It wasn't quite a case of only just having 11 fit players today, but it wasn't far off either. As it was Yeovil couldn't raise a full substitutes bench after David Piper dropped out of this morning's squad with flu. Jamie Pitman returned from suspension to replace the injured Paul Tisdale and reservist Glen Poole took the unfortunate Piper's place. Chris Sparks asked for, and was granted, permission to play for the reserves in an effort to regain match fitness.

Yeovil kicked off playing with a strong and bitingly cold wind behind them and for a change took full advantage of the conditons in what was to be an excellent first half for the home side. The Glovers had by far the better of the early play, forcing a string of corners and keeping the Telford goal under constant pressure with Justin Bray in the visitors goal looking uncomfortable under the high ball. Dean Chandler came close with a header from a corner and Warren Patmore came within inches of connecting to the ball when sliding in on a cross.

20 minutes had gone before the visitors had their first attempt on goal, Brian McGorry bursting through the Yeovil defence and forcing Tony Pennock into a reflex save. Just afterwards Yeovil were in front. Pennock noticed Warren Patmore standing upfield with only one defender near, rather than the usual retinue of 2 or 3 bodies the big target-man attracts. The keeper launched an enormous punt downfield which the Telford defender, Albrighton, under pressure from Patmore, misjudged and allowed to bounce over his head. PATMORE collected the ball and beat the diving Bray with a shot into the back of the net, the ball deflecting off the right hand post. 1-0 to Yeovil, and a thoroughly deserved lead it was.

Three minutes later and the home side went two-up. Further pressure led to a Yeovil corner. After the initial kick failed to clear the first line of defence it seemed as if the chance had gone, but Ben Smith did well to retrieve the situation and swing in a cross that had keeper Bray flapping and missing. PATMORE, at the back post, didn't miss and headed into the empty net. 2-0 to Yeovil and a rout looked on the cards.

All credit to Telford then for forcing their way back into the game. They perhaps could have scored twice in reply before half-time - Edwards lobbing fractionally wide after a mix-up between Patmore and Pennock led to the Yeovil keeper dropping the ball in the penalty area following a corner; and Kevan Brown clearing a shot off the line following another fine Pennock save - but then, so could Yeovil, with Patmore shaving the upright with a header from a corner and the big striker forcing a good save from Bray after being put through by Adrian Foster.

Yeovil should have put the game beyond all possible doubt early in the second half, but wasted two great chances. Firstly Patmore broke clear of the Telford offside trap only to shoot tamely at Bray in the Telford goal. There was no doubt that the Yeovil striker was being impeded as he burst through and was again being unfairly hampered by the Telford defence as he shot, but despite there being no advantage referee Mr Pettitt claimed to be playing the advantage law and refused to give the foul, the first of many increasingly bizarre decisons from the official. Secondly Adrian Foster found himself in an almost identical situation a few minutes later, but this time couldn't take refuge in the excuse of foul play as his shot screwed wide of the goal.

By now Telford were beginning to take advantage of having the wind in their favour and it was their turn to put the bulk of the pressure on the Yeovil goal. The always-dangerous Jake Edwards had another shot cleared off the line and shortly afterwards a long-throw into the Yeovil box caused mass palpitations as it bounced awkwardly off Rob Cousins and forced Pennock into a diving save.

Yeovil weren't finished as an attacking force however. A Ben Smith pass split the Telford defence down the middle, but again Adrian Foster couldn't take advantage of the opportunity. Foster was playing his usual whole-hearted all-action game, but sometimes you're hot, sometimes you're not: Today, Fozzie was not. Eventually he was replaced by Jason Eaton - perhaps the substition could have been made somewhat earlier than it was in the end.

Before then however it went from bad to worse for Foster, and Yeovil, when, with around a quarter of an hour to go. the linesman gave an appalling offside decision against the home team: Patmore was clearly offside and equally clearly trotting back to the halfway line and not interfering with play. Foster, equally clearly was well onside and chasing a long ball over the the top of the Telford defence. Inevitably, the linesman raised his flag giving Patmore offside. So far so bad. Albrighton, the Telford defender, then shook Foster warmly by the throat - the result, the referee booked both Albrighton and the blameless Foster. To add insult to injury from the resultant free-kick for the original wrongly-given offside decision, Martin NAYLOR shot home after a flick-on in the Yeovil box, bringing Telford back into the game.

The wind played a major part in today's game. It was like a twelfth player both halves for the team that had it. We played very very well in the second half. We didn't play much football, but it was so hard to get your way up the pitch. It was a very strong wind and it was going straight down the pitch.

Dave Piper was missing because he had flu. Chris Sparks I felt needed a game, so he played for the reserves today. Dave Piper was playing until this morning. Myself and Terry talked about bringing one of the reserves in. Obviously Sparksy was the obvious person, but we already had cover in the centre of defence in Paul Steele. So it would probably have meant bringing in a young lad, who we probably wouldn't have intended to bring on. You can only use three substitutes anyway, so we saw no real reason for it.

Glen Poole took a knock, and I'm hoping that it is not too serious, but knowing our luck I'll probably find out he's out for three or four weeks. [Physio Pete Smith later said that that Poole's injury was just a bad bruise on the bone and that there was plenty of hope that he would be available for next Saturday's game at Kettering].

Steve Stott is doing very well. His operation was a success. He's got to see the surgeon, for a further check-up, and we're hoping that he'll start training very soon after that. It would be nice to think that he could be available for the start of March.

Matt Hayfield, I think, could be about two weeks away. He is probably not in the reckoning for next weekend, but possibly back for the FA Trophy game.

Paul Tisdale hopes to be fit for next week. It was a precaution for today because we had been told that if he played on with it, he could be out for a long while. It's a stomach muscle injury. We want to nurse him through for the rest of the season, and if that means him missing the odd game here and there we might have to do that.

I've watched about five or six different players this week. Three that have impressed me, this week have been ruled because of their attitude. As I've said I only want players with good attitudes here and players who want to play for Yeovil.

Kevan Brown 35%
Warren Patmore 32%
Jamie Pitman 8%
Glen Poole 7%
Dean Chandler 6%
Ben Smith 6%

COMMENTS

OVERALL MATCH RATING - 6.9 out of 10
Performance 7.0
Entertainment 6.8