Four second half goals saw Yeovil Town cruise to a comfortable 5-0 win at near neighbours Dorchester Town in their fourth pre-season friendly on Tuesday night.
A double from playmaker Jordan Maguire-Drew and further goals from strikers Rhys Murphy and Frank Nouble added to a first half strike from trialist Walter Figueira.
Here’s how Ian saw it from his spot on the terraces at The Avenue Stadium….
First half
The visitors began with a youthful looking line-up with Under-18s graduates Jacob Shore and Aidan Skiverton lining up alongside another product of the youth system Ollie Haste and Will Dawes.
There were three trialists with one familiar face in play-maker Sonny Blu Lo Everton, who played 36 times in green-and-white in the 2021-22 season and was released by League One side Derby County in the summer.
The other two trialists were less familiar faces with social media identifying one as forward Walter Figueira, who last saw service for Bognor Regis Town, with the other being Torquay United youth team defender, Brandon Quinn.
Lo-Everton did not take long to make an impact as his great footwork after 15 minutes created space for a cross and the ball landed to Dawes whose effort rattled the Dorchester bar.
The Glovers opened the scoring four minutes later when good work from Benjani Junior saw him square the ball FIGUEIRA just inside the box and his powerful effort went in to the bottom corner.
The trialist almost bagged a second on 25 minutes. He was sharpest after Dorchester keeper Lloyd Thomas spilled a Benjani effort at his feet but the keeper recovered to deny.
Lewis Williams, who finished last Friday’s friendly victory at Tiverton Town, had a couple of scary moments where he was caught off his line but Dorchester couldn’t capitalise.
The first half ended on a low point for Yeovil as Dawes went off injured. The wing-back appeared to be back-peddling on the artificial surface at the Avenue Stadium and went down.
Half-time: Dorchester Town 0 Yeovil Town 1
Second half
Unsurprisingly Alex Whittle replaced Dawes at the interval and there were a couple of half chances in the opening stages after the restart with Ollie Haste clearing off the line after a good run and cross from the hosts’s Shaquille Gwengwe.
At the other end, Jordan Young had an effort blocked on 53 minutes before Haste threw a leg at at Josh Owers corner a minute later, but his effort went wide.
But the difference came on 56 minutes when the obligatory mass of substitutions by visiting boss Mark Cooper saw the Glovers’ XI take on a far more first team feel.
Frank Nouble headed a Zac Bell cross over three minutes later and then on the hour mark Jordan Maguire-Drew found Rhys MURPHY who twisted and turned inside the box and fired in a trademark cool finish to double the advantage.
On 78 minutes, MAGUIRE-DREW went from creator to scorer adding Yeovil’s third with a sublime strike from outside the box. The number 10 picked up the ball and picked his spot with immaculate precision.
Despite hurting himself with his thunderbolt, MAGUIRE-DREW grabbed his second and the visitors’ fourth on 82 minutes with calm right-footed finish moments later, after a mix up in the Dorchester defence.
Then, with four minutes remaining, NOUBLE got in on the act shortly after. A great move between him, Murphy and Alex Whittle. A through ball from Murphy found Nouble who fired home.
Full time: Dorchester Town 0 Yeovil Town 5
Yeovil Town: Lewis Williams (for Will Buse, 56), Aidan Skiverton (for Jordan Maguire-Drew, 56), Jacob Shaw, Will Dawes (for Alex Whittle, 46), Ollie Haste (for Matt Worthington, 56), Brandon Quinn (for Rhys Murphy, 56), Sonny Blu Lo-Everton (for Charlie Cooper 56), Josh Owers (for Jake Wannell, 56), Benjani Junior (for Zac Bell, 56), Jordan Young (for Morgan Williams, 56), Walter Figueira (for Frank Nouble, 56).