Venue: Huish Park
Tuesday August 16th, 7.45pm kick-off
Conditions: Damp
Pitch: Green – well, except for the damp bits
Attendance: 2,263 (89 away supporters)
Scorers: Nicky Kabamba 72 (0-1), Nicke Kabamba 78 (0-2), Jamie Reckord 80 (1-2)
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Fisher 41, Worthington 50, Reckord 82
Barnet: Gorman 72, Phillips 85
Referee: Gary Parsons
Yeovil Town : (5-3-2)
Grant Smith
Charlie Wakefield, Morgan Williams, Max Hunt, Josh Staunton, Jamie Reckord
Sam Perry Matt Worthington, Sam Pearson (for Lawson D’Ath, 72)
Alex Fisher (for Gime Toure, 58) Malachi Linton (for Chiori Johnson, 80)
Substitutes (not used): Will Buse, Chiori Johnson, Alfie Pond.
Barnet: Walker, Wynter, Collinge, Okimo, Beard, Gorman (for Phillips, 77), Pritchard,. De Havilland, Mason-Clark, Kabama, Shields (for Smith, 62) Substitutes: Callan, Thomas, Hall.
Match Report
A second half brace from Barnet striker Nicke Kabamba earned them a smash-and-grab win on a damp Tuesday night at Huish Park.
After a first half which saw visiting keeper Laurie Walker pull off three fantastic saves to twice deny Yeovil striker Malachi Linton and Jamie Reckord, it took until 72 minutes for the visitors to make their hosts pay for not taking their chances and then doubled it after an error from goalkeeper Grant Smith.
Jamie Reckord pulled one back after 82 minutes which sparked a late flurry of attacks which could not find a breakthrough.
In the words of our own Ben Barrett co-commentating for BBC Somerset, “skullduggery has prevailed” and you’ll not be surprised to hear that former Glover Dale Gorman was at the heart of the dark arts.
Here’s how it went down…..
First half
Chris Hargreaves named an unchanged squad from the 1-1 draw against Wrexham at the weekend with Malachi Linton and Alex Fisher paired up front, whilst Gime Toure and Lawson D’Ath, who both impressed whilst coming off the bench three days earlier, both remained among the substitutes.
The opening 20 minutes were all about Barnet goalkeeper Laurie Walker who made three fantastic saves to deny the Glovers.
After just four minutes, strong play by Fisher saw him win the ball well and then unselfishly play the ball to Jamie Reckord whose shot was superbly stopped by the big keeper, who was at it again four minutes later when good play by Sam Pearson set up Linton whose effort was kept out.
Linton was denied again on 18 minutes when his free header was denied by probably the best of the keeper’s three saves with the ball almost behind the keeper.
That saw Barnet begin to enjoy a bit of possession without doing much to carve out any meaningful opportunities as the game ticked past the half-hour mark. One thing is for sure, former Glover Dale Gorman is likely to spend much of his game in the ear of referee, Gary Parsons.
Walker was at it again on 38 minutes when Charlie Wakefield, who was having a quiet game up to that point, got involved and fed the ball on to Pearson who turned on the edge of the box and fired in a shot which the former Stevenage keeper did superbly to deny going in the wrong direction.
Moments later, Gorman fulfilled his role as the pantomime villain when he made the most of a tackle from Fisher earning the striker a yellow card. The home crowd let him know what they thought of him and the Northern Irishman loved it – as you’d expect.
The half ended goalless and Barnet no doubt went in thanking the efforts of their keeper for keeping them in the game.
Half time: Yeovil Town 0 Barnet 0
Second half
With just five minutes of the second half played, Sam Pearson burst through and lifted the ball over the keeper but fluffed his lines from a glorious opportunity. Fisher kept the ball in play but his effort was cleared off the line. Great opportunity – again.
Fisher brought the ball down well moments later, but his effort was tame and easily held by Walker.
Just before the hour mark, Yeovil introduced Gime Toure in place of Fisher, who was on a booking.
It took until the 65th minute for the visitors to put pressure on Grant Smith as referee Gary Parsons failed (a sentence quite often uttered….Rule 1, I know, I know) to give a free-kick in their favour in the middle of the park. Mason Ephron-Clarke got away and put in a shot which Smith had to deal with.
However, with the chances missed at the other end, you just knew the sucker punch was coming and it came on 72 minutes. Ephron-Clarke was at the heart of it again, firing a low cross in to the box and Nicke KABAMBA was there to steer home to opener.
Lawson D’Ath was introduced in place of Pearson straight after the goal before Gorman finally found his way in to the referee’s book and was shortly substituted for his own safety.
But, with 11 minutes remaining, the visitors got their second A mistake by Max Hunt led to Smith came for a ball that was not his to come for and he found himself in No Man’s Land allowing KABAMBA to lift the ball over him and his second of the night.
Moments later, Chiori Johnson replaced Linton with Charlie Wakefield moving up front and the substitute soon found Lawson D’Ath whose cross came in from the right and found Jamie RECKORD at the far post and he fired home his second goal for the the club. Lifeline?
Sam Beard sent a free-kick just over the box which had Smith scrambling soon after and the keeper will have been relieved to see the effort go wide.
Toure almost turned an injury time corner home when he smashed an effort in which was blocked by a Barnet player on the line.
The pressure was all from Yeovil in injury time with a penalty shout for a shove on Morgan Williams before Toure and Sam Perry both had chances. However, it was too little, too late for the home side.