Yeovil Town secured a hard-earned point against top-of-the-table Rochdale, thanks to a first half equaliser from Finn Cousin-Dawson. The defender’s excellent header cancelled out an Aidan Barlow strike in a frantic first 15 minutes.
The Glovers came out firing in the second half, before Aaron Jarvis was dismissed for a heavy challenge on Kyron Gordon; however the Green and Whites held on for a valuable point against tough opposition.
First half
Half time: Yeovil Town 1 Rochdale 1
Second half
Before the action got underway, there were substitutions for both sides; Rochdale swapped Liam Hogan and Jake Burger for Ethan Ebanks-Landell and Devante Rodney, while Joy Mukena made way for Wycombe loanee Declan Skura to make his YTFC debut.
Right from the whistle, Yeovil were on the front foot – shots from Luke McCormick and Tahvon Campbell looked to threaten the Rochdale goal, but both were stopped well. James Daly quite literally put his foot through the ball moments later, with the referee halting play for a replacement.
Cries of MA-FI-CO-CO rang out from the Thatchers terrace just after the fifty minute mark, as he intercepted a Rochdale attack on the edge of his own box, then ran almost the length of the pitch, before being halted by Ebanks-Landell. While this didn’t result in a chance for Yeovil, I was so amazed that I had to include it!
A few heart-in-mouth moments followed around the Yeovil goal, with Mafico having a clearance blocked, and a few corners for Rochdale ultimately leading to nothing.
The next flashpoint came just ten minutes after Aaron Jarvis was introduced, and it involved… Aaron Jarvis. The former Torquay forward shoulder barged Kyron Gordon, and received a straight red card for it… down to 10 men, with twenty minutes to go, the Glovers had it all to do.
75 minutes in, and Rochdale had another chance, this time from a corner – the ball swung towards the back of the six yard box, Ethan Ebanks-Landell chested it down but couldn’t keep it under control, another sigh of relief swept across Huish Park.
A shot from distance from Casey Pettit stung the fingers of Jed Ward as he turned the ball past the post for another ‘Dale corner, before another shot a few minutes later cannoned into the visiting crowd. Pettit had another go soon after, but it was sliced wide for another goal kick.
If fingernails hadn’t been shredded enough already, the fourth official raised for six minutes of injury time; Devante Rodney had a free header from about eight yards out but it floated over the bar.
Another Casey Pettit shot was hit from the edge of the box, but Jed Ward dived to his right and caught it expertly as the minutes ticked down into seconds… and FINALLY, the full time whistle blew! Top of the league… you know the rest.
Full time: Yeovil Town 1 Rochdale 1
Match Details
Venue: Huish Park
Date: Saturday 14th February, 3pm kick-off
Competition: Enterprise National League
Scorers: Aidan Barlow, 12 (0-1); Finn Cousin-Dawson, 15 (1-1)
Pitch: Looking very green considering the rain we’ve had over the last few weeks!
Conditions: Dry and fresh
Attendance: 3,161 (272 away supporters)
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Aaron Jarvis (69 – OFF)
Rochdale:
Referee: Niall Smith
Yeovil Town (3-4-2-1)
Substitutes: Declan Skura (for Joy Mukena, 45), Aaron Jarvis (for Tahvon Campbell, 59), Harvey Greenslade (for Troy Perrett, 67)
Rochdale: Oliver Whatmuff, Kyron Gordon, Ryan East, Liam Hogan (for Ethan Ebanks-Landell, 45), Tarryn Allarakhia (for Dan Moss, 65), Mani Dieseruvwe (for Ian Henderson, 65), Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Casey Pettit, Aidan Barlow (for Joe Pritchard, 80), Jake Burger (for Devante Rodney, 45), Callum Perry
Under the cosh for the first ten minutes then I thought we were the better team until halftime well worked free kick to get the equaliser. Sending off changed the game I missed it to be fair.Rest of the game defended with hearts on sleeves well deserved point in my opinion great job billy and the boys roll on Tuesday can’t wait
As impressive and technically well managed performance that it was, and boy did they all put in a shift, there was one moment that turned what was a very even match into one way traffic and probably much more difficult.
We know how physical Jarvis is and he treads that line too often. As has been said a few times on GC “DON’T give the ref a decision to make!” His recklessness has proven costly and I hope this incident drops him down the pecking order for the rest of his time with YTFC! Hopefully this has forced the hand of the club to sign a striker (on a permanent!)
Negative over – how good is Dak and Troy? Improving with every match and they have a bright future ahead of them. Same goes for Daly who ran and ran, attacked with purpose and defended resiliently.
Definitely seeing improvement, this would have been the type of game we would not have been competing in not that long ago!! Great job lads x
I’m sorry but that wasn’t a shoulder barge from Jarvis, but a deliberate elbow into his face.
Great performance today though from the boys, especially after Wednesday game, and I thought Campbell had his best game for us, I thought Manifico was man of the match for me, let’s follow it up with three points on Tuesday, can we get ina new striker in before Tuesday’s game?
Yes definitely not a shoulder barge. Nowhere near the ball and led with his elbow. Awful challenge even felt sorry for the booing of No 2. All he did was get flattened and not really make a meal of it.