Yeovil Town picked up a huge three points yesterday against FC Halifax Town in dire conditions. Ian was at Huish Park and here are his Five Conclusions…
This was a massive result. Off the back of last week’s defensive shut out against Notts County, it was important to show the progress with three points at Huish Park and the Glovers delivered. FC Halifax have had their own problems this season but have turned a corner and were unbeaten in four league games before yesterday. Now it’s Mark Cooper’s Yeovil who are unbeaten in four and showing the ability to put in different performances to grind out points. With Maidstone, Aldershot and Altrincham picking up wins, the three points yesterday look even more valuable.
The conditions played their part. It was a pretty dour game of football in truth, largely down to the horrendous weather. In the first half, Yeovil tried the patient game to keep the ball, much to the frustration of supporters at times, but when that final ball came the Glovers couldn’t get it right. The ball either skidded off the surface or the wind carried it out of play. Halifax had the same problem in the second half when they had the wind (and rain) behind them. We’ve seen plenty of teams struggle to play at Huish Park in those conditions and yesterday was no different. When you look at what Yeovil had to defend in, with ten-men for the last quarter of an hour, the result is even more impressive.
Matt Worthington had a busy afternoon. It looks like we’ve finally found our penalty taker. After Malachi Linton’s and Alex Fisher’s misses earlier this season, when Aaron Jackson penalised a Halifax defender for holding in the box (after warning him 20 second earlier) I was wondering who’d be stepping up. Worthy grabbed the ball pretty quickly and put himself front and centre. When you’ve missed two in a season, with different players, it builds up to what was quite a high pressure moment in a season and Worthy made no mistake. A well struck penalty, which the keeper could do no more to stop put Yeovil ahead and proved to be the deciding goal.
Mr Jackson in the middle seemed to enjoy getting his cards out. In the 75th minute when Worthington went down under a challenge from Luke Summerfield outside the Halifax box it looked like Yeovil had an opportunity in a decent position. What followed was a second yellow for Worthington and a red card for a dive. From my view, it looked like there was a kick on the ankle, and without getting too ‘he’s not that type of player’ if Yeovil had one player who doesn’t go down easily, or look for fouls it would probably be Worthy. His suspension leaves a big hole in midfield ahead of another crucial match next weekend against our pals Bromley.
Last week set us up perfectly for the last 15 minutes. As soon as Worthington was sent off, the game really fired up. Yeovil got themselves into a solid defensive structure and looked well prepared to see off Halifax’s threat with ten men. The Shaymen grew frustrated when passes went awry, got in the referees ear when Grant Smith was taking a little long on goal kicks and every time they conceded a freekick or throw to Yeovil, you could see there frustration build as time ticked away. The concentration levels never dipped as the back line were bombarded by wind, rain and the Halifax attack and the Glovers held on resolutely.
Never in doubt…