Maidstone

Yeovil conspired to draw yet another game yesterday after being 2-1 as the game entered stoppage time. Here are Ian’s Five Conclusions after the draw against bottom of the table Maidstone.

This one is blindingly obvious, the first half performance was nowhere near good enough. I went into yesterday’s game pretty confident after our performance on Tuesday. I thought we were excellent against Wealdstone in the first half but we didn’t come close to matching that level. As Yeovil tried to figure out their own system, Maidstone got comfortable on the ball and scored a brilliant team goal. After fifteen minutes we switched from a back three to a back four and only with a double substitution at half time did we really start to impact the game.

Alex Fisher made the difference. I was surprised that we started with no recognised striker and as the first half wore on it was apparent that it wasn’t working with Andrew Oluwabori through the middle. Fisher’s arrival immediately brought about a focal point to the attack and gave Maidstone defenders something to contend with. When Morgan Williams launched a hopeful ball towards the Maidstone box, Fisher had to watch it travel some distance and executed a fantastic volley into the top corner. He has so many different types of finishes in his locker but as Mark Cooper said afterwards, he needs to do it in every game.

Once again, Matt Worthington put in the ultimate team player’s performance. He didn’t see much of the ball when he started in his usual midfield role, but the half time change saw him move to right wing back. Much like Torquay on New Years Day he made an impact on that side as we focused our play down Maidstone’s left. Our second goal came from his cross with either an opposition player or Chiori Johnson getting the decisive touch. Worthington finished the match at left wing back – he really has become Mark Cooper’s Swiss army knife. (Honourable mentions to Morgan Williams and Edwin Agbaje who moved around as required too.)

I thought I could manage to conclude without using the word frustrating, but Maidstone’s leveller was the epitome of frustrating. From an attacking position Yeovil attempted to kill some time and hold the ball in the corner rather than go for the third. Maidstone regained possession and got the ball forward quickly forcing Morgan Williams into a foul. Then, much like Yeovil’s first goal, a hopeful ball into the box was met by the man mountain Jerome Bindon-Williams who headed home. It felt like an avoidable series of events, which Mark Cooper put down to a mentality issue. We worked so hard to get ourselves in front and to somehow draw it was….frustrating.

It seems like things are moving on the takeover front. Rumours were rife yesterday that the club’s potential new owners were at the match. That’s a promising step that things are moving in the right direction. If we’re at the point where they’re comfortable to attend matches, it would be a welcome time for an update or an introduction to supporters. I understand the reluctance to get out there until the deal is done, Yeovil Town is a probably a case study in going public too soon. However, there are takeovers going on up and down the country at the moment and most supporters have an idea of who’s coming in (spare a thought for Morecambe). Let’s have a bit of clarity and some idea of what the future could hold.