With all the pre-match talk being about who was on the physio's bench, it was somewhat of a relief to find that the Glovers were only one player short of the line-up that served them so well over Christmas. That left-back position was already known about before the match began and so with Michael Rose injured, Colin Miles suspended and Stephen Reed cup-tied it was left to Andy Lindegaard to replay his Swansea second-half performance in the left-back slot.

Both Rotherham and Swansea got themselves early chances that were denied by the linesman's flag. Whilst Chris Weale parried Rotherham's very early strike, Darren Way did manage to get the ball in the back of the net after ten minutes but a linesman's flag had long before gone up. Scott Guyett flicked a header wide from a corner, and it was clear from the offset that we were not going to be seeing any early timidness from the Glovers in respect of their higher league opponents.

Rotherham's main danger seemed to come from set-pieces and balls flashed across the face of the box and one in particular saw Rotherham's Michael Proctor send the ball in from the right with Terry Skiverton hacking the ball away close to his own goal-line before anyone could come in on the back post. Then Andy Monkhouse lobbed the ball onto the top of Chris Weale's crossbar mid-way through the first half with Rotherham's closest goal attempt so far. Winger Jamal Campbell-Ryce seemed to have plenty of speed on him for the home side, but with very little end result - most of his runs seemed to disappear up blind alleys and after getting the measure of his style, Andy Lindegaard and Andrejs Stolcers began to block him out consistently.

Referee Brian Curson was in a hair-splitting mood, waving his cards around liberally during the early play. Whilst Rotherham keeper Michael Pollitt's booking for kicking the ball away on a Yeovil free kick was fairly academic, the early cards for Terry Skiverton and Lee Johnson were baffling with Johnson's only offence appearing to be on the receiving end of a push by Andy Monkhouse, who was also booked in the spot of handbags. Andy Lindegaard also landed in the book for a foul on Campbell-Ryce.

Yeovil were creating their own chances. Phil Jevons curled a free kick just over the bar when the whole ground were expecting a Lee Johnson blaster from the edge of the box, whilst Kevin Gall's strike from the edge of the box was the same distance wide of the target after he cut in from the right wing.

Chance of the half though fell to Paul McLaren who broke in behind the Yeovil defence, thanks to a ricochet off the legs of Terry Skiverton when the Yeovil captain put in a tackle. Running in at goal, his shot was heading for the corner, but a superb tip around the corner by Chris Weale forced the ball for a corner. Next Martin McIntosh became another Rotherham player to miss an opening when he lifted the ball across the frame of the Yeovil goal when it would have been easier to have got one on target.

A lengthy delay saw Rotherham's temporary domination thwarted after Robert Scott appeared to dislocate his shoulder following an over-zealous challenge on Andrejs Stolcers where the perpetrator came off the worse for wear. His exit forced the home side to reorganise and the half fizzled out with Yeovil still well in the tie, but probably needing to be a touch more inventive in their play to trouble the Rotherham back line.

No changes for either side at half time and Yeovil swiftly set up an early chance. Kevin Gall put the ball back into the box after a Yeovil corner was only half cleared but Terry Skiverton's strike on the volley flashed across the face of the Yeovil goal. Phil Jevons turned Paul Hurst inside out as he made room on the edge of the area but his shot was acrobatically saved by home keeper Michael Pollitt.

As Yeovil began to turn the screw and increase the tempo on the game, they reaped their rewards on the hour mark. In a flowing five-man Yeovil move, Phil Jevons received the ball and pinged a diagonal pass to Paul Terry. Racing into the area, he was upended by Rotherham's Martin McIntosh just as he was teeing up his shot, and the only surprise was that the Rotherham defender stayed on the pitch from what was a clear goalscoring opportunity. Whilst Mr Curson was free and easy with his yellow cards, it seemed as though he hadn't remembered a red. No worries though, as Phil JEVONS stepped up and ever-reliably blasted his kick into the corner of the goal giving Pollitt no chance and driving the 1,600 supporters at the other end into total delirium!

That delirium could have been doubled just five minutes later, when Andrejs Stolcers cut through the Rotherham midfield and unleashed an unstoppable 30 yard drive that hammered against the underside of the Rotherham crossbar. Keeper Michael Pollitt was the luckiest man alive as it missed his diving body by inches on the comedown, then landed on the second bounce straight into his arms for a real let-off.

Unsurprisingly as the half wore on, Yeovil were more content to stick bodies behind the ball and invite the home side to come on to them. Whilst the Glovers deep-set position was a little un-nerving at times, the Millers didn't seem to have a clue as to how to get past their lower-league counterparts and the result was stalemate every time they hit the Yeovil eighteen yard line. It took them 27 minutes of the second period to create anything of note, but even then Andy Monkhouse's long range attempt went two yards wide of the target.

The occasional goalmouth scramble ensued as Rotherham went long to try and create some trouble, but the closest they got was when Scott Guyett trapped the ball close to his own goal-line, cheekily dribbling the ball out of defence whilst the rest of us were mentally screaming for him to blast it into the stands.

Gary Johnson chose to shake things up to keep his side fresh replacing Phil Jevons with Arron Davies and later seeing a more defensive substitution with Roy O'Brien replacing Bartosz Tarachuski as he sat in front of the Yeovil defence leaving Arron Davies and occasionally Kevin Gall as the lone men up front.

As the minutes ticked away, Scott Guyett and Chris Weale combined to thwart another Rotherham ball into the box with both players landing in a heap with a home striker, with Wealey getting the final hold on the ball.

Rotherham's attempts to force an equaliser looked more and more risky though, particularly with Davies and Gall on the field, and despite all the pressure you always wondered if they might commit suicide. As Gall broke up the field after one such defensive clearance, Rotherham were finally undone. A succession of simple passes down the right between Roy O'Brien, Lee Johnson and Kevin Gall saw the ball played across the line like a rugby formation with Andrejs Stolcers producing an unselfish header straight into the path of Darren WAY, who six yards out and unmarked at the back post was never going to miss. 2-0 and one end of the ground went crazy, whilst the other three parts made a very swift move towards the exit signs.

Those home supporters made the right decisions as three minutes later, defeat was turned into embarrassment for the Championship side. Kevin Gall found Andrejs STOLCERS on the left flank on the halfway line, and the Latvian capped a fine performance by holding off his marker and lashing the ball into the net for his third goal in the last four games for a player that is definitely showing the kind of class that saw Fulham splash out two million pounds on him.

The final whistle blew, and Andrejs Stolcers and Lee Johnson were so overcome with joy, they at one point landed in the jubilant Yeovil crowd as only the away supporters stayed to celebrate the termination of the game. Gary Johnson's side had done what no Yeovil side had done in 55 years - to reach the FA Cup Fourth Round - and with another 40,000 pounds landed in the bank as Third Round winners and the hope of more revenue from a potential Fourth Round money-spinner on the cards for Monday lunchtime's draw, things really couldn't get any better for Yeovil Town than they currently are.

Badger

MOTM Vote Result:

Player MOTM Score Andrejs Stolcers 37 625 Darren Way 9 297 Andy Lindegaard 5 176 Paul Terry 4 176 Chris Weale 5 156 Scott Guyett 3 132 Kevin Gall 1 94 Terry Skiverton 2 50 Lee Johnson 2 50

Overall match rating: 8.8 / 10
Performance: 8.7
Entertainment: 8.9

68 votes received.

Any comments/questions please email ytfcmotm@ntlworld.com

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