Yeovil Town went within six points of the National League Premier with a 3-0 thrashing of Torquay United, two goals from Jahmari Clarke and one from Jordan Young separated the sides in a feisty encounter in the Somerset sun.
First half
Matt Worthington lost the toss to kick start the Bank Holiday weekend, it meant the Glovers were attacking the Thatchers End first up and the first coming together was just seconds in.
Jordan Young was subject to a tough 50/50 in the opening seconds, a Torquay player seemingly falling on to the winger who needed medical attention and a concussion test.
Young was booked… for getting a headache.
Tom Lapslie gave Charlie Cooper a clattering, and Jude-Boyd earned himself a booking for barging through Morgan Williams… the game barely four minutes old and the Gulls had set their stall out early.
Brad Ash and Jake Wannell tried to swap shirts as a long ball cleared them both, eight minutes on the clock and very little actual football had actually broken out. Cool heads from the Glovers needed, Torquay out to ruffle feathers as much as play football.
It took as much as 11 minutes before some football happened, ironically, from a free kick too, Torquay lofted the ball into the box, Jake Wannell dealt with the first ball before Joe Day took care of the rest.
Torquay found themselves into the attack with 15 minutes gone, but their move down the right was thwarted.
The Glovers quickly countered with Charlie Cooper who played the ball right to Brooklyn Genesini, his cross was just out of reach of the on rushing Jordan Stevens, the first glimpse of the attacking YTFC we’d all been hoping for.
Cooper gave away a free kick in the right back area with less than a quarter of the game gone, the ball, whipped in right footed never troubling anyone other than the away fans in the open terrace.
The Glovers were comfortable in possession, Frank Nouble popping up on both sides of the pitch trying to get the game going.
Jahmari Clarke, who hadn’t really got much of a touch was finally in the game on 20 minutes, he got on the end of a long ball forward from Morgan Williams, but Clarke’s knock down couldn’t quite find Nouble in a good position.
Nouble, a former Torquay man, was proving instrumental. The referee played an excellent advantage when Cooper was clattered in the Glovers’ area with Nouble and Young linking up down the right hand side, the ball squirmed away, but shortly found its way to Clarke.
Clarke wound up a shot from distance… it might still be in orbit… do let us know if you see it.
More scrappy football in the middle, more unpunished Torquay challenges and more lumped balls forward from the visitors, finally lead to Austen Booth being given a booking for a rugby tackle on Clarke.
Some lovely football between Genesini and Young led to the ball falling to Matt Worthington on the edge of the box, his shot was deflected wide and Young’s corner evaded everyone.
Yeovil were started to up the ante, Frank Nouble twisted and turned into a shooting position but his effort was blocked, Nouble then laid the ball right to Genesini who saw the headlines as his shot rose just too high.
Clarke and Stevens were next to team up down the left hand side, Stevens’ cross couldn’t find a green shirt.
No sooner did that happen did Torquay find themselves with their first sight at goal, but Brad Ash was muscled away from goal by Morgan Williams as Joe Day mopped up the ball.
Brad Ash had another flop about on the floor to win a free kick with just shy of 45 minutes on the clock, the resulting free kick was almost misjudged by Jay Foulston, who ended up flicking the ball out for a corner.
Brett McGavin’s looping header causing no danger for Joe Day.
The final five minutes became quite breathless with both sides making opportunities, Morgan Williams stretching to clear a cross, Jake Wannell breaking out some yoga move to stop an attack whilst Frank Nouble and Jordan Stevens was causing havoc.
Charlie Cooper benefitted from a great run from Stevens, his shot was blocked but fell nicely to Jahmari CLARKE who tapped home into an open net.
1-0 to the Glovers!
Yeovil weren’t switched on from the restart though and Tom Lapslie was inches away from equalising, Joe Day managing to get enough on Stobbs’ cross to force a corner. Nothing came from the resulting set piece.
The scrappiness continued – Brad Ash scuffed a shot goalwards after Charlie Cooper was bundled off the ball.
Genesini continued to find space down the right hand side, he and Nouble combined to whip a ball in, but Jordan Stevens couldn’t rise highest.
The visitors fizzed a shot wide as the game entered four minutes of added on time in the first half,
It was feisty, scrappy, at times a little naughty, but the half ended with the Glovers a goal to the good… and Jake Wannell rattling the Torquay players.
Half time: Yeovil Town 1 Torquay United 0
Second half
No changes by either side at the break, but the visitors had started with a new formation, a more traditional back four and a two-man front line.
Torquay started the game in the ascendancy, a throw in found it’s way to Ash in the box, but his effort was never going to trouble anyone as the ball trickled out.
Yeovil’s first attack was once again the product of a smooth passage of play down the right hand side, Genesini and Young combined to earn a number of attacking throw ins, one of which found it’s way to Frank Nouble who’s smashed cross went right across goal.
The Glovers were back in possession soon enough, the Jordans were teaming up on the edge of the box, and it was Stevens who had the chance to fire a cross in, but Clarke couldn’t quite get to the ball ahead of the visitors goalkeeper.
Torquay, to their credit, were playing some football this half and Boyd’s cross caused a moment of danger, but with the Glovers back on the front foot with Young, Cooper and Genesini all trying to get into the game from an attacking point of view.
Frank Nouble was on a mission, he locked onto a long ball, skipped past another reckless challenge and gets his head up, to see Jordan YOUNG flying towards the edge of the area, his left footed strike cannoning off the bar and into the back of the net to double Yeovil’s advantage.
Huish Park was now rocking, another National League South attendance record announced and every one of them were enjoying their day out in the glorious sunshine.
Jahmari CLARKE was back in the action, a quite sensational turn saw the Reading loanee close down on goal and slot the ball under the on rushing keeper to give the Glovers a third – a really lovely goal – and one that might have prevented him from being taken off, Olly Thomas was ready to come on and had to sit back down!
He got a couple of more minutes before making way for the Bristol City man.
He was soon into the action, causing trouble in the box as Cooper whipped a free kick in, the ball bobbled to Jake Wannell’s left foot, his traction engine of a shot was blocked for a corner.
The corner was defended well, but the Green shirts were all over the ball, possession back with the home side within seconds.
Thomas and Young were interchanging some very nice passes and Thomas was hauled down by a defender 20 yards from goal… Jordan Young territory.
Apart from the fact that Jake Wannell stood over the ball, not the most likely taker.
There was a mix up, and another free kick, which was once again set up for Wannell – it didn’t work, move on, let’s not worry about that.
Jordan Stevens was next to try his luck, benefitting from more good work by Olly Thomas, he struck a ball towards towards the top corner, rising just too far.
With 15 minutes gone, Jenkins-Davies was booked for another foul on Charlie Cooper, the possession was once again with the Glovers, the Jordans were causing all kinds of bother with Wannell, Morgan and Day mopping up everything at the other end.
With the clock ticking down, the game had a bit of a lull.
Jordan Young got another clattering, he was replaced by Dylan Morgan with 12 minutes left.
Olly Thomas was determined to get in on the goal scoring, chasing down lost causes and having a shot blocked with ten minutes to go.
Jake Wannell got booked for slowing the game down – I’m pretty sure a few worse things went unpunished.
Thomas was again causing all kinds of chaos, he nipped into the area down the left hand side, his shot was blocked for a corner, when the slightly better option might have been to find Jordan Stevens in the six yard box.
The resulting corner saw Dylan Morgan have a shot blocked, everyone was in on the act.
At the other end, Archer made progress down the left and fired a shot at goal, Joe Day was well placed, but it was nodded behind by Worthington nonetheless.
Jay Foulston was being treated for a knock, with only six minutes left.
Torquay continued to have possession in key areas, but set pieces and final balls weren’t causing the Glovers any trouble.
Yeovil were happy to see the game out by this point, winning possession at regular intervals and marshalling the game,
In a final change, Sonny Blu Lo Everton came on to give Charlie Cooper the chance to put his feet up.
The referee decided SEVEN additional minutes were required, Jake Wannell and Lo Everton were still happy to show their quick feet in the middle of the park, the Glovers were enjoying themselves.
It was some lovely simple passing from the Glovers to finish the game off, the ball moving far more than any Torquay player, both sets of players happy to wait for the ref to blow his whistle,
Full time: Yeovil Town 3 Torquay United 0
Match Details
Venue: Huish Park
Date: Friday 29th March, 3:00pm
Competition: National League South
Pitch: Amazing considering the weather
Conditions: Beautiful Sunny Day with showers.
Attendance: 6,462
Scorers: Clarke 39 (1-0), Young 57 (2-0), Clarke 62 (3-0),
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Jordan Young 1,
Torquay Uniteds: Jude-Williams 4, A Booth 26, A Hall 68, J Davies 74.
Referee: Matthew Norton
Yeovil Town
Substitutes: Dylan Morgan (for Young 78), Sonny Blu Lo Everton (for Cooper 89), Sam Pearson, Rhys Murphy, Olly Thomas (for Clarke 65)
Torquay United: M.Halstead, A Jude-Boyd (for Tomlinson 76), T Lapslie (for Ofori-Acheampong), A Booth, A Hall (C), B Ash, B McGavin, W Jenkins-Davies, D Moxey, J Stobbs (for Collins 79), E Archer.
Substitutes (not used): , R Lovett,
Pity I missed it. Would have seen it if the club had not shot itself in the foot with its outragious parking policy. Fining an 87 year old many years supporter for inadvertently fouling the non visible parking rules. The club loses as I will not only stop coming for as long as it takes to recover the fine but in future will lose £3 per game by my parking in the street!