Venue: York City
Tuesday 21st February, 7.45pm kick-off
Conditions: Chilly night
Pitch: Green and brown in places
Attendance: 1,015
Scorers: Sam Barratt 40 (0-1), Reece Smith 66 (0-2)
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Ryan Law 55, Lawson D’Ath 66
Maidenhead United: Will de Havilland 38, Kane Ferdinand 90
Referee: Richie Watkins
Yeovil Town (5-3-2)
Substitutes: Andrew Oluwabori (for Jamie Reckord, 46), Jordan Maguire-Drew (for Jordan Young, 64), Malachi Linton (for Lawson D’Ath, 72), Will Dawes (not used), Will Buse (not used).
Maidenhead United: Andrew, Asara, de Havilland, Nataniel-George (for Sparkes, 86), Massey, Odutayo, Barratt, Acquah (for McCoulsky, 83), Adams, Smith (for Leathers, 74). Substitute not used: Panayiotou.
Match Report
Only goal difference separates Yeovil Town from the National League relegation places after they went down to a 2-0 defeat at fellow strugglers Maidenhead United on Tuesday night.
Having bossed possession without doing much to threaten the hosts’ goal, the Glovers fell behind when forward Sam Barratt was gifted the freedom of the six yard box on 41 minutes to bundle home an opener.
Reece Smith added a second after a shambolic piece of defending from the visitors on 65 minutes and Yeovil offered very little to make any difference at the other end.
A win for Gateshead, who occupy the top of the division’s bottom four, pushed them level on points with us separated by just two goals on goal difference.
First half
The opening 15 minutes was an utterly forgettable affair with the only kind of entertainment coming from a penalty appeal from the home side when Emile Acquah went down under well-timed Josh Staunton tackle in the third minute.
There was some early pressure from Maidenhead with Ashley Nathaniel-George causing problems down the right, but as the half drew on it was Yeovil who began to get control of the play.
Jordan Young hammered one over the bar on 23 minutes and ten minutes later Alan Massey saw an effort turned over the bar at the other end, but the best chance of the game came from Young on 38 minutes.
A promising forward run from the forward was ended by a forceful tackle from Will de Havilland and the ex-Chippenham Town man’s effort from the free-kick which follows was turned aside by Alexis Andre Junior in the hosts’ goal.
But, as sure as eggs is eggs, the visitors took the lead just three minutes later. A corner in from the right found Sam BARRATT given the freedom of the six yard box by the Yeovil defence and he bundled the ball home.
Having controlled the possession – admittedly without doing much with it – the Glovers found themselves a goal behind. Utterly soft goal and one which drops us to within a place of the National League’s drop zone, at least temporarily.
If you parted with £9.50 for the stream, you’ve been robbed. If you have traveled and paid for a match ticket, get yourself a Crime Reference Number – where there’s blame, there’s a claim.
No idea how anyone can watch this five at the back formation and think “yeah, that’s doing the job”.
Half time: Maidenhead United 1 Yeovil Town 0
Second half
Following his impact off the bench in the home defeat to league leaders Notts County last weekend, Yeovil boss Mark Cooper introduced Andrew Oluwabori at half-time.
There was a sharp intake of breath two minutes after the restart when Grant Smith went walkabout in the Yeovil penalty area and, luckily for him, there was no-one there in a black-and-white shirt to bang the ball home.
Within six minutes of the restart, Oluwabori was showing why he had been introduced with his cross clipping the top of the crossbar. Surely it took a deflection? Nothing given.
If ever you needed to know that this was a game between two of the division’s lowest scorers, it wouldn’t have taken you 63 minutes to figure out why. But, at that point Jordan Maguire-Drew was introduced in place of Young.
Within seconds, the hosts doubled their advantage. A great run from Idris Odutayo was followed by ropey clearance from on loan defender Ryan Law and the ball fell to Reece SMITH who volleyed in to the bottom corner. Absolutely shambolic defending from Yeovil.
Sensing blood, Maidenhead went in search of a third with the visitors’ rocking at the back. Kane Ferdinand almost found it on 71 minutes, only denied by a save from Smith and then with ten minutes remaining Barratt almost added his second when his effort was tipped wide.
Cooper fired an effort just past the post on 74 minutes to prove the away side had actually figured we changed ends at half-time and with five minutes to go Maguire-Drew’s effort was easily held by Andre Junior in the Magpies’ goal.
Substitute Malachi Linton blazed one over the bar in second half injury time, but the reality is that we could have stayed out there all night and not scored.
With Gateshead picking up a home win over Oldham Athletic we are now separated from the relegation places by just goal difference, albeit we have a game in hand over the team below us. Oh, by the way, it’s away at Wrexham in April – but I can’t imagine they’ll have much to play for by then. *face, palm*
If you didn’t believe we were in a relegation scrap before, believe it now.
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