Ian Perkins

It was a stormy afternoon at Huish Park, on and off the pitch, as the Glovers fine run came to an end at the hands of Altrincham. Here are Ian’s Five Conclusions.

The conditions were dreadful. We’ve had some rotten matches played in dire weather and this one was up (down?) there with Wealdstone last season, or the infamous match against Leeds in the Championship. As it was, I thought both teams handled the conditions quite well in the first half, but in the second half Yeovil probably deal with the weather as well at Altrincham did in the first and the visitors definitely utilised it more than we did when they had the wind with them.

It was another good day for Johl Powell. Powell has been so impressive in recent weeks and he earned himself yet another goal. His desire to chase down lost causes and beat his opponents to the ball are the reason everything’s going so well at the moment. He had a duel with Otis Khan all afternoon and he outmuscled Khan to calmly slot home the opener. I felt Yeovil lost a bit of his directness when he was replaced in the second half and that says a lot about the form Powell has got himself into.

Mistakes were costly. We know there are fine margins at the top end of the National League and the mistakes are where it cost Yeovil yesterday. Their equaliser comes from uncharacteristic sloppiness from Ben Radcliffe who doesn’t put enough on his pass which allows Altrincham to break and Jos Barker will have had nightmares about the winner last night. Better keepers than Jos have struggled in the wind at that end of Huish Park and I’m sure there will be clips of keepers having weather-assisted clangers across the country all weekend, but it’s a big error that’s cost Yeovil a point.

The wingers were nullified. The recent impressive form of Ryan Jones and James Daly came to an abrupt halt at the hands of Altrincham’s wingbacks too. You can probably count the amount of times Jones and Daly got into dangerous areas on one hand. Neither of them were given the time or space to get going and has a key part of how the Glovers have taken teams apart, Yeovil willl need to find a way to step it up and impose themselves against the top teams they want to compete with.

S**t ref again, ole ole. As officiating goes, that has to be one of the worst I’ve seen in recent memory. I know we’ve shattered rule #1 (don’t moan about the ref) of the Gloverscast plenty of times but when have such an impact on a fixtures as Michael Scholes did it’s inevitable. From the 2nd minute when he didn’t book someone for a late tackle on Radcliffe you felt something was up. Slavi Spasov could have had two penalties that he just gave nothing for. James Daly was booked for his first tackle on anyone. It was inconsistent, indecisive and he lost control of the pitch and the benches. Yet again, another example of National League refereeing which didn’t match the professionals on the pitch.

The FA Cup threatened drama, but a professional performance from the Glovers saw them reach the first round proper for the first time in three seasons. Here are Ian’s Five Conclusions from Huish Park.

We got the job done. After all the excitmenent and cup magic of Saturday, coming back to Huish Park and putting on a professional performance showed the genuine gulf in the teams was imperative. Despite the early hiccup, Billy Rowley’s team did what we’ve come to expect and executed the plan. The style, tempo and ruthlessness in front of goal ensured Yeovil dominated the game, entertained and bagged another five goals to add to this seasons ever-growing tally.

It wasn’t without drama. Over the course of 180 minutes this has to be one of the more dramatic cup ties in recent memory. Leatherhead took the lead in the 2nd minute silencing the Glovers faithful and giving the travelling 198 supporters a great moment. There was a point, where after conceding a sloppy second goal, Leathered had a chance to make it 4-3 and really spook Huish Park. The visitors were already struggling with Yeovil’s dominance and that task was made even harder when a reckless challenge by Charlie Kennett was punished with a red card.

Spasov’s back in the goals. Slavi Spasov is slowly becoming the ultimate poacher. He made up for his mistake on Leatherheads opener by scoring a great header to level things up and was a nuisance in the box. He pounced on Johl Powell’s saved effort to make it 3-1 before half time and earned himself the sponsors man of the match. He’s an interesting player, who seems to go from wandering about and looking somewhat ineffective to suddenly coming alive. Billy Rowley waxed lyrical about the strikers performance and Spasov himself said how his fellow strikers are always pushing eachother to do better.

Liam Nardiello got his moment. There’s nothing purer than ‘one of your own’ getting some first team action at Huish Park. Since the days of the Green Machine in late 90s those moments are few and far between in modern Yeovil Town, but for Nardiello to get a good chunk of time on the pitch and get an assist to his name was a great moment. Even better was Brett McGavin ensuring Nardiello took the plaudits from the Thatchers and made the most of his input to this cup match.

We’ve got a real test in the next round. If we put aside the Danny Webb narrative, there’s a huge footballing test here for this group and a chance to live up to our giant-killing history. While it’s not the most glamourous draw as we’ve recenlty been at the same level, it is a chance to show where we are as a team and an opportuity to rekindle the fire of those famous cup upsets against Blackpool, Northampton, Rotherham and have this group produce their own FA Cup Magic. Bring it on!