Venue: Huish Park
Tuesday 28th February, 7.45pm kick-off
Attendance: 2,106 (39 away supporters)
Scorers: James Jones 22 (0-1), Jordan Maguire-Drew pen 78 (1-1)
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Lawson D’Ath 32, Edwin Agbaje 90
Altrincham:Max Oyedele 50,
Sendings off:
Altrincham: James Jones 77
Referee: Matthew Russell
Yeovil Town (5-3-2)
Substitutes: Jordan Maguire-Drew (for Josh Owers, 63), Jordan Young (for Seb Palmer-Houlden, 79), Chiori Johnson (for Charlie Cooper, 79), Matt Worthington (not used), Malachi Linton (not used).
Altrincham: Byrne, Jones, Marriott, Osborne, Lundstram, Baines, Hulme, Jones, Oyedele, Linney (for Cashman, 84), Sinclair (for Pringle, 80). Substitutes (not used): Roxburgh, Gould, Bennett.
Match Report
A second half penalty from substitute Jordan Maguire-Drew was enough to halt Yeovil Town’s run of three National League defeats and pull them out of the division’s relegation zone at home to in-form Altrincham.
The visitors, who had won their past three matches, took the lead when centre backi James Jones was gifted an unmarked header inside the box after 22 minutes to give the visitors the lead, but he turned villain on 77 minutes when he handled on the line to give the Glovers a penalty.
Here’s how the game of two halves played out….
First half
Five minutes before team news was announced, the club announced that SU Glovers, a business owned by Matt and Julie-Anne Uggla, had “taken on the stewardship” of Yeovil Football & Athletic Club, which runs the football operations of the club – you can read more about that – here.
The team news saw the Glovers without captain Josh Staunton, who had been playing through the pain barrier for weeks, whilst Matt Worthington and the two Jordans (Maguire-Drew and Young, who both started last weekend against York City) were on the substitutes bench. Edwin Agbaje, Lawson D’Ath and Alex Fisher were all brought in.
It quickly became apparent why the visitors had won four of their previous five league games as they looked the more calm and composed. For the visitors Linney looked dangerous weaving his way past defenders before Sinclair put one over the bar, and at the other end there were half-chances for first Alex Fisher and then Morgan Williams.
The first meaningful effort came on 12 minutes when Linney turned smartly and his effort from the edge of the box was superbly turned around the post by Grant Smith, but on 21 minutes Yeovil fell behind. A corner from James Jones was met by ROBINS who was completely unmarked inside the box to put a free header past Smith. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Linney had an effort cleared off the line by Owen Bevan around the half-hour mark and then put an effort over with six minutes of the half remaining, whereas less clear cut chances from Seb Palmer-Houlden and Charlie Cooper at the other end were the best the home side could muster.
More ‘Ugggh’ than ‘Uggla’ that first half.
Half time: Yeovil Town 0 Altrincham 1
Second half
W
On 53 minutes, Edwin Agbaje was found by a ball from Ryan Law but the defender could not trouble Ollie Byrne, but the keeper was in action three minutes later when Bevan won a header from Law’s corner to force a fine stop from the visiting keeper.
As Yeovil began to grew in to the game (why does it always take us a half to do that?!), Agbaje and Fisher combined but the striker could not get his effort on target. On 63 minutes, Fisher met a cross from Jamie Reckord to force another stop out of the keeper.
This was better from Yeovil who were looking as composed in the second half as they had looked all at sea in the first.
On 64 minutes, Jordan Maguire-Drew replaced Josh Owers and within three minutes of his arrival the play-maker almost got on the end of an Agbaje cross.
But, on 78 minutes Yeovil drew level. Two minutes earlier, James Jones handled a goal-bound effort on the goal line and, despite his protest, he was quite correctly shown the red card. It took a good while before MAGUIRE-DREW stepped up to coolly put the ball past Byrne to draw his side level.
Sensing the visitors were there for the taking, Glovers’ boss Mark Cooper brought on Jordan Young and Chiori Johnson in place of Palmer-Houlden and Cooper.
Young put one over the bar with six minutes remaining before D’Ath followed suit on 88 minutes and the game rather petered out into a draw.
Given the poor first half and the form the visitors arrived in, a point and pulling out of the bottom four will be considered success.