Yeovil’s winning run in National League South came to an end in at Chippenham Town this evening. Despite peppering the Chippenham goal in the second half the profligate Glovers failed to convert numerous chances. Substitute Jake Hyde gave the Glovers the lead in 76th minute, but a Morgan Williams own goal in the 90th minute earned Chippenham a point.
The Glovers remain nine points clear at the top of National League South.
Here’s how Ian saw it on National League TV….
First half
Mark Cooper made plenty of changes to the Yeovil side which lost to Torquay the weekend in the FA trophy. Michael Smith, Morgan Williams, Matt Worthington, Frank Nouble and Rhys Murphy all returned to the starting line up. Glovers supporters travelled in their numbers once again.
Chippenham had an early effort in the 6th minute with Freddie Grant’s low, left-footed shot saved comfortably by Joe Day.
Yeovil gained a foothold in possession and began to control proceedings and probably should have taken the lead on 10 minutes through Rhys Murphy. The striker could only fire wide after getting into the penalty box. Moments later, Murphy had a good freekick planed wide by Chippenham’s keeper.
The game opened up and the hosts had an effort from distance through Spokes, who could only fire wide.
Michael Smith very nearly scored his first goal in green and white after being played through by Sonny Blu Lo-Everton. The Northern Irishman was flagged for offside which drew few complaints from Yeovil players.
The Glovers had to be patient with the ball, with Chippenham proving difficult to break down and having their own spells of pressure.
Some intricate play saw Yeovil find Murphy inside the box, but the striker couldn’t get the ball out of his feet to get a shot away.
As the half wore on, Chippenham stood firm and had some good spells of possession while the Glovers huffed puffed.
Half time: Chippenham Town 0 Yeovil Town 0
Second half
Chippenham came out of the blocks fast at the beginning of the second half and Tom Mehew struck a left-footed effort agonisingly wide of Joe Day’s left hand post.
Matt Worthington should have opened the scoring shortly after. The midfielder broke into the box and found himself one-on-one with Henry in the Chippenham goal and shot straight at the keeper. Big chance!
Yeovil had a shout for penalty as a defender slapped the ball away from Murphy as he was doing some keepy-uppies in the box, with his back to goal trying to set up an overhead kick.
The Glovers really started to show dominance and Will Dawes came so close to opening the scoring, but fired just wide. Murphy had a header deflected just wide shortly afterwards.
There was concern for Dawes when he went down under a rough tackle, but he quickly got to his feet while Mark Cooper introduced Jordan Maguire-Drew for Sonny Cox around the hour mark.
Maguire-Drew was in the action early and had a decent free kick saved by the keeper.
Henry was called into action again moments later, making a great low save from Murphy, who swivelled and shot at goal. How didn’t that go in? Henry caught another from Frank Nouble header straight afterwards.
Yeovil finally broke the deadlock in the 76th minute. Nouble’s cross was headed at goal by Murphy, his effort was parried into the path of JAKE HYDE who tapped home! 1-0!
In the 80th minute, Murphy had another golden opportunity inside the six yard box in the and somehow couldn’t convert! It was not Murphy’s night…
Chippenham had a flurry at goal, with efforts straight at Joe Day but making the Glovers uncomfortable as time ticked away.
Day was called into a brilliant save four minutes from time. An effort from Tudolo fizzed across the surface and Day had to get down quickly to push the ball away. Nervy!
To top off Murphy’s evening the striker picked up his 5th yellow card and a one-match ban.
It went from bad to worse a minute later. A ball into the box was cleared headed away by Idehen but ricocheted off of Morgan Williams into Day’s net. Ugh! 1-1.
Full time: Chippenham Town 1 Yeovil Town 1
Match Details
Venue: Hardenhuish Park
Date: Tuesday 21st November, 7:45pm kick-off
Competition: National League South
Pitch: Pretty good, but a slope reminiscent of old Huish
Conditions: “F*****g Freezing” – David Coates
Attendance: 1326
Scorers: Hyde, Own Goal
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Will Dawes, 71, Murphy, 86
Chippenham Town: Luke Spokes
Referee: Shelby Elson
Yeovil Town (4-3-3)
Substitutes: Jake Hyde (for Will Dawes 71), Alex Fisher, Charlie Cooper (for Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, 71), Jordan Maguire-Drew (for Sonny Cox), Josh Staunton
Chippenham Town: Will Henry, Freddie Grant, Craig Fasanmade (for Aaron Amadi-Holloway), Luke Haines, Dan Ellison, Matt McClure, Tom Mehew, Luke Spokes, Leighton Tudolo, Caine Bradbury, Ed Williams
Substitutes (not used): Marcel Lewis, Will King, Tom Owen-Evans, Nat WIlliams.
What a load of sh1t , the amount of times we gave the ball away was shocking. Cooper needs to slap some sense into them. What a joke!
After one draw in eleven games, do we push the panic button? No way! Not a great performance and perhaps the new and returning players need time to settle (back) in. If after the Hemel game, someone offered what has been achieved to date, not many would complain and say it’s a poor return. An off night and there will be a few more along the way. We’ll be back to a stronger squad very soon and with it we start another run.
An off night but we still picked up a point. Had enough chances to win the game. You get games like that over a season. Main thing is we didn’t lose. Better off than we were before kick off. Go again Saturday. ?