In contrast, the K's - seeking to salvage some crumbs of comfort from what has turned out to be a disastrous season - fielded what looked to be a near full-strength side. They proved far too strong for The Glovers in the event, taking a 4-0 lead as early as the 21st minute and adding a fifth to complete the scoring in the second half. The match wasn't as one-sided as the score suggests - individual errors gifted the K's rather too many goals and the young Yeovil side hit the woodwork 3 times after the break; nevertheless Kingstonian were very good value for their win. The ytfc.net match report can be found here.

It could have gone the other way - Telford were rampant in the first half and only some cool defending, goal-line clearances and Tony Pennock in outstanding form kept the home team at bay. Somewhat against the run of play Michael McIndoe notched his 2nd goal in as many games in the 38th minute to put The Glovers ahead, but Telford had drawn level by half-time, Jim Bentley making it 1-1 from close range.

The second half began with The Glovers only recognised striker, James Bent, being replaced up front by central defender Paul Steele after Bent failed to recover from a late knock in the first half. It was to prove an inspired substitution by manager Colin Addison, with Steele heading home a McIndoe corner in the 51st minute. After all the criticism we have made of our set-pieces lately that is worth repeating, so here it is: Steele headed home a McIndoe corner! 2-1 to The Glovers then, and that was how it stayed, Yeovil's defence coping comfortably with Telford's second half efforts. Substitute Andy Lindegaard was unlucky not to add a 3rd for Yeovil towards the end, his goalbound effort ending up stuck in the goal-line mud with the keeper beaten. The www.ytfc.net match report can be found here

Enormous credit to the team then - they had to win both away games this week to keep the title race alive and they did exactly that. A win on Tuesday night v Hereford will leave us level on points with Ru$hden and all to play for on the final day of the season next weekend.

What it all means is another matter? A second Conference division? The much rumoured expulsion of the Isthmian League from the pyramid, or perhaps its dissolving into a more simple Northern/Southern divide? Your guess is as good as ours. Whatever, it looks like something is afoot ... watch this space!

With the make-shift front line producing three goals on Tuesday night, it would be a major surprise if Addison did not start at Telford with the Skiverton-Bent combination. "It wasn’t too much of a surprise when I was put up front because I moved up there in the later stages of the Rushden game," said Skiverton. "But it is totally different when you start there because it’s not a case of the team just hitting high balls forward. I had to try and learn what runs to make and strike up a partnership with James Bent."

But Skivo received advice from the man whose shirt he was wearing - injured top scorer Warren Patmore. Wazza is one of three Yeovil strikers currently sidelined - Howard Forinton and Barrington Belgrave are the others - and Skiverton admitted, "Luckily Warren came up with us and was able to pass on his advice and shout at me from the sidelines. It’s my job to win the headers and try to bring other people - like James, Nick Crittenden and Michael McIndoe - into play and hopefully I did that."

But don't expect the former Welling and Wycombe man to stay up front once Yeovil's striking trio become available again. "I certainly don’t think my goal return would allow me to stay up front for long," he said. "I’ve been a defender all my career. But with the situation we’re in, with so many experienced strikers ruled out, the gaffer has had to try something different."

To book your place and support The Glovers at Telford e-mail YTISA Chairman Mark Kelly at markkelly@ytisa.freeserve.co.uk or phone him on 01935-412236.

YTISA also have reminded all members that the Player of the Season voting deadline is coming up soon. Votes must be received by the end of Sunday 29th April to count. Again, contact Mark to register your vote.

Central defender Terry Skiverton was pressed into action as emergency striker alongside James Bent following the absence of Warren Patmore and Howard Forinton through injury and the suspended Barrington Belgrave. The home side opened the scoring against the run of play on 24 minutes, an unmarked Dave Ridings heading home from a corner. The Glovers drew level on 60 minutes, Roy O'Brien picking an excellent time to scramble home his first goal of the season; and went ahead 6 minutes later, James Bent picking up the pieces following a spilled O'Brien effort. Leigh fought back almost immediately, Steve Jones stunning Yeovil with an unstoppable 25-yard shot to make it 2-2; but the never-say-die Glovers refused to take no for an answer and brought an essential 3 points back to the West Country after Michael McIndoe paid back a large chunk of his £25,000 fee with an excellent individual goal on 73 minutes to make the final score Leigh RMI 2 Yeovil Town 3. The ytfc.net match report can be found here.

An essential 3 points for Yeovil then, as title rivals Ru$hden defeated Telford by 3-0 at Nene Park to remain 3 points clear in front. Yeovil still have a game in hand however, but as Max's Millionaires have a vastly superior goal difference Yeovil are now relying on Ru$hden to at least draw one of their remaining 2 games - whilst Yeovil must look to win all 3 of their remaining games. It's still advantage Ru$hden, but The Glovers are still in there and fighting!

Both sides had their chances to win and periods of pressure during the game but defences were dominant on the whole. Rushden were hanging on for the final 10 minutes as The Glovers attacked towards the packed Westland Stand, open for the first time, but with a strong shout for a penalty going unheeded and another effort being cleared off the line by the Diamonds, that vital final touch couldn't be found. The draw was probably a fair result in the end. The official site's match report can be seen here

The crowd of 8,868 was a new high for Huish Park and the 2nd highest Conference crowd on record, but fell short of the top Conference crowd of 9,432, set at the Lincoln v Wycombe game, 1987/88. Rushden returned 800 tickets from their allocation, accounting for the shortfall from the capacity of 9,600 at Huish Park. A full list of the highest Conference crowds can be seen here.

With the season reaching its climax, a draw yesterday probably suited the Diamonds rather more than Yeovil. With Rushden's superior goal difference and The Glovers 3 points behind with only 1 game in hand, Yeovil are now relying on Rushden to slip up rather than being masters of their own destiny. To make matters worse The Glovers are also suffering from something of a striker crisis - Warren Patmore lasted less than 30 minutes yesterday before being substituted through injury, Howard Forinton is still sidelined with ankle ligament problems and Barrington Belgrave is now suspended for 3 games; leaving James Bent as the only recognised striker injury and suspension-free before Tuesday night's crucial game at Leigh RMI. Nevertheless, while there is life there is still hope and Rushden's ability to shoot themselves in the foot despite all their advantages should never be under-estimated! With 2 weeks and 4 games of this incredible season left, anything could still happen. Keep the faith!

As part of the negotiation process, meetings with the Football Association - who have been involved with the discussions from the initial stages - are scheduled next week to help clear the path for increased promotion between the Conference and the Football League. Additional talks with the FA Premier League are also scheduled in order to determine a universally accepted formula for calculating 'Parachute Payments' to clubs relegated at all levels.

Conference Chairman Bill King stated: "The proposition for increased promotion places to the Football League is now fully accepted in the game. The next stage is to visit the parachute payment policy more carefully and arrive at a policy that sits comfortably at all levels of football - from the Premier League to the Football League, from the League to the Conference. We have a very tight deadline to get this done in time for next season and the Conference, League and FA must work closely to get everything finalised ahead of our AGMs this summer."

Nationwide head of sports marketing Peter Gandolfi said: "The extension to this sponsorship reinforces Nationwide's commitment to the community and all levels of football. Our links with football in the United Kingdom are broad and extensive with sponsorships from the grassroots through to the national teams. Nationwide is an organisation rooted in the community - just like the 22 teams in the Nationwide Conference. This season's exploits in cup competitions illustrate the quality on show every week in the Nationwide Conference. We are delighted to be on board until 2005 and this demonstrates our long-term commitment to football and, in particular, the Nationwide Conference."

Conference chief executive John Moules said: "The sponsorship has been one of the most successful in sport in the United Kingdom. To have a partner of the calibre of Nationwide Building Society - which also sponsors The Football League and the England team - illustrates how highly our 22-club competition is regarded. This represents a huge input of income for the Nationwide Conference and provides our clubs with valuable support."

"It is with deep regret that Yeovil Town Football Club report the death of Alec Stock, arguably the most famous character associated with the club.

"Stock took over as manager of the club in 1946, and masterminded Yeovil Town's landmark 2-1 victory over Sunderland in the FA Cup Fourth Round on January 29th 1949. Sunderland were high-flying in Division One at the time, and the victory still stands as one of the biggest post-war FA Cup shocks.

"The Board of Directors of Yeovil Town wish to express their deepest condolences to Alec's family and friends in their time of grief. A fuller statement will appear on this site tomorrow."

It is so sad that Alec never saw one of his dearest wishes come to pass - that of Yeovil Town playing in the Football League. Sincere condolences to his family and friends, he will be impossible to replace.

A tribute to Alec from Ciderspace can be found here.

A setback to The Glovers promotion hopes then, but once again title rivals Rushden failed to take real advantage, being held to a 0-0 home draw by Doncaster Rovers. Yeovil are now 3 points behind the leaders and have a game in hand. All matches left in the run-in are obviously crucial, but this Saturday's clash v Rushden at Huish Park takes on even more significance - a real six-pointer if ever there was one!

We at Ciderspace were saddened to hear of the tragic news of the death of 41-year-old Wimborne referee Mike North yesterday, who collapsed and died whilst officiating at the game between Southend and Mansfield at Roots Hall.

Mr North refereed many times at Huish Park in his Conference days before he was promoted to the Football League list and enjoyed something of a "love-hate" relationship with Yeovil supporters, caused mainly by his, erm, firm style of refereeing. Nevertheless, in these days of colourless officialdom Mr North was an instantly recognisable figure and one always knew that a game he was in charge of would be interesting... Our sincere condolences to his friends and family, he leaves a wife and two young children.

Last season's winner Tony Pennock was presented with his award last season at Morecambe

It is time to start thinking about your player of the season once again.

Tony Pennock was last year's winner and has had yet another great season for the Glovers, but what about Nick Crittenden and Darren Way? Or perhaps Tom White or ever steady Dave Piper? The choice is yours!!

Votes can be e-mailed to myself at markkelly@ytisa.freeserve.co.uk or by post to 233 St Johns Road, Yeovil, Somerset, BA21 5QR by no later than 25th April 2001.

Please supply your name and your nominated player.

As the teams ran out for the second period the tannoy was still announcing the Conference scores, and the Glovers hit the pitch at the same second as Hereford 3 Rushden 0 was read out. Within minutes James Bent had doubled his tally, and from then on Yeovil were rampant. Although Leigh plugged away up front, and Pennock had to make three excellent saves, they couldn't withstand the pressure at the back and four more goals, two from captain Terry Skiverton, one from Nick Crittenden and one from Anthony Tonkin completed the Glovers' first six scoreline in a Conference match for three years. A full match report can be found on the Official Site.

Dagenham came back from three down at Kingfield to take the lead 4-3 with five minutes remaining. But Woking snatched a draw with virtually the last kick of the game from Charlie Griffin. Rushden were well beaten 3-1 at Edgar Street. The gap closes to two points, with Yeovil having a game in hand. If anyone doesn't know! Yeovil meet Rushden at Huish Park next Saturday.

Top of the table, 14th April 2001

Home Away Team P W D L F A W D L F A Pts 1. Rushden & Diamonds 37 12 5 1 36 12 10 4 5 35 22 75 2. Yeovil Town 36 14 2 2 39 13 8 5 5 27 28 73 3. Dagenham & Redbridge 36 11 4 4 36 19 8 3 6 26 27 64

On Bank Holiday Monday Yeovil Town travel away to Dagenham & Redbridge, whilst Rushden & Diamonds are at home to Doncaster Rovers.

The failure to get a result means that Yeovil are putting more and more pressure on themselves, and any margin for error has now gone. Inconsistency on the pitch, and from many fans point of view in team selection, is costing us dear. The race for the title is not yet over, but it's becoming fact that it's Rushden's to lose.

Top of the table, 10th April 2001

Home Away Team P W D L F A W D L F A Pts 1. Rushden & Diamonds 36 12 5 1 36 12 10 4 4 34 19 75 2. Yeovil Town 35 13 2 2 33 12 8 5 5 27 28 70 3. Dagenham & Redbridge 35 11 4 4 36 19 8 2 6 22 23 63

Dagenham & Redbridge are away to Boston United tonight.

To order your video, send a cheque made payable to Andrew Eggleton for £10.00, which includes postage and packing in the UK.

Send your cheque to Andrew Eggleton, 57 Rectory Grove, Hampton, Middlesex, TW12 1AH. For further enquiries contact Andrew on (0208) 287 6784.

The Non-League Newspaper speculates that the Conference chairmen may try to break the deadlock by threatening to allow only one team up from the three feeder leagues, thus throwing the whole pyramid structure into disarray. Ciderspace suspects this is bluster, as it seems impossible that the F.A. would not impose sanctions on the Conference - the ultimate being an exclusion from all F.A. sponsored competitions (a threat it successfully used to whip the Unibond into line a couple of seasons ago) - if there was such unilateral action. However it is indicative of the head of steam that has brewed about the clear injustice of the present one up / one down between the Conference and the League that the chairmen of Conference clubs could even be considering such a draconian move.

K's stunned Yeovil by re-taking the lead through Derek Allan on 54 mins, before Warren Patmore notched The Glovers second equalizer to make it 2-2 on 70 minutes. The home side hadn't finished however, Ronnie Green giving them the lead for the 3rd time on 76 minutes, 3-2 to K's. A Kingstonian player was on the scoresheet again next, but in the wrong net - Eddie Akuamoah heading an own goal in the 82nd minute to allow Yeovil to draw level again at 3-3. The final act came deep into injury time with top-scorer Warren Patmore popping up in the right place and at the right time to give The Glovers the lead for the first time in the game and to leave the final score - Kingstonian 3 Yeovil 4. The ytfc.net match report can be found by clicking here

With games beginning to run out as we approach the end of the season this was an essential win, particularly with title rivals Rushden picking up a 4-1 home victory against Morecambe. Rushden are now on 75 points, Yeovil on 70, but The Glovers still have those 2 games in hand. Latecomers Dagenham stumbled again, drawing 0-0 at home v Telford to leave themselves on 63 points, 7 behind Yeovil and having played a game extra.

One piece of bad news came out of the afternoon: Loan signing Martin Barlow has returned to Plymouth Argyle following the news that he requires a knee ligament operation following an injury picked up in training. He is not expected to play again this season.

All Yeovil Fans with standing tickets for the Copse Road End, and all those with terrace season tickets, will be moved to the Westland Terrace. With the increased capacity afforded by the revamped home terrace there will be an extra 800 standing tickets available for Yeovil supporters. The Rushden fans who have already bought tickets for the Bartlett stand are being shifted from the end by the home terrace to the normal area for away supporters in Block P. Thus any season ticket holders in the Bartlett who were preparing to move will find they are back in their usual seats.

Rushden have been allocated the whole of the away terrace. Nene Park has guaranteed Yeovil Town the price of the first 1,000 tickets, however many they sell. The maximum standing allocation they can receive is 1,754.

Yeovil ready for crunch clash 3 Apr

Yeovil Town have already sold more than 6,000 tickets for what could be a Conference title decider with Rushden & Diamonds on Saturday week.

Capacity will be limited to just under 7,000 unless Yeovil can complete work on covering the terracing at the home end of their Huish Park ground. That would free another 2,000 places.

"Work is on schedule but there are a lot of factors to be taken into consideration," said chairman John Fry. "Rushden, who have so far been allocated 716 tickets, know the situation and if possible we would like to increase their allocation."

The club has also discounted stories that they might have to play some of their remaining matches away from Huish Park because of the dreadful state of the pitch.

The pitch was laid at the bottom of a basin when the stadium was built 10 years ago. Consequently water drains to the lowest point and has caused several postponements, including the Variety Club Trophy Semi-Final with Kingstonian on four occasions.

"There is a lot of work to be done this summer but we have not even considered moving home fixtures," said Fry. "We're praying for a heat wave."

Having made an offer reputedly of £ 140,000 for Patmore last year EWBAMBNET's brilliant grasp of psychology leads him to insult a player his team is soon to face, and that player's club, with a paltry joke bid. So no incentive there to shove it back down his throat. If our Wazza needed any geeing up for April 21st a nice poster pinned to the dressing-room wall: "Patmore = £20K, Love from Brian" should just about do it. Thanks for the goal start, EWBAMBNET.

Yeovil chairman John Fry was clearly just as impressed: "I'm fed up with all the speculation surrounding Warren. He's a Yeovil Town player and we have no intention of selling him. Last week we had a bid for Warren on deadline day that was an insult and designed to totally unsettle the player. We know that Warren's contract is out at the end of the season and we shall be sitting down to talk with him when the season ends. That applies to several other players in the squad as well including Tony Pennock and Ben Smith. Right now the only thing that matters is winning the Conference and getting into Division Three. Warren has always been a part of our plans and the manager has stated that quite clearly. We are about to enter the most important six weeks in the history of this club and I and the manager don't want any distractions from the job in hand. We've brought in new players in the shape of Howard Forinton and Martin Barlow and now it's a question of winning games and getting out of the Conference. In a way I'm glad we can now concentrate on the playing side and forget about signing players."

[Original story from The Clarion here.]

Some worrying reports from behind the scenes, with news that 3 non-playing members of the Yeovil squad spent all afternoon in the Dover bar drinking, rather than supporting their team-mates. No-one wants to come over too moralistic and holier-than-thou about this (god knows us at Ciderspace have been known to occasionally have a sip of something vaguely alcoholic!) but for professional sportsmen this kind of behaviour is surely unacceptable. What is permissible at amateur or even semi-professional level is just not on for full-time players and is insulting to colleagues and fans alike.

Rushden couldn't take advantage of Yeovil's inabilty to win yesterday, slipping to a 1-1 home draw with Leigh RMI, Max's Millionaires 2nd draw on the bounce - could it be that they are warming up nicely for their traditional April slump? Time will tell. Late chargers Dagenham & Redbridge's excellent recent run ground to a halt at Hayes, The Missioners coming out on top by 4-1.