Venue: Grosvenor Vale
Tuesday, February 8th, 7.45pm kick-off
Conditions: Dry and still
Pitch: A bit thin in places and a bit of a slope
Attendance: 1,175 (135 away supporters)
Scorers: Josh Umerah 38 (0-1), Nikola Tavares 43 (0-2), Dale Gorman pen 62 (1-2)
Referee: Aji Ajibola
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Williams 77, Wilkinson 85
Wealdstone: Wickens 63,
Sending off:
Yeovil Town : (4-3-3)
Grant Smith
Morgan Williams (for Alex Bradley, 78) Luke Wilkinson Ben Barclay Jack Robinson
Matt Worthington (for Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, 57) Josh Staunton Dale Gorman
Charlie Wakefield Reuben Reid (for Adi Yussuf, 57) Tom Knowles
Substitutes: Max Evans, Alex Bradley, Toby Stephens Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, Adi Yussuf.
Wealdstone: Wickens, McAvoy, Cook, Okimo, Tavares, Mascoll (for Mundle-Smith, 73), Ferguson, Henry, Elito (for Browne, 82), Umerah, Jackson (for Cooper, 64).
Substitutes: Browne, Sesay, Dyer, Mundle-Smith, Cooper.
Match Report
Shoddy defending and a lack of goal threat saw Yeovil Town‘s awful form against the National League’s lower ranked sides Wealdstone.
The performance lacked the energy which has characterised many performances this season, whilst their part-time opponents displayed it and got themselves 2-0 ahead at half-time.
A penalty kick from Dale Gorman gave the visitors almost half-an-hour to salvage some respectability from the performance but our powder puff attacking play let us down yet again.
First half
Reuben Reid was brought in as part of a front three supported by Tom Knowles and ex-Stones’ man Charlie Wakefield in place of Jordan Barnett, who missed out with an ankle injury which saw him go off in Saturday’s goalless draw with Solihull Moors.
The other change saw Jack Robinson replace Mark Little, who played 76 minutes at the weekend as he continues his recovery from foot surgery, with the Middlesbrough loanee in at left-back with Morgan Williams coming on the right side.
It was an end-to-end start with the home side starting the fastest. The speedy Ira Jackson which Grant Smith in the visitors’ goal had to turn over after six minutes, and five minutes later a poor goal kick from the stopper landed to Josh Umerah whose shot well blocked by Williams.
The first meaningful effort for the visitors fell to Wakefield who twisted and turned and unleashed a shot which Fulham loan keeper George Wickens did well to keep out.
On 21 minutes, Yeovil had the ball in the net when Dale Gorman surprised us all by floating a ball in (rather than his trademark shot) and he effort was well turned home by Josh Staunton whose run was mistimed and the flag was raised against him.
Knowles had an effort stopped by Wickens soon after and if the either side could finish a chance, this could have been a lot more entertaining. Give us Kabongo Tshimanga and we could be top – honest!
The big difference with this first half performance from Yeovil was that defensively we looked wobbly against one of the few teams who have scored less than us this season.
But, out of nothing, the shot from Jackson was partly blocked by Ben Barclay and despite that taking the sting out of the ball, Josh UMERAH was quickest to get in front of Luke Wilkinson and the ball to stab it home. 1-0 to the home side on 38 minutes.
SYLs GOALS LIVE- Wealdstone 1 Yeovil 0 @Josh_htt pic.twitter.com/t7CyyladFM
— Syl Allen (@syl_isylma) February 8, 2022
Then four minutes later it was 2-0 through more shambolic defending, this time from a corner. Aaron Henry’s ball found its way to the back post and, whilst the visitors’ defence were statuesque and it landed at the feet of Nikola TAVARES.
Tavares was Johnny on the spot to put the Stones 2 up come half time. @Wealdstone_FC @YTFC pic.twitter.com/ux65cPZs9i
— Stones Goals Live (@StonesGoals) February 8, 2022
We’ve been told that our lack of goals means we cannot afford to make mistakes, but there’s two we’ve made. Ugh.
Half time: Wealdstone 2 Yeovil Town 0
Second half
A high, wide and not so handsome effort from Gorman and a 20-yard shot from Knowles were as near as the visitors got to testing Wickens in the hosts goal.
But, in an attempt to change the game, Darren Sarll introduced Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, who spent the end of last season with Wealdstone, and Adi Yussuf in place of Matt Worthington and Reid.
Credit: Weymouth Flickr
It seemed that something had to come from nowhere for Yeovil and on 62 minutes it did. Gorman appeared to be going nowhere inside the box and he was brought down and GORMAN stepped up to coolly slot home the penalty. 2-1.
You would have hoped that would have put the visitors’ tails up, but unfortunately it did not seem to spark much of a reaction.
In the final 30 minutes, the biggest problem for Yeovil seemed to be getting the ball off their hosts with the next biggest problem doing anything with it when they got it.
It took until ten minutes from time for either side to fashion a chance. Initially Umerah had a shot blocked for the home side and then the game swung to the other end where Knowles and Gorman both had efforts before the ball broke to Robinson whose effort went wide.
Former Glovers’ winger Rhys Browne, on as a substitute, nearly added the old boy’s curse to the indignity already felt by his old employers but one effort crept just the wrong side of the post and then was denied by a good save from Smith.
The result in one of our games in hand over those in the top half of the table was yet another missed opportunity for the Glovers.
We remain in 12th place in the National League, ten points off the play-off places and 19 points off W*ymouth who occupy the division’s last relegation spot.