Yeovil Town manager Gary Johnson admitted he had enjoyed Yeovil Town's topsy-turvey 4-4 draw against Preston North End last night.
"It was fun for me," admitted Johnson. "I’m not sure how much fun it would have been for (Craig) Brown there, under more pressure to beat us than we are to beat them. It was just a fantastic game wasn’t it? Magnificent goals; all of them were quality goals. We learnt lessons in our penalty area; we know that already, but when you come up against First Division attackers like (Richard) Cresswell and (Ricardo) Fuller, you know we won't come up against them many times in the Third Division. They scored some very good goals, but we were also 'First Division' in our attacking final third so we were very pleased with that. We picked up a few things. We knew we had to concentrate more and compete harder. You have to not take your eye off the game for one minute and that’s the level of the First Division and I thought for most of the time we coped with that and it was a great lesson for us. If we can keep that ability and concentration in the Third Division then the sides shouldn’t be of the quality of Preston."
Johnson nearly saw his side go in 3-1 down at the break, but two quick goals pulled it back to 3-3 and Johnson said: "Our half-time talk was that I’d rather have gone in 3-0 up than 3-3. With certain players, you're asking them to do more in the penalty area to get on the end of the ball and head it away. Big Hugo did it at the end there; he won quite a few headers. But you have to give credit to them, they scored First Division goals and I thought we scored First Division goals and you cant ask for more than that."
The highlight of the evening was Kevin Gall's hat-trick and Johnson said of the triple strike: "It was fantastic because they were all good finishes. He’s starting where he left off and that’s good news. He finished well and all the goals had great build ups. It was our quick thinking, a couple of quick free-kicks and we caught them on the hop. Craig will be saying to them that they need to concentrate much quicker in the First Division because this is the Third Division doing that to us. Hopefully we’ve helped them, you need to switch on and if you don’t switch on for ninety minutes good players will get you."
Jamie Gosling was making his first appearance following his signing of a one-year deal at Huish Park, but Johnson said when asked of him: "You know me I don’t pick individuals out. He was part of our very entertaining evening along with our 11 substitutes. They won their game 1-0 actually in the last half hour team. It was good; I was pleased with our 'hour' team; they competed well and were 4-3 down. It was a great finish to the game with a magnificent goal by Jake Edwards."
Preston manager Craig Brown had kind words for the opposition he had seen his side come up against, explaining: "We played Rochdale last year, and Yeovil on that display were much more dangerous. I think on that display they’ve got a wonderful chance because they're really very fit looking and very well organised as you’d expect. I know Gary from his Latvia days and every team he has is superbly organised and Yeovil are no exception. Of course you’ve got great quality throughout the side, and when your substitute, the big fella (Hugo Rodrigues) came on, he’s a bit of a unique player. Your captain Darren Way is superb; what energy and enthusiasm! He just flits across the ground and he looks tremendous. All the very best to Yeovil."
The Glovers travel to the Avenue Stadium to play Dorchester Town tomorrow (Thursday) night, but Johnson insisted that they would not treat it as a lesser game: "It will still be part of our pre-season. As you can see there, I’ve got 22 players who are all gracing the Yeovil shirt at the moment and so whatever 11 I put in a Yeovil shirt will put up a good performance."
Kick-off at the Avenue Stadium is at 7.45pm and prices have been set at £5.00 for adults (£3.00 concessions) on the terraces, whilst prices in the Stand are one pound more.
(Report by Richard Gibson)
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23 July 2003 : 
