Venue: Technique Stadium
Saturday 26 February, 17:20 kick-off
Conditions: A cold breeze
Pitch: Well worn, especially around the edges. Looked atrociously bobbly on the telly
Attendance: 5371 (128 away)
Scorers: Kellerman 45
Bookings: Barclay 31, Kellerman 57,
Referee: Thomas Parsons
Yeovil Town : (4-3-3)
Grant Smith
Mark Little, Luke Wilkinson, Ben Barclay, Morgan Williams
Matt Worthington (Lawson D’Ath 68) Josh Staunton Jordan Barnett (Lo Everton 77)
Charlie Wakefield, Adi Yussuf (Reuben Reid 82), Tom Knowles
Substitutes: Max Evans, Alex Bradley
Chesterfield: Loach, Miller, Whittle, Maguire, Grimes, King, Kellerman, Whelan, Mandeville, Quigley (Denton), Asante (Khan)
Subs: Williams, Rowley, Kerr
Match Report
Yeovil Town fell to a 1-0 defeat on the road at promotion chasing Chesterfield this evening with a stunning first half goal from James Kellerman settling the game.
The Glovers had the best of the first half, and could have been 2-0 up had efforts from Luke Wilkinson and Tom Knowles been centimetres in different directions.
Two out of form sides cancelled each other out in a largely uneventful and scrappy second half as the Glovers finished the day 14 points away from the playoffs.
Here’s how Ian saw the game, from the comfort of his living room…
First half
It all got a bit hairy at the back for Chesterfield in the 5th minute. Jordan Barnett’s lofted hopeful ball was chased down by Charlie Wakefield who beat Scott Loach to the ball and headed towards goal. The ball didn’t carry, though and was cleared off the line as Tom Knowles bared down on the Spireites defender.
Chesterfield’s first sniff at goal came 5 minutes later, through a left-footed shot from Akwasi Asante. The striker’s effort, from the left side of Yeovil’s penalty box flew wide of Grant Smith’s right hand post.
Luke Wilkinson should have put the Glovers ahead after quarter of an hour. Barnett’s delicious freekick fell to the skipper just outside the six-yard box with the whole goal to aim at, but centre back bobbled his shot into the ground straight at Loach, who got a smidgen of a touch on it to help it over the bar.
Grant Smith was at full stretch minutes later, as Grimes leapt above everyone in the box to head towards the top right corner.
On a bobbly surface, the Glovers certainly tried to play more than their opponents and were unfortunate not to go into the break 1-0 up through a wonderful strike from Tom Knowles that rebounded off of the bar.
In typical Yeovil fashion though, after having the better of the first half, they fell behind in stoppage time at the hands of a brilliant strike from James KELLERMAN. Ben Barclay cleared a Chesterfield cross which landed nicely at the feet of an unmarked Kellerman who seemed to slow time down to unleash an unsaveable effort into the corner of Smith’s goal. 0-1
After a strong first half performance, Yeovil could feel aggrieved to go in behind.
Half time: Chesterfield 0 Yeovil Town 1
Second half
Chesterfield, buoyed by their goal, came out the much stronger of the two sides in the second half applying plenty of pressure to the Glovers.
Yeovil had one of those ‘what could have been’ moments in the 52nd minute, where had Adi Yussuf made the right pass, he could have put Charlie Wakefield in on goal. As it was, the cohesion was totlly lacking and Yussuf conceded possession to Chesterfield.
Yeovil had another opportunity to counter moments later and Wakefield was cynically fouled by Kellerman. Luke Wilkinson lined up the resultant free kick, but could only find the side netting.
Yussuf should have pulled Yeovil level in the 65th minute. Josh Staunton flicked Knowles long throw into the heart of Chesterfield’s 6 yard box and the Yeovil striker’s contact wasn’t good enough to beat Loach, depite the appeals of some Yeovil players.
The quality of the game deteriorated through the second half and Chesterfield kept Yeovil at arms length, without creating anything for themselves, other than a header for Grimes in stoppage time.