Venue: Glanford Park
Sat 23rd Oct 2004, 3pm kick-off.
Conditions: Cloudy with frequent fine rain
Pitch: Soggy but OK
Scorers: Andy Butler (78, 1-0)
Attendance: 4,470 (including 259 Glovers fans)
Referee: Paul Danson
Assistants: Mark Haywood (West Yorkshire); Keith Wilkinson (Tyne & Wear)
Bookings:
Yeovil: Andy Lindegaard (56, foul)
Scunthorpe: Ian Baraclough (43, unsporting behaviour), Steve Torpey (89, foul)
Yeovil Town : (4-4-2)
1. Chris Weale
16. Andy Lindegaard 25. Liam Fontaine 5. Colin Miles 3. Michael Rose
7. Paul Terry 8. Lee Johnson 6. Darren Way 20. Gavin Williams
27. Andrejs Stolcers 11. Phil Jevons
Subs: 9. Kevin Gall 10. Adrian Caceres (76, for Stolcers) 13. Steven Collis (GK) 17. Scott Guyett (76, for Miles) 18. Bartosz Tarachulski (84, for Terry)
Scunthorpe United :
23. Paul Musselwhite 2. Nathan Stanton 4. Andy Crosby 12. Lee Ridley 18. Andy Butler 19. Richard Kell 15. Cleveland Taylor 14. Peter Beagrie 11. Ian Baraclough 9. Paul Hayes 10. Steve Torpey
Subs: 1. Tom Evans (GK) 3. Kevin Sharp 5. Mark Jackson 7. Matthew Sparrow (31, for Taylor) 29. Michael Rankine (75, for Hayes)
Badger’s View of the Game
Another game … another defensive reshuffle. If there’s one thing that doesn’t change in Yeovil Town it’s the regular change of the defensive line-up that has so far summed up the Glovers season. Roy O’Brien became the latest to land on the treatment table – suffering a training ground injury on the day before as the team trained at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane ground. That meant Andy Lindegaard was chosen as right-back, no doubt for the superb way he shut home winger Peter Beagrie out of the match at Huish Park last season.
Despite both sides being the leagues top scorers, it was pretty obvious early on that this was going to be a tight game with few chances. A few balls were screwed across the face of both boxes, but these were far from clear-cut chances. It took 17 minutes before that changed – home defender Andy Butler flicking a near post header over the crossbar from a corner.
The Glovers though provided the two genuine on target attempt and one of them had the ball in the net. Phil Jevons thought he had scored when he lifted the ball over the home keeper from close range, but an extremely late linesman’s flag ruled out his chance, with even home fans admitting afterwards that a poor decision had been made by the linesman.
Gavin Williams also went close minutes later. He skipped through the midfield on one of his typical runs, exchanging a one-two with Andrejs Stolcers and providing a clever turn-and-shoot strike that forced keeper Paul Musselwhite to dive low to his left to save.
Scunthorpe suffered an early blow when winger Cleveland Taylor only managed to last 30 minutes, being replaced by Matthew Sparrow. The pacey player, who had undone Yeovil’s left flank at Glanford Park last season, suffered an injury after an early collision with Liam Fontaine and never looked the same after that. Yeovil also had their own injury concerns with Colin Miles having to leave the field suffering a calf injury, but fortunately the centre-back was able to return.
But defences were very much on top, with Yeovil perhaps edging the game in midfield, but struggling to find a way behind the organised Scunthorpe back four. Richard Kell fired over the bar after he collected a Steve Torpey flick-on whilst Ian Baraclough got himself a stupid booking when he refused to release the ball for a free kick, despite referee Danson’s persistently shrill whistling to warn him to release the ball.
Half-time: Scunthorpe United 0 Yeovil Town 0
The second half opened with Gavin Williams forcing Musselwhite into an excellent tip-over save, with the Yeovil midfielder’s strike just inches from lifting over the keeper’s reach. Andy Lindegaard got booked for what looked to these eyes to be a perfectly timed tackle, as the match referee disturbed the flow of the game with some fairly ridiculous decisions against both sides. A good example of this later in the game was when Lee Johnson was fouled in the centre-circle, with the ball falling loose to Adrian Caceres. Rather than allow a clear advantage, Danson blew up with Caceres already advancing down an empty flank. Surely an ex-Premiership referee should have a better idea on how to allow a game to flow?
Richard Kell forced Chris Weale into his first meaningful save of the game when he was forced to parry a shot from just inside the area, with Liam Fontaine on hand to hack the loose ball away. Then Peter Beagrie fired an angled shot well wide of the goal.
With Colin Miles beginning to run out of steam towards the end, Scott Guyett replaced Colin Miles in defence, allowing the ex-Chester man to finally make his Yeovil debut. Adrian Caceres replaced Andrejs Stolcers as Yeovil took a more cautious approach, moving to a 4-4-1-1 style with Gavin Williams tucked in behind Jevons.
The Glovers had equalled their hosts in every department, but when your luck is out, it’s out. Peter Beagrie appeared to take the ball out of play when he ran down the left wing, but no linesman’s flag was produced with the official apparently unable to give the decision due to home manager Brian Laws standing outside his technical area blocking the line. Then what seemed to be a clear goal kick was awarded with a corner. If bad luck comes in threes then the third came when the corner was headed towards goal by Andrew BUTLER, with Lee Johnson supplying an excellent clearance off the line. But after what seemed to be an overly-excessive delay, up went the linesman’s flag and Butler’s header was given as a goal.
Richard Kell nearly produced a non-controversial goal minutes later when he thundered a shot against the crossbar, but it was Yeovil who finished the game showing plenty of pressure and zero reward. Bartosz Tarachulski was introduced with six minutes to go, whilst Adrian Caceres almost supplied a goal when his left wing cross was nodded down by Gavin Williams, but Phil Jevons knocked the 10 yard attempt over the bar.
Gavin Williams also went close in the dying minutes, when he got in behind the Scunthorpe defence, but his shot went agonisingly wide of the target. Scunthorpe held out for a somewhat fortuitious win that took them top of the table, and whilst the defeat now extends Yeovil’s run without a win to five games, there was little to criticise out there. Perhaps the Glovers should have been more dominant with the aerial balls up front. Perhaps they should have created a couple more chances. But this was a solid away performance, and one in which Yeovil deserved to be travelling home with something for their efforts.
Badger