The loss of Colin Miles to a nasty head injury on New Year's Eve meant that although he was out of hospital, he did not travel up to Yorkshire to face his former housemate and Doncaster winger Michael McIndoe. Colin's place in the side was taken by Scott Guyett who had played the second half against Bristol City. That meant Efetobore Sodje was recalled to the bench after his New Year's Eve rest, whilst Arron Davies was also brought in on the bench for Pablo Bastianini. Otherwise all others who faced Bristol City made it up to Yorkshire without problems. Liam Fontaine was once again an unlucky party - sitting out what was to be his final loan match as the 17th man.

Like the Bristol City game, the Glovers got off to an excellent start paying little lip service to a side that until their Carling Cup exit to Arsenal had won eight matches out of their previous ten and had won every match at home since October. But that Carling Cup exit has provoked a mini-slide for Doncaster, and they allowed Yeovil to assume full early control of the game.

Phil Jevons created Yeovil's first opening when he cut down the left wing and knocked the ball in to the near post to Matt Harrold whose first time shot was blocked by Doncaster keeper Jan Budtz, rebounding off a defender and skewing across the face of a gaping goal but with no third Yeovil player charging in, Doncaster were able to hack it away.

The home side were not so lucky with Yeovil's second attack of the match. Kevin Amankwaah burst his way up the right flank, then cut the ball inside to Phil JEVONS. The Yeovil striker picked up possession, spotted a gap in the Doncaster defence, and with a change of pace burst through the middle of the park, unleashing an unstoppable shot that gave Budtz little chance to react to as the rising ball hit the back of the net. 1-0 and totally deserved for the positive start to the game.

Referee Russell Booth was making some particularly bizarre early decisions in favour of the home side. Both Jevons and Harrold looked to be clearly fouled on the edge of the box but on one such occasion he gave nothing, then for the second he dumbfounded the visiting supporters by awarding a foul against Harrold. Phil Jevons hit the outside of the goal netting after he was fed from the right flank again, but ran out of room to hit his shot. Then Terry Skiverton almost made it 2-0 with a header from a corner that Budtz managed to palm away, the ball running dangerously close to going over the line.

Doncaster were creating next to nothing at the other end. They closest they came to mustering a shot was when an effort from the left flank was blocked by Scott Guyett. Steve Collis was a near spectator and the 18 yard line was an invisible wall repelling all Doncaster attacks. Their frustration at not being able to get near the ball was showing with Nick Fenton getting booked for a poor challenge on David Poole, then Adam Hughes quickly followed for blocking off a Kevin Amankwaah run as his pace tore through the Doncaster midfield.

Just before the break, Yeovil again went close with the Doncaster defence fully stretched. Again Jevons tore down the Doncaster flank, slipping the ball across the six yard line towards Matt Harrold. Jan Budtz got a hand on it, but the ball broke lose to Harrold whose six yard attempt to poke the ball home was blocked on the line by Sean McDaid and subsequently cleared. That second goal was the only thing missing from a near perfect half of football for the Glovers at the end of which the home side were booed off the pitch by their supporters, having failed to get anywhere near Yeovil's goal.

The Glovers opened the second half in the same positive fashion, with Lee Johnson almost catching Jan Budtz out of position with a lengthy curling drive that saw the keeper scrambling at his far post. Phil Jevons got into space behind the Doncaster backline but lifted his shot over the bar, then Chris Cohen tried his luck from long range but found his chance went wide.

Doncaster manager Dave Penney decided he had given his first eleven long enough and began to steadily work his way through the first of three substitutions, making little tactical tweaks and changes to try and spark a change. But still Yeovil maintained the advantage and again had a golden opportunity with Jevons the tormentor in chief. After making his way down the right flank, he checked and chose not to shoot, slipping the ball inside to Chris Cohen who squirmed between two Doncaster defenders, and forcing an excellent near post save from Jan Budtz. The home crowd vented their fury on their own defence for failing to get in any sort of a challenge on Jevons or Cohen, with the two players on their own out-witting half a dozen Donny players.

Doncaster then brought on their second substitution, introducing Richard Offiong on the right wing having already plugged Sean Thornton into midfield as they pushed men forward in an attempt to unsettle the Glovers. Donny finally began to force some territory even if the chances were still evading them. The Yeovil defence saw to that with the travelling Yeovil support noisily cheering Terry Skiverton's sliding tackle that took the ball off the legs of Michael McIndoe down at the away end stopping his run for dead on about the only occasion he had managed to break clear of the clutches of Kevin Amankwaah and Paul Terry. Then Scott Guyett made a flying run and leap for a ball on the near post as a Doncaster cross for once looked threatening.

Doncaster's third substitution saw Leo Fortune-West taken off after he'd failed to get near the ball all game with Scott Guyett never giving him a sniff of the ball. On 74 minutes, Doncaster finally managed their first dangerous move of the match. A Sean Thornton shot was blocked by Scott Guyett, but the ball fell loose to Ricky Ravenhill. His shot had Steve Collis scrambling but it went wide of the post by a yard.

Steve Collis was booked for timewasting on a goal kick, whilst Ricky Ravenhill also landed in the book for a push in the back on Kevin Amankwaah. With most of the play now in one half, Steve Thompson made his first tactical move by using the pace of Kevin Gall as a new problem for Doncaster, swapping him for an exhausted Phil Jevons who had produced probably his best game of the season.

Doncaster finally managed the first of their two on target shots with 14 minutes remaining although Steve Collis could have served himself a cup of tea before saving Sean Thornton's daisy-cutter. Paul Terry landed in the book for apparent timewasting although had a Doncaster player bothered to stop the slow-moving tap back after a free kick had been awarded, the match official might not have needed to have handed out such a harsh booking. Andy Lindegaard became Yeovil's second substitution after Kevin Amankwaah received a nasty kick from Mark Albrighton close to the Yeovil goal-line as Amankwaah was shielding the ball out for a goal-kick. Amazingly the knee-high challenge escaped card-free. Efe Sodje then came on for Paul Terry as Thommo decided to get an extra centre-back on the park.

Doncaster were by now bombing balls and players into the box and praying for a bit of luck. They weren't getting it despite referee Russell Booth awarding an inexplicable five minutes injury time. Right at the death, a Doncaster corner saw Mark Albrighton's header go straight into the grateful arms of Steve Collis and that was as close as the home side got across the whole 90 minutes. That was thanks to an outstanding performance by the Glovers back four, but also from the midfielders who tracked back and covered on the rare occasions Doncaster gave Yeovil the slip. Perhaps the last 10 minutes were a little nervy but it would have been a travesty of justice if the Glovers had come home with anything less than three points on this kind of performance. Up now to 14th place, the Glovers are now in a position to shape their own destiny in the second half of the season and decide whether they spend the rest of the campaign staring up at the playoff positions, or looking over their shoulder at the relegation slots. It really is that tight.

Badger

MOTM Vote Result:

Player MOTM Score Lee Johnson 7 408 Terry Skiverton 5 292 Phil Jevons 5 285 David Poole 4 262 Chris Cohen 2 162 Matt Harrold 1 115 Kevin Amankwaah 1 77 Scott Guyett 1 69

Overall match rating: 7.9 / 10
Performance: 8.6
Entertainment: 7.2

26 votes received.

Any comments/questions please email yeo.motm@ntlworld.com

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