Yeovil Town drew a blank in front of goal as they were forced to settle for a point under the floodlights of Friday night football at Huish Park against play-off chasing Gateshead.
It was loanee Sean McGurk who came the closest to scoring for the Glovers when he slammed a shot against the base of the post in the second minute of the game and the hosts arguably edge the first half.
In the second it was definitely Gateshead’s with Luke Hannant curling an effort against the inside of the post with five minutes remaining before Ollie Wright pulled off an outstanding save from Will McGowan to seal the clean sheet and the point.
First half
It was an eventful bit of team news with manager Mark Cooper confirming the absence of striker Aaron Jarvis would be for the next three months and such was the reaction that the absence of defender Morgan Williams from the starting XI barely got a mention.
There were returns to the line-up of left-back Alex Whittle alongside club captain Matt Worthington who took the armband for his 250th appearance for the Glovers. New signing forward Lewys Twamley was named amongst the substitutes.
We had thought it was a back three (a fair guess) but it is Dom Bernard and Whittle taking up the right and left positions in defence with Jake Wannell and Finn Cousin-Dawson in the centre of the defence. Brett McGavin is playing (at least for the start of this game) as the deeper of his partnership with Charlie Cooper.
The opening chance fell to Yeovil and it was so close to going it after just two minutes. Josh Sims’ ball found Ciaran McGuckin with his back to goal, he could not turn the defenders but managed to find Sean McGurk just inside the box and the Swindon Town loanee smashed his shot off the foot of the post. So close.
We are moving the ball quicker. This is not a drill, we are moving the ball quicker. For the opening ten minutes, we weathered a bit of a storm but gave as good as we got against a Gateshead side which were very keen to dominate possession.
There was a blow for the visitors after just 12 minutes as defender Max Sheaf, recently signed following his release from Scottish side Ross County, went down injured and was replaced by Charlie Colkett.
The tactic from the Yeovil midfield seems to be to try and draw the Gateshead defence out by playing a little deeper, presumably to free up for some space for McGuckin to run in to.
There’s not been a lot of action for either goalkeeper, a bit of a tactical chess game going on here. Some restless shouts from the Huish Park stands and judging from Mark Cooper’s gesticulation, he wants the ball forward as well. That speed of moving the ball I mentioned earlier has slackened off somewhat.
With 90 seconds of the first half remaining, a Charlie Cooper corner was not dealt with by Gateshead keeper Owen Mason and there was a scramble inside the box which Finn Cousin-Dawson headed wide. The offside flag was up, so it was academic anyway.
There was a yellow card for Gateshead captain Kenton Richardson for a foul on Josh Sims which led to the best chance since the second minute. Cooper’s free-kick in to the box was knocked back across goal by Jake Wannell and Matt Worthington stretched to try and turn it home but could not quite reach it.
A technical battle but we held our own and there was more energy and purpose going forward compared to the past couple of matches. We have arguably edged it, but GERRIT FORWARD, YEOVIL!
Half time: Yeovil Town 0 Gateshead 0
Second half
The first chance (if you can call it that) of the second half fell to the visitors’ Louis Flower after five minutes of the restart. A ball in between Wannell and Whittle was not dealt with by either player but fortunately Flower could only put it over the away end and possibly on to the top pitches. Those individual errors we have been feeling the brunt of recently almost cost us again there.
Gateshead have stepped it up this half and are moving the ball quickly (lovely) and there was a bit of pressure in our area without forcing Ollie Wright in to action.
There was an effort from McGurk who was found by a beautiful ball from Brett McGavin affair 56 minutes and moments later Ben Worman had one easily held by Wright. Cagey affair this one.
On 59 minutes, new signing Lewys Twamley replaced Josh Sims.
Gateshead’s foothold in the game is getting firmer and firmer as Yeovil drop deeper and deeper and on 61 minutes Jean Belehouan’s shot from inside the box went narrowly wide. It is one-way traffic with the visitors dominating and starting to create openings.
Another injury blow to add to the losses of Jarvis and Williams as another key player goes off the pitch. Brett McGavin limping off after 64 minutes replaced by Jacob Maddox.
On 66 minutes, Jake Wannell found himself unmarked inside the box to pick his spot from Cooper’s free-kick, but he got it all wrong. A great delivery but Wannell got it all wrong and found himself in the wrong position and headed in to the Thatcher’s End. That was a chance.
Kofi Shaw replaced Sean McGurk after 70 minutes. It looks like a tactical change as well with Worthington getting further forward with Twamley and Shaw in behind McGuckin.
With ten minutes remaining, there was almost a beautiful end to the script as Yeovil pressured the ball and McGuckin fed the ball through to Worthington who forced a fine stop out of Owen Mason on his 250th appearance. Worthy’s 250th appearance, that is.
There was another great chance with eight minutes remaining. The ball pinging around inside the Gateshead box, Maddox’s shot was blocked but broke to Shaw who inexplicably put the effort wide. Luckily for him the linesman’s flag spared his blushes. It’s Yeovil who are on top for now.
But, within seconds it was the visitors who had two glorious opportunities within the space of 90 seconds. On 86 minutes, Luke Hannant’s curling effort looked to be creeping in to the corner of the net only to come off the inside of the post and away to safety, then seconds later Will McGowan tried to curl one only to be denied by an outstanding save from Ollie Wright. Take a bow, son!
We are looking like the walking wounded here, Alex Whittle, who looked like he was running backwards against Belehouan before the Hannant effort, is getting stretched out by a team-mate, and Matt Worthington is replaced by Frank Nouble after 88 minutes. Huish Park rises to recognise the 250th appearance from their captain. What a servant.
Well, a strike of the post apiece and an even game. It is not going to appease those looking for a different style of play, but a point each is probably a fair result. If you look at the league table, it’s not a bad point.
Full time: Yeovil Town 0 Gateshead 0
Match Details
Venue: Huish Park
Date: Saturday 17th January- 7.30pm kick-off
Competition: National League Premier Division
Scorers: None
Pitch: Patchy in front of the Thatcher’s, but looking okay otherwise
Conditions: Cold
Attendance: 2,919 (61 away supporters)
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Alex Whittle 30
Gateshead: Kenton Richardson 45+2, Louis Flower 54
Referee: Ed Duckworth
Yeovil Town (3-4-2-1)
Substitutes: Lewys Twamley (for Josh Sims, 59), Jacob Maddox (for Brett McGavin, 64), Kofi Shaw (for Sean McGurk, 70), Frank Nouble (for Matt Worthington, 90), Ollie Hughes (not used), Harvey Greenslade (not used), Matt Gould (not used).
Gateshead: Owen Mason, Jean Belehouan, Robbie Tinkler, Kenton Richardson (for Dan Jones, 84), Luke Hannant, Josh Williams (for Kain Adom, 89), Liam Humbles, Max Sheaf (for Charlie Colkett, 12), Will McGowan, Ben Worman, Louis Flower (for Jovan Malcolm,68).
Substitutes (not used): Lewis Leech, Connor Pani, Jamie Bramwell.
Under 3k for a Friday night game is everything you need to know about Cooper’s dull, insipid and unimaginative approach to football.
I thought it was an entertaining game. The two teams were fairly evenly matched and played a similar style of football but if any team deserved more than one point it was Yeovil. None of our players had a bad game in my opinion and from where I was sitting, there were no fans moaning and no frustrated shrieks of “Get it forward!” or desperate cries of “Shoot!!”. I think if the game had been played on Saturday afternoon instead of Friday evening, there would have been a bigger attendance.