A point away at Scunthorpe United on the opening day is nothing to be sniffed at, but there was still disappointment from the Yeovil Town manager Billy Rowley following his side’s 1-1 draw.
After am even first half, the Glovers took the lead when winger Mason Obeng stroked home the opener with 48 minutes on the clock and the visitors looked to have done enough to earn three points before Iron substitute Luke Brennan found a late equaliser.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman after the match, Rowley said: “When you come to Scunthorpe away, when you eat your breakfast this morning, you probably would take a point. But, having just watched and been part of this game, I feel like I think we’re a bit unfortunate not to win. They’re really good team – Andy (Butler, the Iron manager) does a great job here, home support was excellent – but we’ve had a couple of big chances.
“We’ve had two offsides given which I’ve been shown on freeze frame, that aren’t offside and I think Macca (midfielder Luke McCormick) goes on to score one of those and makes it 2-0, which makes the game very different, so I think there’s two sides of this. I’m happy with a point here, but I’m a little bit frustrated we didn’t win it.”
A new look starting XI saw nine debutants make their first competitive appearances in green and white, including an entirely new back line and Rowley was pleased with his defensive unit’s efforts despite the late equaliser.
He said: “Scunthorpe are really good at what they do, they put the ball in the on your back line and they’re great at running off you, they create little overloads out wide and we dealt with all that really well. I’m really happy with all the lads, in particular (goalkeeper) Jos (Barker), he’s young lad who’s come from two leagues below and made a made a (league) debut in front of 6,000 people. He’s not really put a foot wrong. I thought the goal was an unbelievable goal from them although I think we probably could have done a slightly better job of of closing off that lane and showing him outside.”
One man who is familiar to the Yeovil supporters was midfielder Brett McGavin, who replaced Hayden Muller at half time. Rowley was full of praise for the midfielder, saying: “Brett is elite at this level for technical ability to dictate games, he’s able to shape people off his back, he can receive the ball in tight spaces. The idea was to bring on Brett when the when their legs are a little bit tired and do that job for us and I think he did it really well and I think he matched defensively as well. I was really pleased with Brett when he came on and I thought he did excellently.”
After an even first half, the Glovers took the lead with just three minutes of the second half gone after Ryan Jones’ free-kick from way out on the right found Obeng at the back post. The winger showed great coolness and technique to confidently stroke the ball in to the net and celebrate in front of the 260 away supporters.
Rowley was pleased with the goal and all of the trio of players he brought from his former club Walton & Hersham – goalkeeper Barker, Obeng and midfielder Johl Powell, who appeared as a second half substitute.
The boss said: “Initially, I thought our goal was a bit lucky, but after rewatching it’s just an unbelievable goal. I am really pleased for Mason. I made a big point at the end of the end of the game with the boys in the dressing room, Jos, Mase and Johl, they are lads that have come from two leagues below to play in front of one of the biggest crowds they have done in a long time and I felt they all dealt with it superbly well. I thought the the goal from Mase, might make goal of the week this week in this league.”
There were 260 supporters who made the long journey up from Somerset for the opening fixtures and made themselves heard in a crowd of 5,111 on a sweltering day in Lincolnshire.
Rowley said: “The support was incredible. I was smiling throughout the whole warm up. Some of the staff that are new here as well, they were amazed by it. I can’t thank them enough and I know all the boys absolutely loved it as well, it made the warm up, made this whole day really special.”