Yeovil Town vice-captain Joe Gubbins said his side’s 1-1 draw at Scunthorpe United was a fair reflection of the Glovers’ efforts on the opening day of the new season.
The centre half, one of nine new summer signings who made the starting XI in Lincolnshire, was part of the visiting backline which controlled the attack of a side which reached the play-offs last season.
Having taken the lead through a cool Mason Obeng goal three minutes in to the second half, Yeovil had to put in a dogged defensive performance as Scunthorpe pushed for an equaliser which eventually came through Luke Brennan with a minute of normal time remaining.
Talking to BBC Somerset reporter Mark Stillman after the game, Gubbins said: “I think we really dug in and deservedly got a point and it probably could have been more. We’re all we’re really happy with the start, but we need to keep going and take it to next Saturday (at home to Carlisle United).
“At half-time we knew they would come at us, this is a hard place to come and I thought we stood up to them well and deserved our point.”
Gubbins played the full 90 minutes in defence alongside loanee Ben Radcliffe with Jordan Norville-Williams and Archie Davies alongside them, with Hayden Muller and Zain Westbrooke providing calmness when it was needed from midfield in front of them. There was also a National League debut for goalkeeper Jos Barker, who made one impressive stop to deny Scunthorpe winger Pat Jones in the first half, and Gubbins was full of praise for his keeper.
He said: “(Scunthorpe) is not an easy place to make your debut, so he was brilliant and it was a really commanding performance from him. It was good to have him behind us and he really helped us out. All the boys are getting on really well and I think you could see that out there.
“We are a new group and communication is massive especially with crowds like we had today. We are a new group and we need to talk to each other and I felt like we did that today.
“I felt we held them at bay really well and had the better chances and I am not sure about some of the offside calls (against McCormick), I felt we looked threatening on the counter attack and I thought it was a really good performance.”