Yeovil Town manager Gary Johnson believed that his side were as guilty as Hartlepool United of turning this afternoon's match into the flat spectacle that it turned out to be. The 0-1 home defeat against the North-East side saw the Glovers chances on goal fizzle out after a promising start where they should have been several goals ahead.
Johnson told BBC Somerset after the game that he felt that after that bright start that his side failed to keep up momentum, and although Hartlepool used plenty of tactics to slow the game down and block men behind the ball, that his own players had to take responsibility for the way the game turned out. The Glovers boss felt that after the opening half hour, the quality of the game began to disintegrate:
"We had maybe four or five great opportunities. Once they didn't go in, Hartlepool tried to deaden the game and we were as guilty as they were because we didn't keep a tempo and we didn't show enough ability on the day to get going and create other opportunities like we did in the first half hour or so."
The winning goal itself came on 65 minutes when a cross into the box was headed onwards into the path of Ryan Noble. With the Glovers defence and keeper static, the on loan Sunderland man stabbed the ball home from inside the box with Hartlepool's only on target shot of the game. Johnson was disappointed with his players for the way they defended that move, feeling that some unnamed players had not covered themselves in glory for the way the ball was allowed to land in the net:
"A few haven't done themselves too many favours for me. Once again we had someone in the middle of the penalty area who was free. The only way that they were going to score really was on a set play when they'd got numbers in there. We worked really hard on showing the lads their strengths, and it was going to come from throw-ins and set plays, because they'd got no grandeur really of trying to out play you. But we lacked the kind of quality to go on and win the game today, so I blame us as much as them."
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24 March 2012 : 
