The Rowley-coaster took another sharp dip as Yeovil Town’s FA Trophy dream died at the hands of lower league Southport. Dave was among the away supporters in Merseyside yesterday and here are his thoughts.
The dream is over and we only have ourselves to blame: Penalties are a lottery, but we picked all the wrong numbers in that second half. We were the better side in the first half but missed too many chances to put ourselves further in front at half-time and with the scoreline at 1-0, and that meant Southport always had a chance. They came out for the second half with that knowledge firmly in their minds and our substitutions assisted, we just got deeper and deeper as the second half progressed and Southport took full advantage. The miss from Chris Sze about 20 minutes before their equaliser should have been a wake up call, but we just did not wake up.
We lost the penalty lottery: After Brett McGavin had shown the way with the first penalty in the shoot-out, the choice of Aaron Jarvis for the next one was bizarre. In his pre-match comments, Billy Rowley had said Jarvis had travelled separately having been suffering with food poisoning and it showed, he offered nothing for the entire second half and to not even get his penalty on target spoke of someone who was either ill or has given up – or both. Jed Ward’s heroics in shoot-outs has got us this far in the competition, but there’s only so much he can do when two of his team-mates can’t even hit the target.
Is there any point mentioning the need for a striker?: It feels like we say it in every one of these Conclusions articles, but when you look at the chances we spurned before James Daly pounced on a mistake, it seems so blindingly obvious. I get the difficulties with finding someone at this stage of the season, but when you see other clubs in our division signing strikers, is it really that hard? Really?! Campbell did alright when he was on in the first half, but the fact he can’t complete more than 45 minutes speaks volumes. Less said about Jarvis the better.
Credit to Southport: You have to tip your hat to Southport, they never gave up and the 3,000-odd fans inside Haig Avenue created a fantastic atmosphere. The fans I met before the game had much more of a sense of humour of the ribbing about being Scousers than the more sensitive ones on social media, and they thoroughly deserve their place in the semi-final. I hope they get a Merseyside derby against Marine in the FA Trophy this time around.
This has to be a wake-up call: The progress in the FA Trophy has papered over some cracks in our squad, but now they have to be laid bare. There is no point in glossing over it, with the exception of a very select few, this squad is simply not up to it. There are 13 more league games left to play and we have to hope that there’s enough desire and quality in this side to get us over that line. If anyone in a position of control at the club thinks there is going to be the type of success which will bring in the crowds without major investment in the playing squad, they need to think again. If you ever thought this wasn’t a roller-coaster, the thrilling high of late win against Sutton on Wednesday and the devastating drop at Southport tells you differently.
Absolutely spot on analysis