Five Conclusions: Yeovil Town 1 Barnet 2
Despite late drama at Huish Park again, it was another defeat for Yeovil. Here are my conclusions from a cold night in Somerset.
We took a while to get going again. It’s now two home matches in a row where Mark Cooper has had to make tactical tweaks to enable Yeovil to get a foothold in the game. Up until half an hour – when Yeovil switched to a 4-2-3-1 – it was all Barnet and they could have gone in two or three up. We saw similar when Halifax came to Huish. At times this season when we’ve matched other teams in a 3-4-3 we’ve come unstuck and the same happened last night. Once we changed shape though, I felt we nullified most of Barnet’s threat.
After our equaliser I thought we’d go on to win. We certainly had the momentum in the second half and James Plant’s hard work earned a well deserved equaliser. Instead, we allowed Barnet back into it and they could have gone back in front almost immediately with Stead and Kanu fluffing chances. That gave Barnet a bit of life and Collinge’s header really took the wind out of the green and white sails. Following the strife at York, I felt we gave Barnet a bloody nose and showed that we’re not a million miles away, but I saw the difference between a side that now sits top and a side that’s trying to keep pace with the playoff pack. That said…
I think it was a penalty. There’s been plenty of debate about the penalty decision right at the end of the match and I think the referee got it wrong. You can normally tell from the reaction of the defending team if they feel a player has gone down easily and the Barnet players didn’t react in an angry or aggressive way to debutant Ed James. Looking back at the highlights, replay and super-slowmo video, it looks like the kind of the decision that more often than not goes the way of the home team. Unfortunately we’re Yeovil Town, and it feels like we never really get those 50-50 decisions.
I felt we were missing the nippy fellas. In the first half, we were crying out for some pace and dynamism and only once we shifted shape did we see James Plant get his legs really pumping. I thought we could have introduced Josh Sims or Dylan Morgan earlier to get some runners in behind. We’ve gone from having the little technicians like Pearson, Morgan, Young, even Sonny to the taller lads, Nouble and Borges supporting Jarvis up top but, I thought it slowed us down.
This was the tricky run of fixtures. Some will be surprised that there’s not uproar around last three results, but I think the context of the matches and general expectations has left quite a balanced response. For all the hyperbole and expectation at the start of the season, most realistic supporters will see a mid-table finish as success. Despite the three losses on the bounce, we’re still two points outside the playoffs, and now with Woking and Braintree either side of W*ymouth, there’s a chance for the Glovers get back to winning ways ahead of the Christmas period.