Yeovil Town booked their place in the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup with a comfortable 2-0 home win over Didcot Town at Huish Park.
The hosts opened the scoring when Rhys Murphy converted a dubious-looking penalty following a foul on Jordan Maguire-Drew before Frank Nouble scored with a deft chip on the stroke of half-time.
Didcot, who sit second-from-bottom of the Southern League Premier Division South, rallied after the break but could not find their way past Joe Day, who got his first clean sheet since arriving at Huish Park on loan from Newport County.
Here’s how it went…..
First half
Mark Cooper made three changes from last weekend’s league win at Hampton & Richmond with injuries to Alex Whittle (groin) and Jordan Stevens saw them replaced by Josh Owers and Jordan Maguire-Drew respectively.
The visitors’ intentions were clear from the off with Didcot sitting deep and waiting for their higher division hosts to break them down. Yeovil dominated possession and with 15 minutes go a break forward by Rhys Murphy saw the forward beat the defence, but could not beat the offside flag.
A couple of minutes later, visitors’ keeper Leigh Bedwell got his first action as a good ball through from Jake Wannell saw Murphy and Maguire-Drew combine well for the later to force the stopper in to a save.
But on 20 minutes, a foul on Maguire-Drew by Didcot captain Adam Learoyd saw the Glovers handed a penalty kick and there was only one man who was going to take it. Rhys MURPHY stepped up to side-foot home his eighth competitive goal of the season in front of the Thatcher’s Stand. Bit of a soft penalty? Probably. Do we care? Not in the slightest.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.
On 25 minutes, Jake Wannell headed a corner over the bar and five minutes later Frank Nouble marauded forward again with a couple of step overs to make his way in to the box but his shot went over.
Yeovil were having joy down the right hand side and on 34 minutes Maguire-Drew got a cross in but it found Jordan Young – as opposed to Nouble or Murphy – and came to nothing. Young had another opportunity cutting in from the left hand side on 37 minutes but his right-footed shot went over.
But, with two minutes of added time indicated at the end of the first half, Yeovil doubled their advantage. Staunton won the ball, fed it through to Maguire-Drew who unselfishly played it through to Frank NOUBLE chipped a ball over Leigh Bedwell. Didcot felt there was a foul from Staunton, but referee Nicholas Dunn waved away the protests.
Bedwell had to be at his best to stop the game going 3-0 as the ex-Swindon Town keeper pulled off a remarkable point blank save to deny Maguire-Drew.
Half time: Yeovil Town 0 Didcot Town 2
Second half
The visitors came out with the air of a team with nothing to lose and looked impressive without being particularly threatening until the hour mark when Oliver Case’s header from a corner was over the bar.
Murphy almost added another but will have been kicking himself having made a good connection but could only direct it in to the arms of Bedwell in the visitors’ goal, and seconds later the striker almost got on the end of cross by Michael Smith but could not quite bundle it home.
That proved to be Smith’s last action who was replaced by Bristol City loanee Zac Bell on the 64th minute with Will Dawes also on replacing Jordan Young.
Murphy had the ball in the back twice, but despite beating Bedwell he could not beat the assistant referee’s offside flag. They don’t count I’m afraid, Bagsman.
Patrick Osborne had an effort blocked by Morgan Williams on 78 minutes before substitute Dawes had an effort blocked and the ball broke to Charlie Cooper who lashed an effort over with five minutes remaining.
Jenson Wright put a long-range effort over the bar with a minute of normal time going but, whilst not disgracing themselves, they never looked like really troubling the home side.
The fourth qualifying round will be played on Saturday, October 18, meaning that the trip to Bath City in National League South will need to be rearranged to a midweek.
Full time: Yeovil Town 2 Didcot Town 0
Match Details
Venue: Huish Park
Saturday 30th September – 3pm kick-off
Pitch: Looking good despite some downpours.
Conditions: Dry but cloudy…..not cold though (with thanks to Andy Cleave for meteorological inputs)
Attendance: 1,999 (75 away supporters)
Scorers: Rhys Murphy pen 20 (1-0), Frank Nouble 45 (2-0),
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Josh Owers 65, Jake Wannell 82,
Didcot Town: Adam Learoyd 20
Referee: Nicholas Dunn
Yeovil Town (4-3-3)
Substitutes: Will Dawes (for Jordan Young, 64), Zac Bell (for Michael Smith, 64), Sonny Blu Lo-Everton (for Rhys Murphy, 79), Charlie Bateson (not used), Will Buse (not used).
Didcot Town: Leigh Bedwell, Josh Grant, Cameron McNeill, Oliver Case, Harvey Giles, Adam Learoyd (C), Ben Putland (for Jenson Wright, 75), James Glover, Seth Humphries, Robbie Gallagher, Patrick Osborne.
Substitutes (not used): Sam Barder, Timmy Mugall, Connor Barrett, Andre Bromfield, Andi Noka, Owen Smith.
Lets be positive, we beat a team from the Southern League!!! Also if we have a goal kick then for once we can’t play it backwards, no matter what Mr Cooper coaches. Although we can play it sideways ?
good to see jordan maguire drew back he has a sweet left foot and delivers quality crosses and works hard in the team has a great shot.i think he should be playing more often creating more chances than we do at present…come on yeovil..
The 18th of October is not a Saturday.
That’s right. The fourth qualifying round will be played on Saturday 14 October 2023.