Match Reports (Page 20)

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Two goals in the last five minutes saw Yeovil Town fall to a heart-breaking 4-3 defeat at Altrincham in a game played with the intensity of a relegation scrap rather than a mid-table dead rubber.

To add injury to insult, the Glovers also lost influential midfielder Josh Neufville after just 12  minutes at Moss Lane, stretchered off in a leg brace with a broken ankle.

It was 90 minutes which summarised this season to be honest – missed chances, defensive clangers, a huge amount of character/spirit/willingness, injuries, bookings and ultimately falling short.

In front of 600 home fans (one of which was definitely not me, if Altrincham FC are reading this), the home side played with a verve and intensity which many of the supporters I spoke with…..I mean, I imagine, would have loved to have seen more of after they went the last seven games without win.

Here’s how I saw it…..

FIRST HALF

Striker Reuben Reid replaced suspended defender Luke Wilkinson in the only change from the midweek draw with Maidenhead United, as another patched up side took to the field in Greater Manchester.

The reshuffle saw Reid up front with Joe Quigley as Chris Dagnall dropped back in to midfield and Lawson D’Ath moved from his central midfield role to right-back. Meanwhile, left-back Michael Kelly, who has been playing right back recently, went back to left-back where he replaced Carl Dickinson who went in to central defence.

And then within six minutes of the start, Yeovil suffered another injury when winger Josh Neufville was stretchered off in a leg brace after a heavy tackle from Altrincham midfielder Matty Kosylo, who was booked for the challenge.

Cue a further change as Emmanuel Sonupe came off the bench to replace the Luton Town loanee, who later revealed on his Instagram that he had suffered a broken ankle.

The injury was heart-breaking for the 22-year-old who has been unquestionably one of the bright spots in an ultimately disappointing season.

I am sure I speak for all Yeovil Town fans when I wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back playing football again in the near future.

After a lengthy delay, Reid spurned a good opportunity to put the visitors in front and then on 15 minutes found himself in space inside the box and his effort hit both posts before bouncing away to safety.

Just two minutes later, Quigley was played in on the other side and his shot across the face of the goal clipped the far post and away.

It is not an exaggeration to say Yeovil could have been 3-0 up by this point but, as we have seen so many times, defensive frailties proved they undoing as the home side went ahead on 17 minutes.

D’Ath  was caught out of his unfamiliar right-back position as Alty broke away and, following an almighty goal-mouth scramble Connor KIRBY smashed home the opener which even the hosts’ own Twitter account described as “against the run of play.”

Four minutes later, Charlie Lee’s diving header from a corner was blocked on the line before the home side began to find their feet and were able to carve through Yeovil’s backline on a number of occasions, almost scoring a carbon copy of their opener only for Billy Sass-Davies to clear Ryan Colclough’s shot off the line.

It took until a minute in to the eight minutes added on at the end of the first half for Altrincham to get a second as a ball to the back post found Dan MOONEY unmarked to head home.

We went in behind at the break and, for our missed chances and defensive mistakes, could really have no-one to blame but ourselves.

Half time: Altrincham 2  Yeovil Town 0

SECOND HALF

At 2-0 down, there was every risk this game could have turned in to an embarrassment for Yeovil, but it was the visitors who started the second half the brighter.

On 56 minutes, some near interplay between Reid and Dagnall set up substitute Emmanuel SONUPE to fire home his second goal in three matches.

There was a strong breeze blowing towards the away end at Moss Lane and there’s no doubt it played a part in Alty’s ascendancy in the first 45 minutes and appeared to help Yeovil in the second.

Quigley could have equalised on the hour mark when Reid’s ball across goal just evaded him, but the striker was on target on 69 minutes. A long ball forward from goalkeeper Adam Smith found QUIGLEY with time and space on the edge of the box to lift the ball over Tony Thompson in the hosts’ goal.

Three minutes later, a free-kick in to the box was met by the head of Charlie LEE and from being behind and seemingly playing for damage limitation, Yeovil Town found themselves ahead.

You could have heard a pin drop inside the ground, except for the sound of me biting down on my tongue to avoid drawing attention to the fact I was screaming on the inside!

This was the point where a fully-fit Yeovil Town squad, a luxury enjoyed by their opponents, could have made a couple of changes with a view to seeing the game out for a well-earned three points.

I have spoken on many occasions on the Gloverscast about my desire to see more of our young players, but I can say that a full-blooded affair – with racked up seven yellow cards – was not the place for blooding youngsters.

On the contrary, Altrincham were able to make two changes in the closing stages as they took off goalscorers Kirby and Mooney and replaced them with Tom Peers, who has 31 appearances and five goals this season, and James Hardy.

And, a minute after coming on, a low ball to the near post was turned in by PEERS. The goal was not against the run of play and had been coming as Alty turned up the pressure, but it showed the benefits of having strength in depth simply not available to the visitors – not an excuse, just a fact.

The Glovers’ misery was completed a minute from the end when  Josh HANCOCK found himself in space inside the six yard box and smashed the ball home.

It was my first game since watching Marc Richards’ beauty at Dover Athletic back on March 7, 2020 seal a 1-0 win, and it was everything I have come to associate with the team I have watched on live stream this season.

Effort, flashes of brilliances, moments of calamity and ultimately not quite being good enough.

 

Full time:  Altrincham 4 Yeovil Town 3

 

Yeovil Town: Smith, Kelly, Sass-Davies, Dickinson (c), D’Ath Lee, Knowles, Neufville (for Sonupe, 12), Dagnall, Quigley, Reid (for Stephens, 89)
Substitues (not used): Evans (GK), Heaton.
Bookings: Dagnall, Quigley, Lee, D’Ath.

Altrincham: Thompson, Ogle, Senior, Smith, Hancock, Moult, Mullarkey, Kirby (for Peers, 80), Mooney (for Hardy, 83), Kosylo (for Williams, 65), Colclough.
Substitutes (not used): Hannigan, Densmore.
Bookings: Kosylo, Colclough, Williams.

Attendance: 600 (all home fans – no away fans, honest!)

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A sending off for Luke Wilkinson and a battling performance will be how the statistics show only Yeovil Town’s second goalless draw of the season, but the real story here was the return of supporters to Huish Park.

In total, 1,497 home fans – unless anyone from Maidenhead United sneaked in unnoticed – were on hand for a battle of two distinctly mid-table sides .

But, if this performance is anything to go by, you can see how much the Glovers have missed the presence of fans in the ground.

The better chances fell to the home side with Josh Neufville and Charlie Lee hitting the woodwork in each half and even after Wilkinson’s dismissal for a second yellow when he clearly handled a corner in to the net.

But, even with a man disadvantage, it was Yeovil who looked to be pressing for the winner and might even go away feeling disappointed not to have got more than a point.

All in all, for those lucky enough to be inside the ground – football is back.

Here’s how I saw it…..

FIRST HALF

Joe Quigley for Reuben Reid in the frontline was the only change Yeovil Town manager Darren Sarll made to his starting line-up, with under-18s’ midfielder Adam Heaton named among the substitutes with the bench at full strength.

The boss was also able to start with the same back four as he did in the 3-1 win over King’s Lynn three days earlier. There’s a novelty, eh?

On the fourth minute, every fan, player and member of staff of both clubs joined in a rapturous round applause in memory of late Glovers’ skipper, Lee Collins. I’m not crying, you’re crying!

Josh Neufville had the game’s first opportunity forcing Maidenhead James Holden, who joined from Championship Reading five days earlier, in to a stop.

Five minutes later, the Luton Town loanee was cutting in from the right and hit a drive which grazed the top of the bar on its way over.

From then on in, it was fairly end-to-end next with the visitors threatening to create something, but not quite forcing Adam Smith in to any meaningful action as two physical teams cancelled each other out.

The nearest opportunity came on 35 minutes when a deep free-kick from Carl Dickinson saw Holden caught in no man’s land and found Quigley whose header was turned wide for a corner, from which Charlie Lee headed just over at the back post.

Holden was in action again with five minutes to go as Chris Dagnall‘s fine pass found Tom Knowles on the right of the box whose shot was turned away.

The half finished goalless but Yeovil will have gone in at the break feeling they had the better opportunities.

Half time: Yeovil Town 0  Maidenhead United 0

SECOND HALF

It was a bright start for the home side having a shot cleared off the line in the opening exchanges and making the better opportunities without ever really threatening the Maidenhead goal.

On the hour mark the visitors made an opening when Smith had to make a good double save from first full-back George Wilson and then reacted quickly to deny Danilo Orsi-Dadamo on the rebound.

On 62 minutes, a corner in from the right was met by the raised arm of Luke Wilkinson who bundled the ball back in to the net and, having picked up a yellow card in the first half, was given his marching orders by referee Daniel Lamport.

It was a disappointing way for such an experienced player to go with a first yellow for kicking the ball away and a second for deliberate handball to bring his season to a premature end.

Lee rattled the crossbar with an impressive volley with 20 minutes to go, but despite their numerical disadvantage it was still Yeovil who still looked the more likely to find the breakthrough with plenty of attacking intent.

However, the final chance of the game did fall to Orsi-Dadamo who broke in to the box in the final minute of normal time, but could only chip an effort over the bar.

Full time:  Yeovil Town 0 Maidenhead United 0

 

Yeovil Town: Smith, Kelly, Wilkinson, Sass-Davies, Dickinson (c), Lee, Knowles, D’Ath, Neufville (for Sonupe, 85), Quigley, Dagnall.
Substitues (not used): Evans (GK), Stephens, Heaton, Quigley.
Bookings: Wilkinson, Dagnall.
Sending off: Wilkinson.

Maidenhead United: Holden, Massey (c), Wells, Parry, Twumasi, Coley (for Keetch, 77), Smith (for Sparkes, 67), Ince, Comley (Egan, 80), Upward, Orsi-Dadamo.
Substitutes (not used): Wiltshire.
Bookings: Wells.

Attendance: 1,497

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A brace from Tom Knowles and a late goal from Emmanuel Sonupe ended a run of three defeats for a patched up Yeovil Town against struggling King’s Lynn.

It was a miserable day at Huish Park with the wet weather assisting Knowles with his opening goal after the ball held up on pitch after eight minutes.

But, the midfielder’s second three minutes later owed everything to his amazing ability to connect with a ball as he bent the ball in.

The visitors pulled one back from the spot soon after before a second half which was as dismal as weather.

The only bright spot for the home side came three minutes from time when substitutes Joe Quigley and Sonupe combined for the midfielder to open his account.

Here’s how I saw it…..

FIRST HALF

If you made it to the live stream in time to watch the highlights of the 2-2 draw between the two sides on the opening day of the season, refer to Gloverscast Rule 1 when watching the handball and offside for King’s Lynn’s first goal. Horrendous, just horrendous.

The team news saw returns to the starting line up for centre-half Luke Wilkinson, making his first appearance since limping off after 26 minutes in the 5-1 defeat at Solihull Moors, and full-back Carl Dickinson who missed the midweek trip to Aldershot Town.

Lawson D’Ath, who appeared as a substitute in midweek, got his first start since the 3-0 win at Weymouth in January, and there were just four substitutes for the Glovers.

A pre-match downpour left the Huish Park pitch sodden and the ball was clearly holding up in some parts, but it was a bright start for Yeovil with Billy Sass-Davies turning an early D’Ath corner over the bar.

The conditions played a part in Yeovil’s opening goal when an underhit back pass to King’s Lynn keeper Theo Richardson held up on the surface, gifting Tom KNOWLES a gilt-edged chance to break through, stepped round the keeper and fired the opener.

Then just three minutes later, a nicely-worked move down the left, found KNOWLES on the edge of the box and he bent a beautiful strike passed the helpless Richardson.

At that point, it looked like a case of how many for the home side, but that seemed to spur King’s Lynn.

They found a way back in to the game on 23 minutes when winger Michael Gyasi was felled inside the box by a clumsy Wilkinson tackle.

The penalty was awarded and experienced striker Simeon JACKSON sent Adam Smith the wrong way from the spot.

Shortly after there was another definite call for the Gloverscast Rule 1 (NB: Don’t complain about National League refs, they’re rubbish, just live with it) when Wilkinson appeared to win the ball with a heavy tackle on Michael Gash.

The defender limped away and unfathomably got a yellow card. Suffice to say, captain Carl Dickinson was less than impressed and, to add injury to insult, Wilkinson was left struggling.

The slippy conditions and a lack of quality in both boxes made for plenty of action, but very little to test either Smith or Richardson.

Dickinson had a long range free-kick held and that was about that for the remainder opening 45 minutes.

 

Half time: Yeovil Town 2 (Knowles (2) King’s Lynn Town 1(Jackson, pen)

SECOND HALF

The rain continued to fall during the half-time break making the pitch even heavier and you just knew it was not going to be pretty.

Wilkinson did return for the second half, but it was King’s Lynn who started the half the brighter. On 50 minutes, full-back Tyler Denton whistled a shot just wide from 30 yards with Smith at full stretch.

If you did spend £9.99 to watch the stream, I would try and get a discount for the first 25 minutes of the second half which was one you could easily have made a drink during and not missed anything.

It was not until the 70th minute that King’s Lynn pressure saw midfielder Sonny Carey have an effort cleared off the line by Wilkinson, presumably kicking with the one fit and healthy leg he had left.

Two minutes later, a cross from Josh Neufville seemed to be heading towards Knowles on the back post, dreaming of his hat-trick, the script was written……..but Knowles slipped. Yeah, that kind of game.

It took until the 84th minute to cheer up when Yeovil’s substitutes Joe Quigley, on for Reuben Reid, played a well-weighted ball through to Emmanuel SONUPE who ran through and coolly slotted home his first goal.

That was pleasing for both players.  Quigley again showing that he is more than a targetman and Sonupe,  one of the few bright spots when he came on against Wrexham seven days earlier, getting off the mark with a nice finish.

A minute from the end, a great ball in by Payne and Michael Gash got a header which looped over and (I think) Smith got a touch on it to turn it on to the crossbar.

Three points, three goals and a nice fillip going in to Tuesday night’s home match with Maidenhead United with fans back inside Huish Park for the first time in a long time.

From this exiled Yeovil Town supporter, if you are lucky enough to be there – give the boys a cheer from me!

 

Full time:  Yeovil Town 3 (Knowles (2), Sonupe) King’s Lynn Town 1 (Jackson, pen).

 

Yeovil Town: Smith, Kelly, Wilkinson, Sass-Davies, Dickinson (c), Lee, Knowles, D’Ath (D’Ath, 87), Neufville (for Sonupe, 78) , Reid (for Quigley, 70), Dagnall.
Substitues (not used): Evans (GK).
Bookings: Wilkinson,

King’s Lynn: Richardson, Howard, Callan-McFadden, Fleming, Denton, Clunan (c), Gyasi (Babos, 65), Kiwomya (Payne, 65), Carey, Jackson, Gash.
Substitutes (not used):  Bastock.
Bookings: Callan-McFadden, Denton.

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It was another difficult night for Yeovil Town’s walking wounded as they went down to their third consecutive defeat on a disappointing night at Aldershot Town.

With a decent starting XI – with Luke Wilkinson in goal – on the treatment table, Darren Sarll’s starting XI was the walking wounded from the opening whistle.

A battling first half saw them match their hosts, but a defensive error from an out-of-position back line and a harsh straight red card for Alex Bradley inside four first half minutes left the already depleted Glovers with too much to do.

Here’s how I saw it…..

FIRST HALF

With too many injuries to mention – look at the match preview if you’re interested – there was a welcome return for Lawson D’Ath on the substitutes bench, marking his first appearance in the squad since the 3-0 win at Weymouth on January 5.

Joining him on the bench were four members of the Glovers’ under-18s, youth team captain Jiah Medrano, midfielders Adam Heaton and Toby Stephens, the latter who made his first-team debut at Wrexham at the weekend, and keeper Max Evans, who has been a regular on the bench this season.

On the pitch, the injury-ravaged visitors lined up with central midfielder Charlie Lee in the heart of defence alongside Billy Sass-Davies, and Josh Neufville playing at right back rather than his more forward approach with Bradley at the base of the diamond.

However, Yeovil started brightly and made much of the early running with Emmanuel Sonupe having an early shot blocked before Tom Knowles and captain Reuben Reid linking up nicely for Knowles to jink in to the box and fire in a shot that was well tipped away by Aldershot keeper Mitch Walker.

Shots’ striker Harry Panayiotou fired one wide having been found by a fine George Fowler pass soon after, but – despite what the Aldershot live stream pundits told us at half time – the Yeovil chances were not restricted to one effort.

On 11 minutes, Reid held the ball up well on the edge of the box, squared it to Dagnall whose shot was well-saved by Walker. That’s at least two efforts that had the keeper working.

But, that was about as good as it got for the Glovers in the first half, with the home side turning up the pressure after that with Craig Tanner having a shot come off the outside of the post.

The final 25 minutes of the half turned in to a less end-to-end affair although it was Aldershot who looked more threatening going forward.

That pressure showed up  exactly where Yeovil’s defence had players out of position with Neufville looking particularly vulnerable, as he did when he was deployed at right-back in the game at Chesterfield earlier in the season.

An equally big concern was head injuries to Sass-Davies and Chris Dagnall, the latter who ended up with a bandage around his head – injuries are not what we need right now.

Half time: Aldershot Town 0 Yeovil Town 0

SECOND HALF

Now, remember how I said in the first half that the out-of-position Neufville getting caught out of position? Well, with six minutes in to the second half, good play between Fowler and Tanner down the rightv saw a ball go to the back post and Chike Kandi got in front of Neufville to head Aldershot ahead at the back post.

To add insult to injury, three minutes later Alex Bradley saw red for a tackle from behind on Panayiotou in the middle of the box.

I’m obviously out of practice with this match reporting lark because I looked up just as the tackle went in, looked up to see Bradley walking. It looked wild to me at a first glance, but suffice to say not all of Twitter agreed with my glancing review, see below!

And, having watched the replay at the end of match, I concur with the views of Twitter – it was a yellow card, but never a red.

To add further injury to injury (or should that be insult as well?) a crunching tackle from behind on Tom Knowles by Aldershot substitute Jon Nouble’s on 69 minutes looked every bit as bad as the one Bradley saw red for.

Nouble got a yellow. What’s the first rule of the Gloverscast again?

Red card or not, the loss  put Yeovil’s walking wounded were under even more pressure and Kandi will be disappointed not to have doubled their advantage shortly after.

There was a bright spot with D’Ath making an appearance in the 67th minute, replacing Sonupe, and despite an obvious lack of match fitness, he showed his usual composure on the ball.

Sass-Davies threw his body on the line on at least two occasions to block shots coming in from the home side, but with nine minutes to go Dagnall headed over with a rare opportunity.

The home side continued to turn the screw and it was another defensive mistake that led to the doubling their advantage.

A long ball forward found Nouble with only Kelly in the vicinity of him and, with the rest of the Yeovil defence racing back from…..well, somewhere…..he played in Panayiotou  who hammered it home.

Adam Smith pulled off an amazing double save soon after, but dead on their feet is the way to describe how Yeovil looked by the closing 10 minutes of the match.

So, another defeat ends with me thinking the same thing as the after the last one – can’t we just finish the season now? Pretty, pretty please.

Full time: Aldershot Town 2 Yeovil Town 0

ALDERSHOT TOWN: Walker, Fowler, Sendles-White, Lyons-Foster, Rees (for Nouble, 28), Kandi (for Hinds, 74), Panayiotou, Anderson, Edser, Kinsella, Tanner (for Bettamer, 74).
Subs not used: Ogie, Miller.
Bookings: Lyons-Foster, Nouble, Panayiotou.

YEOVIL TOWN: Smith, Bradley, Sass-Davies, Lee, Kelly, Knowles, Sonupe (for D’Ath, 67), Dagnall (for Stephens, 82), Neufville, Quigley, Reid.
Subs not used: Evans (GK),Heaton, Medrano.
Sending off: Bradley.

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There’s plenty of things which have gone wrong for Yeovil Town this season, but  defensive frailties and injuries to key players would be in most supporters’ top two on-the-field issues.

In less than 30 first half minutes, both issues were cruelly exposed by a rampant Wrexham side who cruised to a 3-0 lead helped in no small part by gift-wrapped defending from the visitors.

Youth team graduate midfielder Toby Stephens made his debut when he came on for the final 10 minutes, and that really was the only highlight for Yeovil.

It says a lot that despite conceding three, goalkeeper Adam Smith was the visitors’ man of the match and without a number of high quality, reaction saves the score could have been much, much worse.

Here’s how I saw it…..

FIRST HALF

There was one change to the Glovers’ starting line-up with Matt Worthington returning from injury to replace Jimmy Smith who dropped out with a knock. Top-scorer Rhys Murphy returned on the bench in place of Alex Bradley.

Captain Carl Dickinson, who was making his 100th appearance for the club, started in the middle of defence alongside Albi Skendi, with Michael Kelly at left back and Billy Sass-Davies on the right. Add that central defensive partnership to the number made by boss Darren Sarll this season.

The home side took the lead in all too familiar fashion when Wrexham captain Shaun Pearson was given a free header to nod home a corner after just nine minutes, with Sarll screaming to make a substitution.

The change was made with Worthington replaced by Max Hunt presumably due to injury, but the shaky defending continued with Omotayo having a couple of chances against another central defensive pairing in Hunt and Dickinson.

On 17 minutes, Tom Knowles had the visitors’ first chance with a free-kick well saved by Rob Lainton.

But, it was another piece of calamitous defending that gifted Wrexham a 2-0 lead.  Joint top-scorer Luke Young was found in acres of space inside the box and his goal-bound shot was turned in to his own net by Hunt.

Only a fine stop from goalkeeper Adam Smith stopped it from being 3-0 with the Yeovil defensive all at sea (again) when Young burst forward and squared it to Dior Angus  whose shot was saved before Young blazed the rebound over.

Just before this chance, a tactical reshuffle saw Sarll switch to three at the back before reshuffling back to four after the plan’s shortcomings were very swiftly exposed.

Joe Quigley shot wide from distance soon after and to add injury to insult Skendi went off with what looked like a rib injury to be replaced by Emmanuel Sonupe.

Jordan Davies, who Tim Edwards from Wrexham fanzine Fearless in Devotion spoke to us about on Thursday’s Gloverscast, got the third with a free-kick from fully 25 yards out which bent round the wall and past Smith. Tim told us this lad was a future Wales international player and, with a technique like that, it’s hard to argue.

Angus and Davies could have added to the scoreline before the home side mercifully took their foot off the gas and Yeovil were able to see out the half.

That said, defender Theo Vassell was denied by another fine stop from Smith when he was (surprise, surprise) unmarked at the back post from a corner.

In reality, Wrexham would have felt disappointed to only be 3-0 ahead at the break. Heaven only knows how Sarll started that half-time team talk.

Half time: Wrexham 3 Yeovil Town 0

SECOND HALF

Presumably with the manager’s words ringing in their ears, Yeovil  did start the second half brighter with Neufville firing wide three minutes after the restart with Quigley and Reuben Reid both unable to get a touch to turn the ball home.

Shortly after, Omotayo was denied by a mixture of good luck and good goalkeeping from Smith who had raced to the edge of his box, and Cameron Green fired the loose ball wide.

Neufville was at the heart of some improved play for the Glovers for the first 15 minutes of the half, however, Lainton could easily have set up a deck chair such as the bluntness of the visitors’ attack. Quigley ran hard with little impact and on the few occasions the ball found Reid, he did nothing with it.

You always felt this was a bit like a cat playing with a cornered mouse – with Wrexham being the cat, of course – and in the 70th minute, Smith made another point blank stop to deny Pearson’s header from a corner.

Highlights were few and far between for Yeovil, but one was definitely the appearance of young midfielder Toby Stephens who replaced Knowles in the 80th minute.

He has been turning out for the Glovers’ under-18s side this season having come up through the Yeovil Town Community Sports Trust set-up.

Like many of his team-mates, Stephens struggled to see much of the ball in his time on the pitch as Wrexham strolled the game to a close.

With the last kick of the game, Omotayo found space on the edge of the box and hit it high wide and not very handsome – we were spared us that indignity, at least.

Can the season just be over now? Please.

Full time: Wrexham 3 Yeovil Town 0

WREXHAM: Lainton, Vassell, Pearson, Harris (for Rutherford, 39), Green, Kelleher, Davies (for Jarvis, 81), Young, Hall-Johnson, Omotayo, Angus (for Ponticelliat, 74)
Subs not used: Dibble, French,
Bookings: Young

YEOVIL TOWN: Smith, Dickinson, Sass-Davies, Skendi (for Sonupe, 28), Kelly, Worthington (for Hunt, 10), Knowles (for Stephens, 80), Neufville, Dagnall, Reid, Quigley.

Subs not used: Evans, Murphy.
Bookings: Dagnall, Knowles.

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The course of this game against promotion-chasing FC Halifax Town at Huish Park changed in the space of 60 second half seconds.

In the 83rd minute, Reuben Reid broke in to the box and was seemingly hauled down by defender Niall Maher, but shouts for a penalty by referee Elliot Swallow were waved away.

The visitors immediately broke down the other end where Luke Sumerfield’s shot from the edge of the box was only parried by Adam Smith as far as Kieran Green who stabbed home the second.

Now, you do not lose any game 3-0 and think you deserve to go away with all three points, but there are definite grounds for scrapping the first rule of the Gloverscast – don’t moan about referees at this level.

We had enough chances to take something from the game but, whilst visiting keeper Sam Johnson made some superb saves, we simply were not clinical enough in front of goal.

With top-scorer Rhys Murphy missing again today with a groin injury, we lacked that killer instinct. Halifax didn’t and that is one reason why they’ll be among the play-off places and we won’t.

Here’s how I saw it……

FIRST HALF

The one change to Yeovil starting line-up saw Reid come in for Charlie Lee, suspended after his booking for dissent (grumble, grumble) at Wealdstone two days earlier, with Jimmy Smith dropping to the base of the diamond,

On the bench midfielder Toby Stephens, who came through the Yeovil Town Community Sports Trust set-up and Under-18s, replaced Reid.

Yeovil started playing towards the away end at Huish Park with a strong wind behind them and Reid fired the first chance from just outside the box over after five minutes following good work from Tom Knowles.

Former loanee Martin Woods, who played three times in 2008, had a long-range effort well held by Smith  in the Yeovil goal shortly after, but on 14 minutes Albi Skendi bundled Danny Williams over in the box to concede a penalty.

No complaints with the award and ex-Plymouth Argyle midfielder Summerfield sent Smith the wrong way from the spot to put Halifax ahead.

That goal probably came a little against the run of play with the home side having had some good early pressure, but things started to unravel after going behind.

The bad conditions – there was wind, hail and rain – seemed to hinder us with Carl Dickinson in particular struggling to find the right length with his set-pieces, whilst the visitors started to find some rhythm.

Summerfield‘s long shot from a well-worked free kick was well held by Smith in the 20th minute and then next chance fell to Billy Sass-Davies 15 minutes later when he headed wide from a corner.

The on-loan Crewe man could have had a couple of goals from set pieces at Wealdstone and should have at least made the keeper work here.

The final chance of the half fell to Smith – yes, Adam, the goalkeeper – whose long clearance forward went wide.

That gave former Glovers’ manager Steve Rutter, who was on co-commentary on the live stream, the chance to recall the time keeper Dave Fry scored from his own penalty box in an equally minging day back in 1991.

 

Half time: Yeovil Town 0 FC Halifax Town 1

SECOND HALF

Reid, who had an anonymous first half, started the second brightly with a stinging drive from the edge of the box superbly tipped wide by Halifax keeper Sam Johnson, and shortly after Knowles bent a free-kick inches wide.

On Reid, I have been called out for being critical of his lack of goals and, whilst his link up play and creativity has brought something to the side since joining us, I wish he’d have more efforts like he did here.

A fantastic run by Josh Neufville soon after was ended by a cynical trip by Summerfield on the edge of the box and Johnson made another great stop to keep out Knowles’ free-kick.

On the hour mark came the Glovers’ best chance so far, Michael Kelly’s ball in to the box was headed down by Joe Quigley to Chris Dagnall, but a combination of the keeper, defender and striker contrived to give Johnson  a chance to grab the ball.

The first 20 minutes of the second half showed clearly that having at your backs is not the benefit that some amateur analysts (see above tweet) thought it might be, with the visitors failing to take advantage of the conditions in the second half as their hosts had in the first.

It was Yeovil who were asking all the questions. Dickinson made Johnson work from a wide free-kick and then, with 10 minutes remaining, a superb cross-field pass from Skendi found Knowles but his ball across the box was cleared away by Halifax.

The game changed with seven minutes remaining when Reid broke in to the box and looked to be pulled back  by Niall Maher, but referee Swallow was not interested.

The Shaymen then broke down the other end with top-scorer Jake Hyde, on as a substitute, getting a ball in that was cleared as far as Summerfield whose shot was parried by Smith as far as Kieran Green who stabbed it in.

In 60 seconds, Yeovil went from potentially getting level to being 2-0 down.

Then, in the first minute of injury time, Alex Bradley failed to cut out a forward ball and Hyde ran through to slot past Smith.

The linesman had his flag up, but unfortunately got enough on it to make Hyde onside and referee Swallow gave the goal. He was due getting a decision right, I guess.

Yes, I know, first rule of the Gloverscast…..

Full time: Yeovil Town 0 FC Halifax Town 3 (Summerfield, pen, Green, Hyde)

YEOVIL TOWN: A. Smith, Dickinson (c), Kelly, Sass-Davies, Skendi, J.Smith, Knowles, Neufville, Dagnall, Quigley, Reid.
Substitutes: Bradley (for J. Smith, 74), Sonupe (for Dagnall, 84), Hunt (for Skendi, 86). Not used: Evans Stephens.
Bookings: Dickinson, Skendi, J.Smith, Reid, A.Smith.

FC HALIFAX TOWN: Johnson, King, Bradbury, Byrne, Clarke (c), Maher, Woods, Summerfield, Chadwick, Green, Williams.
Substitutes: Hyde (for Bradbury, 66), Stephenson (for Chadwick, 78). Not used: Davison-Hale, Senior, Spence.
Bookings: Bradbury, Summerfield, Green.

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A clean sheet, two nicely-taken goals and a second half to forget is not a bad summary of Yeovil Town’s first trip to Wealdstone in many supporters’ memories.

But, given the background to the past few weeks at Huish Park with the passing of captain Lee Collins, many would agree that a fourth win from the last six is a great result for Darren Sarll’s men.

It moved the Glovers up to the top of the bottom half in 13th place in the National League and this is how it played out…..

FIRST HALF

The Glovers’ starting XI was unchanged from the 3-0 home win over Solihull Moors on Tuesday night, with the only changed coming on the bench where Alex Bradley returned from injury to replace Rhys Murphy, and young keeper Max Evans took the place of Matt Worthington.

It did not take long to figure out why Wealdstone have conceded six and seven in their previous two home games with Billy Sass-Davies heading just wide before Joe Quigley had good chance blocked.

In the 14th minute, a Charlie Lee cross found Chris Dagnall who laid it back to Tom KNOWLES who hammered home a crisp strike to open the scoring.

Quigley had a good chance six minutes later when a quick throw from Knowles found him in the box, he showed a good first touch but put the ball wide with his second.

The in-form striker made amends on 23 minutes when, after a number of shots rained in from the Glovers, the ball landed to QUIGLEY in the box and he coolly slotted in his fourth in two games.

One disappointing thing in the first half was a yellow card for Lee who talked himself in to the book after ex-Glovers’ loanee Connor Smith shoved Tom Knowles in the back.

We’ve spoken on the podcast about the frustration of players getting booked for dissent, and it could have cost Lee shortly after when he put in a feisty tackle. That said, Smith proved himself to be a bit of a plum – to put it politely.

One peculiar thing which those tuning in to the live stream will have noticed, was the number of people who appeared to be inside the ground; perhaps it was the camera angle but it certainly seemed busy on the near side.

When the half-time whistle blew, the biggest disappointment was that it was only 2-0 to the Glovers.

Half time: Wealdstone 0 Yeovil Town 2

SECOND HALF

The start of the second half belonged to Wealdstone’s teenage keeper Jake Askew who pulled off two great saves to deny Sass-Davies‘ header and Lee‘s shot from successive Dickinson corners.

Just before those saves, there were three penalty appeals – two for Yeovil and one for the Wealdstone – none of which given surprisingly considering the referee was not afraid to get his cards out with four bookings apiece.

Quigley had a shot cleared off the line shortly after but, despite their chances, there was not a huge amount of quality on show with the hosts seemingly bringing Yeovil down to their level.

Wealdstone’s finishing proved to be as poor as their defending with Charlie Hughes putting a free header over – albeit the linesman’s flag was up, not that he knew that.

That said, it was the hosts who had the better of possession but could not punish some shaky defending from Yeovil.

Sarll responded by bringing on Emmanuel Sonupe and Reuben Reid to try and push on for more goals in the closing stages.

Sonupe had a great run forward, only to run in to a blind alley, and Neufville had a moment of indecisiveness in the box which saw another opportunity peter out.

Possibly the highlight of the second half was seeing Alex Bradley come on for his first appearance since the middle of March, and in true Yeovil Town versatile fashion the full-back slotted in to midfield.

That said, a second successive clean sheet, a couple of decent goals, a hard-fought second half if lacking in quality will keep us all happy.

Full time: Wealdstone 0 Yeovil Town 2 (Knowles, Quigley)

WEALDSTONE: Askew, Phillips, Olowu, Okimo (c), Wishart, Charles, Smith, Dyer, Green, Mendy, Lewis.
Subs not used: Shelvey, Hughes, Parish, Lo-Everton, Gondoh.
Bookings: Smith, Charles, Phillips, Wishart.

YEOVIL TOWN: A. Smith, Dickinson (c), Kelly, Sass-Davies, Skendi, J.Smith, Lee, Knowles, Neufville, Quigley, Dagnall.
Subs not used: Evans, Sonupe, Hunt, Bradley, Reid.
Bookings: Lee, Quigley, Skendi, Kelly.