Venue: Meadow Lane
Saturday 5 March, 3pm kick-off
Conditions: Cold and breezy.
Pitch: Like a snooker table in comparison with what Chesterfield served up in the previous match.
Attendance: 6,943 (223 away supporters)
Scorers: Alex Bradley 47 (1-0), Alex Lacey 90+4 (1-1)
Bookings:
Notts: Francis 41, Chicksen 54, Rodrigues 70, Sam 73.
Yeovil: Bradley 54, Williams 90+6.
Referee: Matthew Dicicco
Yeovil Town : (4-3-3)
Grant Smith
Mark Little, Luke Wilkinson, Ben Barclay, Morgan Williams
Alex Bradley, Josh Staunton, Dale Gorman
Jordan Barnett, Charlie Wakefield, Tom Knowles
Substitutes: Lawson D’Ath (for Bradley, 63), Matt Worthington (for Barnett 79), Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, Reuben Reid (for Knowles 87), Adi Yussuf.
Notts County: Jaros, Chicksen, Cameron (for Lacey, 28), Rawlinson, Richardson (For Kelly-Evans, 57), Francis (for Mitchell, 79), Palmer, Rodrigues, Sam, Roberts, Wooton.
Substitutes: Lacey, Kelly-Evans, Brunt, Nemane, Mitchell.
Match Report
Yeovil Town’s inability to kill a game off saw them denied an impressive win at promotion chasing Notts County who grabbed a late equaliser.
Having gone ahead just two minutes in to the second half when Alex Bradley capitalised on a defensive mix up, the Glovers had to withstand pressure from the hosts.
Just when it looked as if they might manage that, Alex Lacey’s header deep in to nine minutes of stoppage time added on meant the visitors settled for a point.
Here is Coatesie’s perspective from the away end at Meadow Lane….
First half
Having been exposed on the break on a couple of early forays forward by the home side, the first proper chance came on four minutes on a break away led by Charlie Wakefield who picked out Tom Knowles but his shot was deflected wide for a corner.
Eli Sam, the Notts striker with five goals in his last five matches, had a header smartly stopped by Grant Smith soon after, before Kyle Wootton’s deflected effort was blocked on the line by Luke Wilkinson.
A lot of the home side’s threat was coming down the flanks with Sam on the left and Callum Roberts on the right.
On 22 minutes, it was Roberts’ whipped ball in from the right wing which found Ruben Rodrigues whose diving header went wide with only Smith to beat. Golden opportunity.
Notts lost captain Kyle Cameron on 28 minutes after an innocuous looking tussle with Knowles. He was replaced by former Glover Alex Lacey, and moments later Ben Barclay put a header in to the hands of hosts’ keeper Vitezslav Jaros from a Knowles long throws.
Six minutes from half-time, a ball through from Alex Bradley set Barnett away down the left but his ball in to Wakefield was over hit giving Notts the chance to clear. It was yet another almost moment for us going forward.
In terms of clear cut chances, Rodrigues’ header wide was as good as it got for either side in a scrappy opening 45 minutes.
For a side pushing for promotion with a dearth of attacking talent in their squad, Notts County have not lived up to their billing and us….surprise, surprise, we look a side sorely lacking a striker.
Half time: Notts County 0 Yeovil Town 0
Second half
Any fans returned from the half time break late will have missed a misjudged header back to Jaros which found the younger keeper all at sea. The ball eventually broke to Alex BRADLEY who lifted it over the stranded keeper.
That seemed to spark the home side in to action and on 53 minutes danger man Roberts got on the ball and fired a ball in to the near post where Rodrigues stabbed it goalwards but Smith denied him with an instinctive stop with his feet.
On the hour mark, Gorman’s free-kick found Wilkinson in the middle but he could not quite get enough contact to give Jaros more than a simple save.
As the game reached its closing stages, the wind off the nearby River Trent started to pick up and free-kicks were causing both defences.
On 77 minutes, another deep free-kick found Wilkinson in a bit dissimilar position to the one he found himself in at Chesterfield seven days earlier. This time he could not get clean contact on it.
There was battling, hassling, harrying from a Yeovil side who truly do not know when they are beaten, but the biggest lift came when nine minutes of injury time came up on the board.
Some of the stream of home fans leaving Meadow Lane turned around, sending something was about to happen and, a couple of minutes in to the nine it did. A lofted free-kick in found the head of Alex LACEY who seemed to have the freedom of the penalty area to head home.
But, it wasn’t over there, moments later the ball broke to D’Ath who brought it forward and squared it to substitute Reuben Reid. The ball ran under his foot and away to safety.