A Harvey Greenslade goal in the sixth minute of second half stoppage time earned Yeovil Town a dramatic late victory at Huish Park.

The striker, on as a second half substitute, smashed home the winner in front of the Thatcher’s End to snatch the three points after the Glovers struggled to break down a resilient AFC Fylde side desperate for points in their relegation battle.

First half

Glovers’ boss Mark Cooper named an unchanged starting XI from the 3-0 win at Solihull Moors last weekend with new signing midfielder Harry Kite and returning defender Michael Smith named on the substitutes’ bench.

Yeovil started the first half quickly with Sonny Blu Lo-Everton’s free-kick after just two minutes taking a deflection off the defensive wall and forcing Ben Winterbottom in to a save to turn it around the post. From the resulting corner from Otis Khan, Kyle Ferguson won a header inside a crowded area which looked like it was heading in only to be cleared off the line.

On ten minutes, Fylde had their first chance when good work from Will Hugill found Ethan Mitchel arriving late in to the box and a good block from Frankie Terry denied him. Two minutes later they were threatening the Yeovil goal again when a great run from former Glovers’ loanee Gavin Massey fed the ball in to Tyler Roberts who went down under a challenge from Dom Bernard inside the box. Referee Ross Martin decided, assisted by his assistant, that the visiting player had dived and showed him a yellow card.

Dom Bernard goes long. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

The next opportunity came after 30 minutes from another quality ball from Otis Khan , who saw a lot of the ball in the opening half-an-hour, was flicked on by Ciaran McGuckin whose effort went just over the bar. Almost immediately, another good break by the visitors saw top scorer Nick Haughton have a shot well blocked out for a corner. Fylde’s threat is definitely on the break with Yeovil having dominated possession for the last ten minutes.

Massey is causing a lot of problems down the left side with ten minutes of the first half remaining it was the winger’s ball which found Will Hugill whose flicked header went wide.
 
After a frantic first half of the first half, the game settled with Yeovil dominating possession with Fylde only threatening on the break, but the home side could not quite find the quality needed to get a breakthrough.
 

Half time: Yeovil Town 0 AFC Fylde 0

Second half

The appearance of former Glovers’ manager Gary Johnson, who was a late call-up to the BBC Somerset commentary team, entertained supporters for the opening 15 minutes of the second half. Hey Gary Johnson, etc.
 
Heyyyy, Gary Johnson, ooh ahh, I wanna knooooow if you love the Town…?
Picture courtesy of Gary Brown
 
On the hour mark, Terry put one wide before AFC Wimbledon loanee Ryan McLean was introduced to replace Josh Sims on 63 minutes and then Harvey Greenslade replaced Dom Bernard after 69 minutes in a bid to break the battle of the lowest scoring home sides against one of the lowest scoring away sides. The latter change necessitated a change of shape with Cousin-Dawson dropping back and Greenslade taking a more advanced position.
 
With ten minutes remaining – no, honestly nothing has happened since the last substitute – Harry Kite replaced Otis Khan, who had looked the biggest attacking threat for Yeovil. 
 
It took until four minutes from the end for the home side to have an opportunity on goal. Good play by McLean saw him attack and get a shot away which was blocked, McGuckin’s follow-up also blocked. The Thatcher’s End having a great time 
 
A minute from end, Yeovil decided it was time to start turning the screw and a long range effort from Charlie Cooper almost found a breakthrough but Winterbottom was level to it. Gary Johnson on the radio: “Why do people wait until the last five minutes to play like that?“
 
But the best opportunity of the game fell to Fylde three minutes in to second half injury time when Haughton’s corner found the head of substitute Ashley Boatswain, just off the bench for the visitors, but his connection was not good enough and the ball flashed across the face of goal. 
 
Then just when you thought this was going to be the most 0-0 of all 0-0s, Yeovil’s late pressure told in the sixth minute of injury time. A long free-kick from goalkeeper Aidan Stone found its way to McGuckin on the edge of the box, he did brilliantly it bring it under control and lay it off to Harvey GREENSLADE who drilled it home. Scenes!
 
 

Full time: Yeovil Town 1 AFC Fylde 0

Match Details

Venue: Huish Park
Date: Saturday 29th March, 3:00pm kick-off

Competition: National League Premier Division

Scorers: Harvey Greenslade 90+6 (1-0)

Pitch: A bit sparse in the goal mouths but looking okay elsewhere
Conditions: Grey and chilly

Attendance: 2,764 (45 away supporters)

Bookings: 
AFC Fylde: Tyler Roberts 12, Nick Haughton 24, Max Bardell 27, Lincoln McFayden 59, Owen Evans 88
Yeovil Town:  

Referee: Ross Martin

Yeovil Town (4-3-3)

Substitutes:  Ryan McLean (for Josh Sims, 64), Harvey Greenslade (for Dom Bernard, 69), Harry Kite (for Otis Khan, 81), Marcel Lavinier (for Alex Whittle, 90+2), Michael Smith (not used), Lewys Twamley (not used), Matt Gould (not used).

AFC Fylde: Ben Winterbottom, Harry Davis, Ethan Mitchell, Nick Haughton, Max Bardell, Will Hugill, Corey Whelan, Lincoln McFayden, Gavin Massey (for Owen Evans, 80), Tyler Roberts (for Jonathan Ustabasi, 74), Joe Riley (for Ashley Boatswain, 90+1).

Substitutes (not used): Charlie Clark, Dan Sassi, Adam Long, Danny Ormerod.

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Andy Pandy
23 days ago

Lots of effort and three points to show for it. Well done, lads.

A quick message to Otis Khan if you’re reading this – when Alex Whittle runs past you on the overlap, please use him. He does it often and he does it well, and he can put a decent cross into the box. For some reason, you ignored him yesterday – in the first half anyway. They were wasted opportunities in my opinion and we need all the opportunities we can get. 🙂

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Coyt
23 days ago

Your absolute shit and deserve every thing that comes your way hope you get kicked out the league so try baring me from your shit hole.

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