himself in the Conference and would go on to establish himself up to League One level with Exeter, scoring against us when the two teams met in 2010. We also know from his performances that he offered much more than just goals with his endless enthusiasm and work rate, so it is sad that a legend like Stansfield was not really given the opportunity for Yeovil at League level.

Team that day: Steve Collis, Andy Lindegaard, Adam Lockwood (sub. Nick Crittenden 59), Terry Skiverton, Hugo Rodrigues, Darren Way, Lee Johnson, Paul Terry, Gavin Williams, Simon Weatherstone (Jake Edwards, 46), Kevin Gall (sub. Adam Stansfield, 46). Subs not used: Ryan Northmore, Steven Reed.

Nottingham Forest 2 Yeovil Town 5 (after extra time) – Friday 18th May 2007

Friday 18th May 2007 will surely live long in the memory of every Yeovil Town fan, even those who were not there. Not only was it a colossal play-off contest that would see the Glovers triumphant over the two-time European Cup winners, but it also symbolised how far Yeovil had travelled in a very short space of time.

Just ten years earlier in 2007, the Glovers had won the Isthmian League to be promoted back to the Conference. Under Graham Roberts, they were still part time and finished 11th, which was a decent return for their first season back. If you had said to any fan at that time that in ten years Yeovil would beat Nottingham Forest and be one match away from promotion to the Championship, they would have said you were hallucinating. Even the most optimistic of fans could never have foreseen it.

It was been four years since winning promotion from the Conference under Gary Johnson, but there had been a lot of change in that short time. Johnson had departed and with him, most of his Conference and League Two winning side. When new manager Russell Slade arrived in the summer of 2007, only Terry Skiverton and Andy Lindegaard remained from the Conference-winning squad, in addition to Arron Davies, Paul Terry and Scott Guyett from the League Two days.

Slade had to rebuild on a reduced budget and expectations were not high – especially given that he had built his reputation on grinding out results on a small budget, as any Yeovil fans who remembered his Scarborough side in 02/03 could attest. As it turned out, Russell Slade’s Yeovil were not the long ball side fans of some of his former clubs might have suggested. They were without doubt built on a very firm defence. Early in the season they played as a 4-5-1, with Terry and Kalala in holding roles allowing Chris Cohen to get forward, with Lee Morris and Arron Davies in the wide positions supporting Wayne Gray and later, Marcus Stewart. This was quite forward-thinking on Slade’s part as the 4-5-1 – or 4-3-3, depending on how you look at it – with two holding players was far less common then, although it is arguably the dominant formation now. The team had the pace and creativity to get forward and the midfield revolved around Chris Cohen, who we somehow managed to steal from West Ham for around £100,000. Even though he was still 19 when he joined us permanently following a loan spell in 2005/06, he was obviously a special player.

Russell Slade’s style was about as different from Gary Johnson’s as it is possible to be, but both were able to be successful. Johnson sent out his teams to score goals and defending was almost an afterthought – if the opposition score twice, we’ll just score three. Slade was the opposite – his team kept it very tight and it was usually a case of ‘first goal wins’. If Yeovil scored first, you knew that odds were, they would win. Even if the goal came in the first five minutes, as it did in the early season wins over Port Vale and Brighton. In the whole season Yeovil never lost after scoring first, and only twice even drew. Russell Slade’s men knew how to hold a lead, and often the last 20 minutes or so of a game were incredibly comfortable if we were ahead.

Part of Yeovil’s success was probably down to surprise – at the beginning of the season we were favourites to go down and with good reason, as we only just avoided relegation in 2005/06, and in the process had lost many of our best players. The second half of the season was harder in many ways – having risen to 2nd following the 2-1 defeat of Bristol City in November, teams came to Huish Park looking to defend a point, and became much more difficult to break down. There are certainly a lot of similarities between Russell Slade’s Yeovil and Darren Sarll’s – both were set up to counter-attack, and often had difficulty breaking the opposition down if they were happy to give Yeovil the ball. As such, both were perhaps set up to work better away from home.

In any event, Slade was forced to change his approach in December when Terry’s season was ended by a knee injury and the only midfield replacement, Anthony Barry, was not a defensive player. Purely by coincidence, Marcus Stewart’s loan period from Bristol City had ended, so Slade organised cover by bringing in youngster Leon Best on loan from Southampton. While Best was on loan the Glovers played 4-4-2, partnering the loanee with either Morris or Stewart. Unfortunately we were not able to keep him for the rest of the season, but Best’s loan spell rejuvenated the Glovers who had stuttered somewhat after the City win, dropping to 7th, but by the time he left, signing off with a 2-0 win away at Bournemouth, Yeovil were back up to 2nd again with just 12 games of the season to go, and it was a case of grinding out the results which they did. It wasn’t often pretty, but Nathan Jones’ 89th minute winner against Chesterfield showed the character of the team, and in the end they did finish comfortably enough to give a number of first team players a rest for the last game, a 2-0 win at Gillingham.

Finishing in 5th meant a play-off semi-final against the mighty Nottingham Forest, who might have expected to have gone up automatically. Forest had already beaten Yeovil 1-0 twice, in possibly fortunate circumstances. Their win at Huish Park came against the run of play from a last minute goal, and at the City Ground via an uncharacteristic mistake from Steve Mildenhall.

Without doubt the playoffs brought the best out of Russell Slade’s team. Perhaps because with no expectations at the start of the season and having secured their highest ever league finish, they had nothing at all to lose. By contrast, Forest had everything to lose, the former European champions playing in the third tier was bad enough, their fans made no secret of the fact that they expected to leave it as soon as possible and there was a huge amount of expectation on the shoulders of Colin Calderwood.

With nothing to lose, Yeovil abandoned their cautious approach, playing a 4-4-2 which was effectively a 4-2-4 with a front line of Stewart, Morris, Gray and Davies. With Cohen in midfield and Barry preferred to Kalala, there wasn’t even a holding player. The object was clearly to take the game to Forest and put them on the back foot, which they very much did. Even though Forest won the first leg 2-0 through two penalties, Yeovil were exceptional and very unfortunate to come away with nothing. The first penalty was arguably a dive, as Nathan Jones did not get the ball but he didn’t make any contact with James Perch either, whose face was looking expectantly at the referee before he’d even hit the ground. After that Yeovil were incredibly unlucky not to score, with Stewart hitting the post and Wayne Gray bringing two excellent saves from Paul Smith. There were no arguments about the second penalty right at the end of the game, as a tired Terrell Forbes lunged in on Jack Lester to give the visitors an undeserved, but seemingly insurmountable 2-0 lead. Apart from the two penalties, Forest had achieved zero shots on target.

Although Yeovil had been brilliant but unfortunate in the first leg, the second leg seemed like just a case of playing for pride. They couldn’t possibly go away to the favourites and pull back a 2-0 deficit in front of 30,000 fans, could they? Around 1100 Yeovil fans travelled more in hope than expectation. My own personal hope was that they would at least put up a fight, that they wouldn’t give up and go down 5-0 on aggregate. Their first leg performance had deserved more, but there didn’t seem to be much more to play for than pride.

However, the team had other ideas – Russell Slade had the faith to put out an unchanged side, and even though they were 2-0 down it was effectively half time, so if they could pull one back in the first half, they still had 50 or 60 minutes to get one more – with the right mentality, it was not impossible. Yeovil certainly did have the right mentality, creating at least three shots on goal in the first ten minutes. On 22 minutes, Arron Davies picked up a ball from Stewart, ran the length of the Forest half almost unchallenged, scored from outside the area and suddenly it was game on. Davies, Yeovil’s man of the match in the first leg, had got his reward early in the second and would go on to be man of the match again.

What followed was the most astonishing 120 minutes of football that Yeovil Town have ever taken part in, surpassing even the 5-4 at Doncaster, although that was also pretty incredible. And it was on TV, so we can re-live it over and over again, and new fans can watch the game that their dads go on and on about. There is no point trying to describe every incident as so much happened in the game you could write a book about it – just go and watch it. It’s there on YouTube and will hopefully remain there for a long time. Yeovil carried their belief and positivity from the first leg, and Forest got punished for their unadventurousness. It has to be said that while Yeovil were brilliant, Colin Calderwood helped us by making all of the wrong decisions. Forest didn’t even have a shot on target from open play until the second half, after 135 minutes of football. And after going 3-1 up, he took both strikers off meaning they had no options in extra time.

When Scott Dobie scored a header at the start of the second half to put Forest 3-1 ahead on aggregate, the tie looked sure to be over. Yeovil kept fighting and created more chances, but Smith was equal to all of them. In hindsight, all of Calderwood’s substitutions backfired – first he brought on David Prutton, who was sent off for a second yellow card at the end of normal time. Then he replaced Dobie with Grant Holt, who was returning from injury and not fully fit. Apart from committing GBH on Arron Davies and attempting to start a fight with Scott Guyett, Holt did not provide much of an attacking threat as he was clearly not fit. He then took off Jack ‘I appear to have fallen over, can I have a penalty ref?’ Lester and replaced him with a centre half, Wes Morgan, who would go on to gift Lee Morris Yeovil’s fourth goal.

By making the wrong substitutions, Calderwood reduced his attacking options and left several half-fit players on the pitch who could barely walk by the of extra time. Had the game gone to penalties then surely Yeovil would have won, as a demoralised Forest barely had enough fit players left on the pitch to take them.

Meanwhile, Russell Slade kept faith with his team and made no unnecessary changes. The only substitution was enforced, as Chris Cohen, who had been struggling for some time with a groin injury, could not continue past 60 minutes. And his replacement, Jean-Paul Kalala, was instrumental in the third goal. It’s easy to forget that somehow we managed to beat Forest 5-4 with our player of the season and top assist-maker carrying an injury. It is testament to the fitness of the team that Arron Davies, who played all 210 minutes of the tie and almost scored at the beginning of the first game, popped up with the winner at the end of the second one, turning an exhausted Forest defence inside out before firing home. Also, all credit to Andy Lindegaard, who at the end of two exhausting matches, still had the energy to get up from full back to put in the cross for Stewart’s equaliser, and deliver the ball for the winner. He also ran half the length of the pitch to tackle Kris Commons and take a yellow card to prevent him from scoring.

Arron Davies really should have made it six by passing to Barry or Kalala instead of taking it on himself, but we’ll let him off that one.

Team that day: Steve Mildenhall, Andy Lindegaard, Nathan Jones, Scott Guyett, Terrell Forbes, Anthony Barry, Chris Cohen (sub. Kalala 74), Arron Davies, Wayne Gray, Marcus Stewart, Lee Morris. Subs not used: Mark Lynch, Matthew Rose, Martin Brittain, Darryl Knights

Southend 0 Yeovil Town 1 – Saturday 30th April 2005

2004/05 was a rollercoaster of a season which went right down to the wire. It turned into a four-way title race between Yeovil, Scunthorpe, Southend and Swansa, and right up until the end, all results were possible. On the last day, any of the top four could have been either Champions or missed out on automatic promotion altogether.

Under Brian Laws, Scunthorpe had proved to be early pace-setters, although Yeovil briefly took over in September with a 2-1 win at Shrewsbury. Swansea led the way for a few weeks in October, following which Scunthorpe took over again, and were top from the end of October to the end of December. Before Christmas, they held a seven point lead over the Glovers, before a dramatic contrast in fortunes for the two clubs saw Yeovil erase that lead with a run of seven consecutive wins, taking over top spot on 3rd January with a 4-2 win at home over Shrewsbury. The Glovers then held top spot for over three months, although they did not have everything their own way, as the run to the FA Cup Fourth Round was possibly proving to be something of a distraction – after the big third and fourth round games, they lost the next league games. The huge 4-3 win over Scunthorpe in February appeared to have settled the title race in Yeovil’s favour, but this also seemed to signal a downturn in form. Goals dried up somewhat, as there followed a period of only two wins in eight including home defeats against Bury and Notts County, and an incredibly poor performance in a 2-0 defeat at Rushden.

Scunthorpe were not faring much better, but it was at this time that Southend became the form team – mid-table in October, the Shrimpers were unbeaten in 17 league and cup games at the time the Glovers were critically losing form. When Yeovil lost consecutive games against Notts County and Rushden in April, it seemed like they might miss out not only on the title but promotion altogether, as Southend took advantage and took the lead at the top of the table.

Fortunately, that defeat at Rushden would prove to be as bad as it got – the following week, Gary Johnson switched to a 4-3-3 formation with Jevons, Davies and Gall as a front three, which worked like a charm as the goals returned and the Glovers stormed to a 5-2 win over Mansfield. As luck would have it, Southend were involved in the LDV Final that day and Yeovil re-gained first place. Defeat at Wembley also seemed to knock the previously unstoppable Shrimpers, as their form stumbled right at the last.

On the last away game of the season, Yeovil faced Southend at Roots Hall. The Glovers really could not afford to lose, as they led the League 2 table with 77 points, ahead of Southend on goal difference, one point ahead of Scunthorpe and three ahead of Swansea in fourth.

After two very attacking performances against Mansfield and Wycombe, Gary Johnson took the rare and sensible decision to play more cautiously in such a huge game. Not losing was probably more important than winning, as a draw would still mean that Southend had not overtaken them and promotion would be in their own hands on the last day. He also faced some injury problems which may have affected his approach to the game – Darren Way pulled out before the game with food poisoning, and although Bartosz Tarachulski was able to start, he only made it 30 minutes as both he and his replacement Marcus Richardson were taken off due to injury before half time.

It was a game mainly of half-chances, as Yeovil came closest with a Davies header that was clawed out by Flahavan, while at the other end Freddie Eastwood cut inside but dragged his shot wide. For the most part Yeovil were content to absorb pressure as at the back, the new signings made in time for the run-in, Efe Sodje and in particular Kevin Amankwaah, were absolutely immense as Southend struggled to get through.

It was as tense an afternoon as I have ever experienced in football, as the losses due to injury put Yeovil on the back foot, but we appeared to be standing up to the home side’s pressure – in front of a sell-out 12,000 crowd including 1600 or so travelling Yeovil fans.

Just as the match ticked over into the last ten minutes and it looked like we might be able to hang on for a much needed point, Steve Collis gathered a cross and hurled it out 40 yards to Jevons on the wing – Jevons passed inside to Davies, then kept on going as Davies took a shot form outside the area, which was deflected but fell right into the onrushing Jevons’ path, who slid home with is left foot. The way Jevons collapsed with the effort when he made it back to the half way line, showed how much the game had taken out of him and how much of a relief it was after all that effort to be ahead on 83 minutes. Southend did have one last chance, as substitute and former Yeovil target Lawrie Dudfield dragged his shot wide.

The final whistle came and brought with it the best possible outcome – a win, a cushion at the top, and a clean sheet, only the third since Christmas. Gary Johnson’s team that season didn’t really do clean sheets, but proved that they could keep it tight at the back when they really needed to.

Going into the last game Yeovil were in pole position but by no means safe – one point ahead of Scunthorpe and three ahead of Southend and Swansea, the title was in their own hands, but if they lost to play-off bound Lincoln they could potentially miss out altogether – it was that close.

As it happened, Yeovil would win 3-0 to secure the title, although it took until half time to break the deadlock. Scunthorpe got the draw they needed to keep them in second, while a 1-0 win at Bury was enough to see Swansea jump up to third and consign Southend to the play-offs. Fortunately for them, they beat Lincoln in the final and even went on to win League One at the first attempt in 2005/06.

Team that day: Steve Collis, Kevin Amankwaah. Colin Miles (sub. Kevin Gall 73), Terry Skiverton, Efe Sodje, Paul Terry, Lee Johnson, Arron Davies, Bartosz Tarachulski (sub. Marcus Richardson, 30 (sub. Andrejs Stolcers 45)), Phil Jevons

Telford United 1 Yeovil Town 2 – Saturday 28th April 2001

Yeovil went into the last away game of the 2000/01 still in with a chance of winning the Conference title, but the odds were against them. Ever since the Glovers lost their 100% home record against Southport in January, Rushden were the team in better form and gradually clawed their way ahead. Yeovil had been five points ahead at Christmas, but by mid-February Rushden had gone top on goal difference, albeit the Glovers had two games in hand.

A devastating last-minute defeat at bottom club Kettering in March was followed by consecutive 0-0 draws as confidence drained from the team, goals dried up and it looked like Rushden might run away with it. However, after those draws Yeovil rallied – a convincing 3-0 win at home to Hayes kept the Glovers within touching distance due to those games in hand, and over Easter the gap narrowed even more when they thumped Leigh 6-1 while Rushden were losing at Hereford.

Even though Yeovil missed the chance to go back to the top of the table when the two teams drew 0-0 at Huish Park, it still wasn’t over. Three second half goals gave the Glovers a narrow 3-2 win away at Leigh meaning that the gap going into the last away game against Telford was still three points, with one game in hand.

It is probably significant that the loss to Southport coincided with Yeovil’s first major injury of the season, as Anthony Tonkin missed eight games with a stress fracture. Prior to this, the Glovers had managed to put out an unchanged XI for more or less every game – Pennock, Piper, Tonkin, Skiverton, White, Way, Smith, Crittenden, Patmore, Belgrave, and Bent / Lindegaard. Although this was a strong XI, there was not a whole lot on a bench which had an average age of 20, the only experienced player there being Roy O’Brien who was usually brought on to shore up the midfield in the final 20 minutes. With Tonkin absent, Yeovil suffered their first league defeats since September and when he returned, Tom White was missing for a few games. Colin Addison did move to bring in some new faces, with Simon Betts signing from his old club Scarborough, and Marcus Jones from Cheltenham. With no other left-sided defenders at the club, Betts was forced to cover at left back and his performances out of position did not endear him to the Yeovil fans. A big miscalculation from the manager was to move Betts over to the right when Tonkin was fit again, displacing regular right back David Piper. This proved to make both Betts and the manager very unpopular as Piper had done nothing wrong and had always been a consistent performer. Piper was dropped for eight games – during which the Glovers won only once – and the fact that when he was finally brought back into the team as a substitute at Kingstonian, within minutes he had put in a perfect cross for a brilliant Warren Patmore diving header, possibly underlined the fans’ point. Rightly or wrongly it appeared that the manager was showing favouritism towards a player who had not yet proved himself, over a well-established fan favourite. Despite being signed for £10,000 in January, Betts was released at the end of the season. To be fair he was not a bad player, he had been Scarborough’s captain, only transfer-listed due to the financial trouble they had got themselves into. Playing out of position in his first few games made him look worse than he was, then being moved to right back in place of Piper was a very unpopular decision with the fans and he became something of a scapegoat during the Glovers’ downturn in form.

In addition to the injuries to Tonkin and White, midfield maestro Ben Smith – who took corners and free kicks and had provided at least ten assists before Christmas – was losing form. By his own later admission he was probably losing some of his self-discipline under the less strict management of Colin Addison, who was more laid back than the sergeant major-like David Webb. At that point in his career Smith probably needed more discipline, and he was eventually dropped. He was replaced by Marcus Jones, who provided no assists and it is fair to say is not well-remembered by Yeovil fans. Ben Smith wasn’t the only one to lose form though – Barrington Belgrave had been electric at the start of the season, but 9 of his 10 goals had come before Christmas and after the new year they dried up. The problem was, there was no-one in reserve to replace him and he was forced to try and play his way back into form.

The biggest kick in the teeth was that top scorer and talisman Warren Patmore was also struggling with an injury, carrying a hamstring strain into the run-in but again, we had no-one else available and could not afford to rest him. He played on, but would miss some games towards the end and only lasted 28 minutes of the big showdown against Rushden, which was his only start of the last seven games.

When it finally came time to play one of the much-discussed games in hand away at Doncaster in April, it was a disaster as a poor performance ended in a 2-0 defeat. To add insult to injury, Belgrave got sent off for an off the ball incident in the dying minutes when the game was already lost, ruling himself out of three vital games at a time when Patmore was also unavailable.

The second of those games was Telford away. With on-loan striker Howard Forinton injured, Patmore injured and Belgrave suspended, the only fit striker at the club was James Bent, brought back in from the cold after the better part of six months sat on the bench. In his first start he got two goals and an assist at home to Leigh, and a goal and assist in the reverse fixture just ten days later. So he had proved himself capable but was running out of partners. In the absence of a genuine target man, for the last couple of games Captain Fantastic Terry Skiverton had pulled on the No. 9 shirt, and did so again against Telford.

The home side came out of the blocks very quickly and created numerous chances particularly on the counter-attack, forcing Pennock to pull off a number of saves. The problem with Skiverton playing up front was that he was sorely missed at the back, and the defence was at sixes and sevens without him. The defence was looking so vulnerable that Colin Addison was forced to re-organise, moving to a 3-5-2 with Skiverton, White and O’Brien as a back three, Piper and Tonkin as wing backs, and Crittenden up front with Bent. This did pay off, as Crittenden set up McIndoe in the area to put the Glovers 1-0 up, slightly against the run of play. The good fortune didn’t last though, as defender Jim Bentley equalised before half time. The news got worse, as last forward standing James Bent was scythed down from behind in a terrible challenge that wasn’t even awarded a free kick, let alone a card. Bent was able to get up and continue, but did not emerge for the second half as a result of that challenge.

In his place came Paul Steele, another defender converted to emergency striker as the number of available forwards decreased to zero, and the manager had to improvise. It worked, as Steele put Yeovil 2-1 up from a McIndoe corner. The Glovers did create several chances to score again, with late substitute Andy Lindegaard coming close on more than one occasion. He probably should have added a third, but the Glovers hung on for a 2-1 win to take them into the last week of the season three points behind with a game in hand, and only two games to go. Interestingly, Lindegaard would himself play the role of emergency striker a couple of years later in Yeovil’s Conference-winning season, scoring six goals. At 18, youth team striker Chris Giles was presumably seen as too young, even though he would go on to score 10 goals the following season under new manager Gary Johnson. In 2000/01, he was not used and his only appearances were in the Somerset Premier Cup.

While it may be easy to say that Colin Addison’s young side bottled it, or threw away a lead at the top of the Conference, a lot went against us and ultimately we did not have the resources to compete with an expensive squad twice the size of ours. This performance against Telford shows the fighting spirit that the team had right up until the end. After the defeat at Kettering and the two draws which followed it, the title did look completely gone and some of the players must have felt the same. But they didn’t give up, they kept fighting and clawed back enough points with late goals to reduce Rushden’s lead from seven points to three with just two games to go.

Rushden had a squad of over 30 with an average age around 27/28, with lots of Football League experience. Yeovil’s squad was mostly comprised of kids, whether through our own youth system or from picking up those who had been released by bigger clubs like Way, Crittenden and Smith. Only two players in the squad at the start of the season were over 25. Rushden had two of the most expensive strikers in non-league and at least four others in reserve, while we were forced to slap a No. 9 shirt on a centre half and were so short of options that we had to do it twice in one game, when the last remaining striker was kicked out of the match.

The Telford game is a significant one to remember because it shows that, whatever the problems, and however much the odds were stacked against us in the second half of the season, the team never gave up. Even though the season ultimately ended in heartbreak they kept fighting and did take it down to the final week.

Team that day: Tony Pennock, David Piper, Anthony Tonkin, Roy O’Brien, Tom White, Darren Way, Marcus Jones (Simon Betts, 80), Nick Crittenden (Andy Lindegaard, 80), Michael McIndoe, Terry Skiverton, James Bent (sub. Paul Steele, 46). Subs not used: Chris Weale, Ben Smith.

Yeovil Town 3 Halifax Town 0 – Saturday 21st September 2002

In 2002/03, Yeovil found themselves having to play their first five games at the Avenue Dorchester, as a result of the newly re-laid Huish Park pitch not quite being ready. The season got off to a difficult start, with the Glovers needing an injury-time equaliser on the first day to rescue a point after going 2-0 down at home to new boys Gravesend, but also losing Adam Stansfield for the rest of the season with a broken leg. They then lost their second game 2-1 at Barnet.

Attendances in Dorchester were good – almost 3,000 attended the first match which kicked off late due to the August traffic, and crowds did not drop below 2,000 despite being held 25 miles away. While Yeovil were ultimately unbeaten at the Avenue, it was not the smoothest start to the season – losing Stansfield was a huge blow, and in addition Demba was having some trouble adjusting to the rigours of the English game and the other strikers Alford and Grant were more often than not substituted for fitness reasons. The defence was not quite settled, as the Glovers scored plenty but also conceded plenty, perhaps due to the uncertainty in personnel and formation.

There was also the issue of where to accommodate Gavin Williams – while obviously a talented player, he had been employed mostly as a striker in his formative years at Hereford. Gary Johnson did try this but didn’t seem to favour it, even after the injury to Stansfield. He started 02/03 with the 4-4-2 that he had ended the previous season with, but fitting Williams into a midfield four would be difficult as Johnson, Way, Crittenden and McIndoe were already there. This dilemma was possibly what drove the manager to try the 3-4-1-2 that would serve Yeovil so well for much of the season, with Williams in a free role. The formation change did create a problem for Anthony Tonkin – as a specialist left back, he did not thrive at all on the left of a back three, a position more suited to Colin Pluck. And in a wing back formation, McIndoe would be the obvious occupant on the left. Tonkin was an excellent player, and probably one of the best left backs we’ve had in the modern era – but only as left back.

After the first couple of games as a 4-4-2, Yeovil switched to three at the back with Tonkin where he did not look comfortable, but was the only option as Pluck was absent through injury. When Pluck returned, Gary Johnson’s selection headache would end up getting resolved by the unusual figure of former England midfielder Carlton Palmer. Palmer was manager at Stockport, who seemed to have become aware that a clause in Tonkin’s contract stated that any offer over £50,000 would have to be put directly to the player, and put in an offer for exactly that amount.

When Halifax came to town for the final game at the Avenue, it was actually the first game since Tonkin’s departure from the club. He would not officially leave for another week, but by that point was refusing to report for training or answer the phone on advice of his agent.

Halifax had just been relegated, and been forced to rebuild their team over the summer from a difficult financial position. They put together a decent team under new manager Chris Wilder, who was early in his managerial career at the time but specialised in producing teams who were physical and hard to beat on limited budgets. He would later prove his credentials by taking Sheffield United from the bottom of League One to the Premier League in just three years. He was also in charge of Oxford when, as a Conference team they knocked League One Yeovil out of the FA Cup in 2009.

Yeovil took the lead in the first half, with Crittenden scoring from the spot after a foul on Demba. A minute later, Gavin Williams gave the Glovers a 2-0 lead in spectacular fashion, picking up the ball following a throw, and curling in with his left foot from 25 yards. Leading 2-0 at half time, controversy erupted in the second half – latching onto a through ball from Williams, Demba was clearly upended by keeper Lee Butler for an obvious penalty. With no defenders covering, the referee had no choice but to also send Butler off. The keeper was infuriated, throwing his shirt to the ground in disgust and physically attacking Demba on his way off the pitch, presumably as he thought the player had dived. This signalled multiple players from both sides to engage in a brawl. As he finally left the pitch, Skiverton called something to him that was probably not very complimentary, and another period of fighting broke out. A Halifax player clearly grabbed Skiverton by the throat – an image which appeared on the front page of following day’s Non-League Paper – and should have been sent off but wasn’t. After consulting his assistant, the referee sent off Demba for no clear reason. It is not even evident from the video what the referee could think Demba had done. He just stood there passively while Butler assaulted him. The report said ‘foul and abusive language’, probably because it can’t be disproven by video and is often used when the referee knows he has made a mistake. The fact that Demba had not long arrived from Belgium and his first language is French, suggests that the charge was probably not correct.

Skiverton was then called over and rightly sent off as although he was grabbed by the throat, he also swung some punches in retaliation. What the ref got wrong was not sending off at least one Halifax player. In time the Demba red card would be overturned, but Skiverton was out for three matches. At that time there was a delay between the offence and the suspension to allow time for appeals, so Skiverton was able to play in two more games – Woking at home and Leigh away – scoring in both, taking him to six for the season and making him top scorer at the end of September.

Despite all of the chaos and red cards, the good news was that Yeovil were 2-0 up with a penalty to come. Crittenden hammered home the resultant penalty about ten minutes after it had actually been awarded and with the Glovers 3-0 up, the points were secured. Halifax did fight on (not literally this time) and got themselves a few chances, but could not affect the result.

Going into the game Yeovil were third in the table and the win took them up into second, overtaking Doncaster but behind Chester, who were unbeaten did not even concede a goal away from home until the end of October. After an uneven start, the Glovers were in a good position. Unbeaten at Dorchester in front of decent crowds, the anticipation was building in the town for a return to Huish Park, live on TV against Woking – a return that would see a glorious 4-0 win in front of over 4,000 fans, more than any league game the previous season. Now unbeaten in nine with three clean sheets in a row, a set formation and the goals beginning to flow, there was a sense that Gary Johnson’s team were finding top gear and it would take a lot to stop them.

Despite their financial limitations Halifax would become a good Conference team under Chris Wilder, reaching the play-off final in 2006. They would also provide one of the toughest examinations of Gary Johnson’s men in their championship season. Even though Yeovil were fresh off the back of six consecutive wins and brushing aside Hereford 4-0, the Shaymen took a 2-0 lead and threatened to bully the Glovers right out of the game. Brian Quailey and in particular Simon Parke gave Lockwood, Skiverton and Pluck the most difficult time I saw them have that season, and Yeovil were lucky not to have at least one man sent off. The second half was end to end, with both teams having chances to take the lead and Weale having to make some top class saves, before the part-time team tired in the final quarter and Gall stole the win well into injury time. It was an epic night which for many people, saw the champagne finally be put on ice.

Team that day: Jon Sheffield, Adam Lockwood, Terry Skiverton (sent off 71), Colin Pluck, Darren Way, Lee Johnson, Nick Crittenden, Michael McIndoe, Gavin Williams, Abdoulai Demba (sent off 70), Howard Forinton (sub. Roy O’Brien, 79). Subs not used: Luke Buckingham, Stephen Reed, Andy Lindegaard, Carl Alford

Yeovil Town 0 Rushden & Diamonds 0 – Saturday 21st April 2001

Although Yeovil were struggling to find form in early 2001, they were still just about in the title race when leaders and favourites Rushden and Diamonds came to town on 21st April with just five games of the season to go. Indeed, had the Glovers won they would have taken the destiny of the title back into their own hands, as a victory would have seen the two teams level on points but with Rushden having played a game more.

There was a chance that the attendance would beat the then-Conference record of 9,432 set by Lincoln in 1988, but only if Rushden sold all of their allocation and the building work was finished in time. Following the successful ‘Erection 2000’ fundraising campaign to extend the home terrace and put a roof over it, construction began in February 2001 in the hope that it would be completed in time for the Rushden game, but it was always going to be tight, in fact during the local news visit the week before, construction seemed to still be in progress!

The construction of the terrace roof created some confusion with the ticket sales and away allocation. Initially, Rushden had been offered around 700 tickets in the Bartlett Stand – deposing a few season ticket holders as it was a bigger section of the stand than would usually be given – with home fans taking the Copse Road terrace. In the event that the roof was finished, the seating was decreased and they were given the terrace as well. In order to guarantee this arrangement Rushden owner Max Griggs personally paid for 1,000 tickets whether they were sold or not in order to secure the additional space. As it was, Rushden returned 800 tickets for what was biggest match in their history so far, bringing around 1600 fans.

It was an incredibly tense and nervous atmosphere, and chances were relatively few. Rushden knew that they could sit back and didn’t really need to attack. Yeovil needed the win in order to bring themselves level, but with them being out of form and Warren Patmore carrying an injury, it was always going to be a long shot. The team wore black armbands and there was a minute’s silence as Yeovil legend Alec Stock had died just a few days before over Easter, and if there was a script then the perennial underdogs Yeovil would have beaten the millionaires of Rushden to secure promotion to honour the memory of the man who masterminded their greatest ever FA Cup win.

Unfortunately football isn’t a fairytale and the underdogs don’t always win, that’s why they’re underdogs. When Patmore limped off with a recurrence of his hamstring strain in the first half, it became increasingly unlikely that Yeovil would be able to get anything out of the game. There were no more than half chances for either side, with Tony Pennock having to make the most difficult save, tipping a header over the bar from Duane Darby. It was an indication that the home side were running out of options when they resorted to putting both Skiverton and O’Brien up front with Belgrave, although with McIndoe taken off, Lindegaard an unused substitute and Ben Smith not even in the squad, the manager could arguably have gone a different way. Instead Yeovil were reduced to lumping balls into the box in the hope that something would fall for them. On another day it might have done, with a looping O’Brien header having to be cleared off the line and a close range Tom White shot blocked but in all honesty these were also really no more than half chances. Darren Way dragged a shot wide and with that the whistle blew and the game ended in a draw. It was still not over, as Yeovil were only three points behind with a game in hand, but they had missed the opportunity to bring their destiny into their own hands, and they would still have to win that second game in hand against Hereford, having already lost the first one at Doncaster.

Colin Addison’s men had done well to take the title race this far, despite their disappointing form since Christmas. They were by no means favourites going into the start of the season, and the highest position they had ever finished in the Conference was 4th, back in 1993. By contrast, due to the huge resources they had at their disposal by non-league standards, Rushden were favourites to go up every season, having blown their chances three times already. It was really ‘no excuses’ this time for manager Brian Talbot.

Yeovil had finally turned full-time towards the end of the previous season, but done it on a budget. Long-serving players who were on high wages or unable to turn full-time were released, and a number of players were promoted from the youths to the first team, such as Andy Lindegaard, Anthony Tonkin and James Bent. It was a risk to have expected to challenge with this kind of strategy, but it almost paid off. Despite manager David Webb walking out on the club without warning after 12 games, the Glovers went top shortly afterwards with a 4-0 win over Dover and maintained their position under new manager Colin Addison from the beginning of October to mid-February. This period included some of the Glovers’ best performances, such as the 5-1 demolition of Colchester in the FA Cup, the 2-1 win away at Rushden and a narrow defeat at Bolton, who were on their way to being promoted to the Premiership.

It was that defeat at Bolton which signalled a loss in form – maybe it was the injury-time defeat which caused a dent in confidence, or maybe it was coincidence as the games started to catch up with Colin Addison’s young squad. Before the Glovers were involved in that FA Cup match, their lead at the top of the Conference was at its biggest – seven points ahead, with two games in hand. Rushden won while Yeovil were at Bolton reducing it to four but with three games in hand. Yeovil’s form absolutely fell off a cliff after that loss, going from 20 league and cup games unbeaten, to winning only one league game in February (2-1 over Boston) and one in March (3-0 over Hayes), as confidence and goals dried up. However they did cling on and were never truly out of it – despite being in very good form themselves, Rushden were never miles ahead, just about dropping points often enough to keep the Glovers interested. It was when Yeovil lost 3-1 at home to Dagenham in February that Rushden took top spot on goal difference, although they had played two games more. This hit the Glovers hard, as they went on a run of six games without a win, going out of the FA Trophy in the process. The low point was surely a devastating 2-1 defeat at relegation-threatened Kettering that had seen the Glovers lose a 1-0 lead to goals in the 85th and 89th minutes and miss a penalty in between. Just when all seemed lost, Rushden dropped points at Northwich while Yeovil won convincingly 3-0 at home to Hayes, in what was the first ever live Conference match shown on Sky. There had been some rumours of Sky wanting to air live Conference matches and it is possible that they used the Hayes game as a dry run with the aim to perhaps show the Rushden clash in April. However, with the absolutely atrocious state of the pitch at that point and building work not guaranteed to have been finished in time, perhaps they got cold feet. As it was, the game was not shown live although Sky did present very reasonable highlights on their Conference round-up the following week.

The Glovers fought on with late goals earning points at Dover, and an epic 4-3 against Kingstonian. Just when hoped seemed to be gone, Rushden went and lost comfortably at Hereford over Easter while the Glovers were spanking Leigh 6-1 despite having to play Skiverton up front in the absence of Patmore. Somehow, despite all the setbacks, we continued to fight on.

Yeovil were always mathematically still in it because of those games in hand, but as we should all know, games in hand do not equal points. And in our case, those games in hand equalled zero points. The first was away at Doncaster, an absolute shambles of a performance which saw Yeovil lose 2-0 and Barrington Belgrave get himself sent off for violent conduct which would see him miss the last three games of the season.

The other game in hand would be played on the last midweek of the season, and was of course against the old rivals Hereford. Despite Hereford having nothing to play for, and an absolutely abysmal record at Huish Park – they had lost every game and not even scored a single goal since their relegation from the League – they saved up their only decent result for the occasion it hurt the most. They won 3-2 with a last-minute goal and with that Yeovil’s title challenge was ended. We did get some measure of revenge, beating them in injury time in 2002 with a goal from Yeovil-born Andy Lindegaard, and then playing them off the pitch on the way to the title in 2003 winning 4-0, but that night in 2001 was a very bitter way to end the season and it took some time to recover from.

Team that day: Tony Pennock, David Piper, Anthony Tonkin, Terry Skiverton, Tom White, Darren Way, Marcus Jones, Nick Crittenden, Michael McIndoe (sub. Simon Betts, 76), Warren Patmore (sub. James Bent, 28) (sub. Roy O’Brien, 86), Barrington Belgrave. Subs not used: Chris Weale, Andy Lindegaard