Venue: Huish Park
Saturday March 12, 3pm kick-off
Conditions: Blustery despite being dry and bright.
Pitch: A bit sticky in the goal mouths, but looking good despite the recent rain.
Attendance: 2,422 (over 200 away supporters)
Scorers: Sean Scannell 9 (0-1), Dieseruvwe 57 (0-2)
Bookings:
Yeovil: Luke Wilkinson 59
Grimsby: Max Crocombe 90+3
Referee: Aaron Jackson
Yeovil Town : (4-1-2-1-2)
Grant Smith
Mark Little, Luke Wilkinson (for Jordan Barnett, 67), Ben Barclay, Morgan Williams
Josh Staunton
Dale Gorman (for Tom Knowles, 61) Lawson D’Ath (for Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, 61)
Matt Worthington
Charlie Wakefield, Olufela Olomola
Substitutes: Alex Bradley, Adi Yussuf.
Grimsby Town: Crocombe, Efete, Smith, Waterfall, Amos, Jones (for Abrahams, 85), Burgess, Clifton, Scannell (for Sousa, 79), Dieseruvwe (for Taylor, 82), McAtee. Substitutes: Pearson, Maguire-Drew.
Match Report
*cut* *paste* Yeovil Town‘s inability to score a goal saw them slip to another National League defeat and extend their run without a win to nine matches.
Yet another misfire in front of goal meant the two goals scored by second-from-bottom King’s Lynn Town saw them pass the Glovers in the division’s scoring chances. You heard it right, folks, we now have the second worst scoring record with only bottom club Dover Athletic doing worse.
The performance was actually an improvement on the 3-0 defeat against Dagenham & Redbridge four days earlier, but two pieces of poor defending led to goals either side of half-time.
A header off the outside of the post from Ben Barclay at the end of the first half was as near as the home side came to scoring.
Here’s how it went at Huish Park…….
First half
Darren Sarll made three changes from the midweek defeat against Dagenham & Redbridge with defender Mark Little and midfielders Matt Worthington and Lawson D’Ath coming in for Jordan Barnett, Alex Bradley and Tom Knowles, who were all named on the substitutes’ bench.
The Glovers lined up with Charlie Wakefield paired alongside Olufela Olomola in a front two with a diamond in midfield with Worthington at the tip, Staunton at the base and D’Ath and Dale Gorman on the left and right respectively.
Wakefield had the game’s first opening chance when he cut in from a wide position and had a shot which Max Crocombe in the visitors’ goal had to deal with.
But, it was the visitors who took the lead after nine minutes (three later than the previous game, I guess!) when Sean SCANNELL out fought Morgan Williams to win the ball, cut in from the left and beat Grant Smith, who will be disappointed to concede that – albeit not as disappointed as the second against Dagenham four days earlier.
All credit to Scannell for the finish, but it was another soft goal to concede from a side which has relied on its defensive solidity to overcome its inability to score.
Olomola lashed one over the bar soon after as the Glovers tried to rally after going behind early again, but they got a let off shortly after when captain Luke Wilkinson brought own John McAtee inside the box after 19 minutes. Referee Aaron Jackson waved away appeals, but you have certainly seen those given.
Olomola had another opportunity when he headed Josh Staunton‘s cross wide as the goal-scoring issues were very apparent.
Probably the biggest frustration was the desire to play the ball long in blustery conditions, leading to misplaced passes and so many nearly moments.
As the half moved in to the final third, Grimsby began to turn the screw with full-back Michael Efete firing a shot in to the side netting on 33 minutes, but the better chance fell to Harry Clifton two minutes later.
Scannell put his midfield colleague through for a one-on-one with Smith, who did superbly to deny him….but he really shouldn’t have been given a chance.
Five minutes before the interval, Yeovil’s best chance of the half fell to defender Ben Barclay when his header from D’Ath’s corner came off the outside of the post. How many times can you write the word ‘nearly’ before it loses all meaning?
The statistics at half-time told the story with Yeovil enjoying the greater number of attacks and comfortably ahead in the ‘dangerous attacks’ stakes (36 to their 11) with four shots off target. Sadly, as the cliché goes, there’s only one statistic that matters.
An improvement on the previous match though. That’s positive, right? I’m trying here, folks.
Half time: Yeovil Town 0 Grimsby Town 1
Second half
Make no mistake, the performance up until this point was an improvement on the ‘performance’ against Dagenham, but the same failings we have shown all too often in front of our own supporters cost us.
There can be no question about Darren Sarll’s desire to up the attacking ante which he demonstrated by bringing Knowles and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton on for D’Ath and Gorman shortly after going two goals behind.
On 67 minutes, an injury to Luke Wilkinson, who the manager admitted was a doubt ahead of the fixture, was then forced off and replaced by Barnett with the Glovers switching to a back three with Barclay, Williams and Little in defence.
If you wanted to sum up our quality in front of goal, as the matchday announcer read out the amount of added minutes, Barnett found himself with the whole goal to aim from close range and yet Grimsby defender Luke Waterfall cleared it off the line.
We could have been out there all day and still not scored. Again.