When this fixture first landed on the fixture lists, there was little doubt that many would have seen the final trip to Swansea's Vetch Field ground as being possibly the centre-point of Yeovil's season - both in terms of the atmosphere at the stadium and also the likely importance of the game. As New Year approached, it seemed as though the game's status had increased another notch. This time last year the Swansea fixture barely got noticed under the deluge of dialog about the Liverpool FA Cup fixture. This season it is the Rotherham FA Cup fixture that seems to have almost been forgotten in the lead up to this top of the table clash.

Gary Johnson's team selection involved one fairly simple decision to be made. Colin Miles dropped out of the starting eleven, initially to the bench but ultimately after a 2.30pm changeover right out of the sixteen, allowing Scott Guyett to act as a natural replacement on the field of play. Stephen Reed got in his first bit of bench warming since his return from a loan period at Forest Green.

The game itself started as a midfield battle. On a greasy pitch, the tackles went flying in and to his credit, referee Tony Bates seemed to have arrived with his head screwed on by making allowances both for the pitch and for the importance of the match.

Swansea top scorer Lee Trundle opened his bag of tricks early on when he produced an early chance, curling a sixth minute shot that Chris Weale saved well at the foot of his post. At the other end Yeovil carved out their first chance though captain Terry Skiverton after Darren Way won a header and Phil Jevons held the ball up. However, Skivo's shot skewed well wide of the target. Way himself went close when Swansea goalkeeper Willy Gueret over-committed himself with a punch out of his area but Way's attempt to aim for the vacated goalnet was blocked by a covering defender. Phil Jevons tried his luck from just inside the area but shot straight at Gueret.

This was a half with very few chances, and both keepers were largely content to watch the ball head wide of the goalposts. The ball stayed largely in the middle third, although perhaps Swansea were just about edging the game on possession, even if Trundle seemed to be their only viable route towards goal, and their means of actually getting the ball to him seemed to be limited. Five minutes before the break he did threaten Yeovil's goal - cutting in from the right wing and whipping in a devilish strike that curled and curled but ultimately cleared the goalframe by a yard. This was looking like a tight game but it was difficult to believe that it would remain so for the whole game.

Michael Rose had suffered a nasty looking ankle injury just before half time and it was no real surprise when he failed to appear after the break. Andy Lindegaard replaced him, whilst there was also another change with Arron Davies replacing Kevin Gall.

Swansea dead-ball specialist Andy Robinson tried his luck with an angled free kick that went a yard over the bar three minutes after the break but the position of the free kick was never likely to produce a direct strike to trouble Chris Weale.

Yeovil's new line-up seemed to be providing a far more mobile and fluid approach to the game, with Andrejs Stolcers and Andy Lindegaard frequently swapping positions on the left flank and various cross-runs creating space. Bartosz Tarachulski put Phil Jevons through on goal but his shot from behind the home defence went just wide of the post.

Chris Weale was forced into his first difficult save of the game after a short free kick by Roberto Martinez found Andy Robinson wide on the left flank. His short ball to Alan Tate saw a 20 yard shot heading towards the crossbar area until Wealey made sure with an outstanding tipover save.

Swansea had a goal chalked off seven minutes through the second half after Trundle appeared to barge Bartosz Tarachulski off the ball somewhat illegally. But when the Swansea striker's pass headed for Paul Connor, the former Rochdale striker saw a linesman's flag instantly go up, and his place of the ball into the bottom corner and past Weale didn't count for anything.

Arron Davies tried his luck from distance but his curling attempt landed wide of the mark, but Yeovil nearly opened the scoring through some unusually charitable defending by Swansea - Alan Tate heading the ball against his own crossbar when a Lee Johnson free kick curled right across his path.

For such a competitive game, referee Bates was continuing to do well to keep a lid on several feisty incidents, choosing to calm players down rather than wave cards around. But even he couldn't have stopped Darren Way landing in the book for literally hanging onto the coat-tails of Roberto Martinez as he ran down the wing.

As the half wore on though, Yeovil began to get more and more on top of the game, gaining possession of the ball and keeping it, and it was Swansea who were looking the more pensive as the Glovers pushed forward. Only an outstanding save by Willy Gueret denied Yeovil a lead from a Yeovil setpiece on the hour mark. Lee Johnson's ball into the area was flicked on by Scott Guyett then headed goalward by Terry Skiverton but Gueret somehow managed to palm the ball over the bar.

Bartosz Tarachulski saw a scuffed shot go wide of the post, whilst Phil Jevons had appeals for a penalty turned down when Roberto Martinez appeared to take his ankles in the box. But with just eleven minutes left, Yeovil's dominance finally counted for something. Paul Terry's long ball into the box was only half cleared by a Swansea defender, and when the ball broke back to Andrejs STOLCERS he made room away from Leon Britton and curled a 20 yard beauty into the far top corner for a fantastic opening goal.

Swansea naturally surged forward in surge of an equaliser and could have provided their own bit of magic from the one man who ever looked likely to break their duck. Lee Trundle's overhead kick scraped the outside of Chris Weale's right hand post with just five minutes left. A minute later Trundle's back-post header from a Martinez corner deflected nastily but Wealey was on hand to palm the ball over the bar. Swansea bombed balls into the Yeovil penalty area but Skivo and Scott held firm and won nearly everything going their way.

Just when it seemed that Yeovil were going to ride out three minutes of injury time they got themselves a real old bonus to finish off the game. Arron Davies was playing the ball into the corner flag to see out the final minute, when an attempt to bounce the ball off the legs of a Swansea player saw the ball squeeze through to Andrejs Stolcers. Running level with the by-line, first Stolcers then on two occasions Davies tried to squirm the ball into the net as Swansea defenders blocked. But when the ball fell loose to Phil JEVONS, he rifled it into the top left-hand corner, via the body of a Swansea defender, to wrap the points up for good and send Yeovil home with yet another win.

A terrific win, and a huge three points gained by the Glovers in highly professional circumstances. After wearing Swansea down, fitness took over and the Glovers largely ran the second half, and for this they deserved what they got. Swansea look good value as fellow promotion contenders, but aside from some well organised defensive play, their attacking force still looks to be driven through one player alone and it will be that player that they will be pinning their hopes on for the rest of this season.

Badger

MOTM Vote Result:

Player MOTM Score Scott Guyett 6 381 Darren Way 4 234 Lee Johnson 2 267 Chris Weale 3 219 Andrejs Stolcers 3 219 Terry Skiverton 3 200

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

21 votes received.

Any comments/questions please email ytfcmotm@ntlworld.com

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