Amy Wilde had an afternoon to remember, and a match ball to remember it by, as she hit four goals in the 5-4 win over Oxford City in the South West Combination.
Yeovil Town began the game at a ferocious pace and had the visitors pinned not just in their own half but in their penalty area for most of the first quarter of an hour. As usual, lovely passing football, building from the back and flowing forward like the tide, was the Glovers style. The early dominance was rewarded on 13 minutes as Wilde slipped through a tiny gap between defender and keeper to slide the ball in from close range.
Oxford were feeding off scraps, though what limited possession they did get saw them moving the ball slickly, and they equalised from close in on 19 minutes.
Jemma Tewksbury got the Glovers second on 35 minutes, flying in like a ninja kick-boxer to deftly side-foot the ball home whilst still airborne, to the surprise of the Oxford keeper, whose clearly audible "Where the f*** did she come from?" would have outraged any North-Eastern exile down for the game.
As half-time approached Wilde's movement and pace got her into a one-on-one with the keeper on 44 minutes. No mistake as she slotted her second, and the Glovers went into the break a deserved 3-1 up.
The visitors pulled the score back to 3-2 on 54 minutes, but only a minute later Wilde was in again, skinning the defence before firing home for her hat trick. Her fourth, and Yeovil's fifth, was a thundering shot from the edge of the area into the top of the net that the keeper just couldn't hold. Although Wilde deservedly takes the headlines, Kayleigh Nardiello was also on fire, her searing crosses proving a nightmare for the Oxford defence to deal with all match.
And that should have been it, but Oxford came back in the last quarter of an hour with two long range drives to make the closing minutes a bit nervous for the home side. The scoreline flattered Oxford in terms of the balance of play, but it has to be admitted they could finish well, converting four of their six chances during the match.
Final score: Yeovil Town Ladies 5 Oxford City Ladies 4
Our thanks to Tony Elbourn for his thoughts on this match.
A gallery of twenty photos by Sophie Elbourn from the game can be viewed here.
Only one other match took place on Sunday in the South West Combination, AFC Team Bath thrashing bottom of the table Reading Royals 7-0. Queens Park Rangers lead the division with 19 points from 7 played, Forest Green Rovers lie second with 16 from 7, whilst Yeovil Town are third with 15 from 6.
Next Sunday the Glovers are away to AFC Bournemouth who currently sit 7th.
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26 October 2008 : 
