Venue: Huish Park
Friday 28th March 2003, 7.45pm kick-off.
Conditions: Warm spring evening with light mist.
Ground: Perfect, but damp on top. Bare in goalmouths.
Nationwide Conference :
Yeovil Town 1 Scarborough 0
Attendance: 7,008
Referee: Mr Mullarkey (Exeter)
Bookings:
Yeovil: Pluck (14, unsporting behaviour). Red card: Gall (90, violent conduct)
Scarborough: Cohen (20, unsporting behaviour), Dempsey (29, unsporting behaviour), Kerr (77 unsporting behaviour). Red card: Kerr (90, second bookable offence)
Line up : (4-4-2)
 1. Chris Weale |
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14. Roy O’Brien |
4. Terry Skiverton |
5. Colin Pluck |
24. Abdelhalim El Kholti |
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16. Andy Lindegaard |
6. Darren Way |
8. Lee Johnson |
11. Michael McIndoe |
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25. Kirk Jackson |
9. Kevin Gall |
Substitutes: 2. Adam Lockwood (78, for Johnson) 10. Nick Crittenden (59, for El Kholti) 12. Chris Giles (88, for Jackson) 22. Steven Collis 26. Jimmy Aggrey
Scarborough: (3-6-1) 1. Andy Woods 4. Paul Shepherd 23. Mohammed Sillah 19. David Ridler 25. Paul Dempsey 11. David Pounder 21. Olivier Brassart 20. Scott Kerr 18. Keith Gilroy 16. Cleveland Taylor 15. Gary Cohen
Subs : 22. Bimbo Fatokun (83, for Dempsey) 3. Mark Hotte (76, for Cohen) 12. Anthony Ormerod 14. Darren Connell 17. Leigh Walker
Scorers:
This report courtesy of Noddy Elms:
Tonight’s encounter at Huish Park was all about atmosphere and event. A season’s Conference best crowd of 7008 built an awesome atmosphere as kick off approached. The away end was opened to Yeovil supporters so that all four sides were well populated. The Westland Stand Terrace rendition of Queen’s “We will Rock You” seemed to sum up the event. A message: not only to Scarborough, but the rest of the Conference, and League football in general.
Gary Johnson stuck with the side that performed so well at Margate: O’Brien kept Lockwood on the bench, and proceeded to put on a “man-of-the-match” performance. Terry Skiverton kept his place at the heart of the Yeovil defence despite the handful of stitches in his head and a conspicuous bandage. The Gaffer retained a 4-4-2 formation with Abdelhalim El Kholti slotting into left back. Gavin Williams missed the match with the second of his two-match suspension.
Russell Slade, the Scarborough boss, also had suspension (Stoker) and injury problems (Henry and Raw) to contend with. Slade sent out a crowded midfield in front of a back three: Pounder played as a deep second striker while Gilroy and Dempsey operated as wingbacks.
Although Kevin Gall was the first to strike on goal for the home side, Scarborough’s keeper Woods was well behind the shot and gathered comfortably. Yeovil’s Colin Pluck conceded an early free kick outside his penalty box as Scarborough enjoyed a good opening spell. Mr Mullarkey set out his intentions by booking Pluck for his second offence after 13 minutes; Scarborough’s Cohen soon joined him.
Scarborough exhibited attractive play during the opening minutes but Yeovil soon dominated. Their best chance fell to Kirk Jackson after 11 minutes: O’Brien’s excellent through ball was played on by Gall but Jackson’s shot from the edge of the box flew wide of Wood’s left-hand post. Yeovil’s play was full of purpose and their midfield gave Scarborough no time to dwell on the ball. Their best attacks flowed through McIndoe down the left. After 22 minutes his cross was deflected but Jackson’s header at the far post went inches wide.
Dempsey was next in the book for a foul on McIndoe after 29 minutes; the Yeovil winger got up to take a deep free kick. Skiverton’s header across the goal reached Jackson, free at the far post, but how he managed to head wide only he will know.
The game was dominated by the two defences as half time approached. Scarborough looked happy to settle for a point as they laboured at throw-ins and free kicks. By now they were, in effect, playing deep with a back five. Yeovil dominated possession but failed to create another significant strike until the 38th minute when Darren Way concluded a McIndoe free kick with a powerful shot, but again Woods was well positioned. When Scarborough managed to penetrate the Yeovil half the tricky Cleveland Taylor looked most likely to cause problems. But all too often he was poorly supported and easily sheparded away from danger.
With half-time approaching Yeovil created the next good chance: Lee Johnson intercepted one of Scarborough’s rare attacks and played a super ball out to McIndoe. As the Yeovil winger came inside he released the ball to the waiting Gall on the edge of the Scarborough box. Gall’s shot was on target but Woods, again, gathered comfortably, albeit at a stretch.
Half Time: Yeovil Town 0 Scarborough Town 0
The second half opened in a similar vein as the first had finished. McIndoe weaved his magic down Yeovil’s left while Cohen dropped back to pick up the Scarborough clearances and toil down the right. Lindegaard and O’Brien combined down the Yeovil right to mount more frequent attacks. McIndoe won the first second-half corner from O’Brien’s cross after 51 minutes, but Skiverton’s resulting header drifted wide. Seven minutes later O’Brien’s cross again found McIndoe, his header from distance looked to have Woods beaten, but the ball also beat the far post.
After 58 minutes Crittenden replaced El Kholti in a straight swap, the former Chelsea player taking up an unfamiliar role at left back. But Crittenden combined with McIndoe in the closing period to form a formidable pair. That introduction seemed to be the signal to step up a gear and Yeovil began to lay siege to the Scarborough goalmouth: Darren Way surged from the halfway line to fire a shot wide; McIndoe’s shot was then desperately cleared from the Scarborough goal area; Crittenden and Lindegaard won consecutive corners. But Scarborough held fast.
However, there was an expectation that a winning goal was imminent, and it was going to be a Yeovil goal.
On 74 minutes Chris Giles was stripped off and ready to enter the field, but was denied by a sleepy Referee’s assistant who had failed to spot the substitution. Before play stopped again McIndoe had sent in a cross beyond the far post to find Gall. The Yeovil striker seemed to take an age to control the ball but eventually sent the ball back into the danger area. Kirk JACKSON rose powerfully above his marker to head home from close range and send the Yeovil crowd into raptures: Yeovil Town 1 Scarborough 0. Giles sat back in the dugout. The Westland Stand Terrace underlined the importance of the goal with their rendition of “We’re gonna win the league”. Who’s going to argue with them?
Scarborough pushed forward and Yeovil seemed content to defend. Lockwood replaced Johnson for Yeovil and Fatokan replaced Dempsey for Scarborough. Within seconds Jackson was crumpled within his own box after a clash of heads. After some minutes treatment Fatokan seemed to suggest that things should be speeded up. A number of Yeovil players seemed to take exception and the handbags were out. At times like these Referees really do need slow motion replays and eyes in the back of their heads, I certainly couldn’t keep pace with what was going on. At the end of it all Yeovil’s Gall was shown the red card – I can only assume Mr Mullarkey saw or heard something untoward. Jackson was lead away and it is feared he has suffered a fractured check bone and / or eye socket, Giles now replaced him.
Within seconds Scarborough’s Scott Kerr followed Gall down the Yeovil tunnel after an altercation with Darren Way. Despite 6 minutes of added time there was little football to enjoy, but Yeovil took the three points and restored an almost unassailable lead of fourteen points at the top of the Conference.
Final Score: Yeovil Town 1 Scarborough 0.
At the end of the day another crucial three points giving no encouragement to the chasing pack: It must appear more and more futile to them, an excellent performance that is belittled by the score line. There was only ever one team in it and Jackson may well have scored a hat trick. As it is, he goes away with a very black eye at best. Yeovil have the depth of squad to cope with that. But that, surely, is academic.
Noddy Elms
Internet Man of the Match Voting Result:
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Overall match rating: 7.8 / 10
Performance: 7.9
Entertainment: 7.7
55 votes received.
Highlights via Green and White Goals on YouTube