Yeovil Town picked up their first back to back wins since the end of October as they eased past Maidenhead United at York Road.

The Glovers took the lead with seven minutes of normal time remaining in the first half as Frank Nouble thumped in a shot which cannoned off a Maidenhead defender and flew in to the net.

There was some solid defending required to keep out a Maidenhead side who came out for the second half much brighter, before substitute Harvey Greenslade hooked home the second with seven minutes remaining.

First half

The opening chance fell to Yeovil after just two minutes. A good move found Michael Smith on the right side and his ball in to the box came to Sonny Blu Lo-Everton whose shot was deflected wide for a corner.
 
There were a number of half chances (box entries?) which followed with Yeovil probing at the back five in the well-stocked Maidenhead defender. On ten minutes, a free-kick found by Brett McGavin found its way out to Charlie Cooper on the left side and his cross found the head of Jake Wannell in the middle, but the effort was held by Craig Ross.
 
The first opportunity for the home side fell to striker Shawn  McClowsky on 26 minutes who was found in the middle of the box but shot over the bar, before a great ball in from the effective Alex Whittle picked out Ciaran McGuckin  inside the box but his header was well saved by Ross. The pressure was all Yeovil with Maidenhead preferring to play like the away team, sitting deep and hitting on the break.
 
The deadlock was broken on 38 minutes when a sustained period of Yeovil pressure saw a corner worked out to Cooper on the left again and Frank NOUBLE timed his run perfectly and smashed a shot towards goal. It looked to take a deflection off someone on its way in to the net, with the away side crediting Nouble and the home side putting it down as an own goal. If you don’t shoot, you don’t score, so we’ll give it to Frank.
 
Yeovil celebrate the opening goal from Frank Nouble – probably.
Overall, Yeovil looked good value for their half-time lead with a controlled performance. Solid without being spectacular.

Half time: Maidenhead United 0 Yeovil Town 1

Second half

The home side made two changes at the interval with Joshua Johnson and Ricky Korboa brought on and it was Maidenhead who started the second half like they had received a half-time dressing down from their manager.
 
But the  first chance of the half fell to Yeovil after ten minutes when McGavin threaded a ball through to Lo-Everton inside the box whose shot was parried away by Ross, before Will de Havilland’s headed wide from a Reece Smith corner four minutes later.
 

Having gone more than hour without a booking, Yeovil picked up two stupid ones within the space of a minute. First Charlie Cooper saw yellow for squaring up to McGuckin who he felt had not done enough to stop a Maidenhead raid down the left side. Then moments later, Yeovil were awarded a free-kick for a foul on Aidan Stone from a corner, the ball fell to Lo-Everton whose hoofed it away. Kicking the ball away, bookable offence. 

Not long after his public dressing down, McGuckin was replaced by Josh Sims. Whilst I understand why Cooper felt the need to do that and we have all called for leaders to set standards on the pitch, the harsh words felt like they would have been enough. In my opinion, grabbing McGuckin in the way Cooper did was too much.
 
With eight minutes left, the visitors doubled there advantage. A deep free-kick in to the box from Michael Smith looked to have missed all the Yeovil forwards, but substitute Harvey GREENSLADE had different ideas. He bustled in to the defender, controlled it on his chest before bringing it under his spell, swivelling and firing it in to the net. From the other end of the ground it looked special, on the replay it was even better. 
 
There was even a chance for a third with a minute to go when substitute Dom Bernard picked out Nouble on the left, he powered towards goal and flashed a ball across the face of goal with Lo-Everton flying in. Today was a different Frank Nouble to the one I saw at Dagenham & Redbridge just a fortnight earlier – and I am here for it. This was The Guv’nor and we need him in this form.

Full time: Maidenhead United 0 Yeovil Town 2

Match Details

Venue: York Road
Date: Saturday 22nd February, 3pm kick-off

Competition: National League Premier Division

Scorers: Frank Nouble 38 (1-0), Harvey Greenslade 82 (2-0)

Pitch: Not terrible for this point of the season
Conditions: Sunny and bright

Attendance: 1,330 

Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Charlie Cooper 68, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton 69
Maidenhead United: Larry-Fairweather 10, Abrahams 42, Tyrese Dyce 82.

Referee: Callum Walchester

Yeovil Town (3-4-2-1)

Substitutes: Harvey Greenslade (for Kyrell Wilson, 56), Josh Sims (for Ciaran McGuckin, 70), Dom Bernard (for Brett McGavin, 80), Lewys Twamley (not used), Sean McGurk (not used), Matt Gould (not used).

Maidenhead United: Craig Ross, Will de Havilland, Thierry Latty-Fairweather (for Tyrese Dyce, 72), Shawn McClousky, Kane Ferdinand, Casey Pettit (for Ricky Korboa, 46), Reece Smith (for Sam Barratt, 84), Miles Welch-Hayes, Tristan Abrahams (for Tobi Sho-Silva, 84), Alan Massey (for Joshua Johnson, 46), Manny Onarise.

Substuitutes (not used): Harvey Collins, Owen Cochrane.

Subscribe
Notify of

1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
SheFellOver
1 month ago

Has anybody before seen a player be booked for an attack on his own team?

0
Reply