No messing with last weeks starting line-up as Jason Eaton kept his striking position ahead of a returning Adrian Foster who had to be content with a place on the bench after his suspension. Proud dad Tony Pounder returned to the bench alongside Paul Steele meaning that Paul Tisdale took the weekend off, whilst Anthony Tonkin and James Bent headed for Elmore and the reserves match.

A strong positive start from Yeovil put Bedford instantly on the back foot and that resulted in an early Yeovil goal. A flighted free kick from Jamie Pitman was flicked on by Warren Patmore and a scramble at the back post resulted in a goal with the last touch probably going against Paul COVINGTON (See Picture Below and crowd celebrations to the right).

His namesake Gavin blasted an attempted shot high and wide out of the ground, but as Yeovil continued their pressurising of the Bedford back line, a goal arrived out of nothing. With just 15 minutes gone Warren PATMORE charged down an attempted clearance and he didn't know an awful lot about the ball as it rebounded off his body into the net for a welcome, but fortunate 2-0 lead (See Wazza's goal celebration below).

Patmore was coming in for some close attention with Gavin Covington landing a boot in Wazza's stomach, then five minutes later Gary Williams brought Patmore down from behind for the first booking of the game. Five minutes later, Mr Desmond saw fit to return the favour, although Patmore had barely caught Williams for the foul in this instance.

Williams caused more controversy as just past the half hour mark, he appeared to haul down Jason Eaton, who was looking busy up front, inside the Bedford penalty area (See picture below) but the match official waved play on.

Glen Poole became another name in the book when he kicked the ball away, but Yeovil ultimately restricted Bedford to a series of high punts out of the ground and a useful cross by Gavin Covington that no Bedford or Yeovil player could get on the end of.

Bedford started the second half in a positive style and in the 55th minute managed their first on-target shot when Eddie Lawley produced an accurate left wing cross but Chris Payne's header was easy pickings for Tony Pennock. A minute later Payne thought he had pulled a goal back for Bedford but the whistle had long gone due to his offside position when the through ball was sent to him.

Sixty seconds later the tie was as good as over. Glen Poole's left wing cross was misjudged by Paul Covington and with Jason EATON stood behind him, the ball floated through, allowing the striker to justify Thommo's faith in him and place the ball home from six yards.

By the hour mark, the game was turning into a rout. But again the goal had an element of luck to it. With the ball out on the left wing Rob COUSINS pumped the ball to the Bedford back post towards Warren Patmore, but Yeovil's leading scorer didn't need to touch it as the ball sailed over James Heeps' head and direct into the net.

The Bedford supporters were a credit to their club as they sang and chanted despite being four goals down, but lost two of their better players shortly afterwards with Gavin Covington exiting with a leg injury, and Gavin Jaggard with concussion after a collision with Tony Pennock.

The four goal cushion allowed Thommo to experiment a little and use all three substitutes in quick succession as Adrian Foster, Tony Pounder and Ellis Wilmot all got a chance to stretch their legs.

I don't want to take anything away from the lads though. To win 4-0 here is a magnificent result, even with the slices of luck that we did have. Three out of the four goals did have a lot of luck on them. We know that, and we know that to win this tournament we'll have to play a lot better than that, but it is still a difficult tie to come here and win, and at the end of it all we won it 4-0 and you can't take that away from them.

Warren Patmore had been booked, and so I didn't want to take any chances with him, but it was good to pair up Jason Eaton and Adrian Foster together. They did actually pair up together against Forest Green and did quite well there together, as well as today.

I wanted to get people on to have a game. Tony Pounder has not played for a couple of weeks, and with Fozzie I was getting him back after that suspended game and with Ellis Wilmot, I wanted the chance to look at him for 20 minutes rather than ten or five which has been the case recently.

Terry Skiverton 26%
Ben Smith 24%
Jamie Pitman 13%
Jason Eaton 9%
Rob Cousins 7%

COMMENTS

MATCH RATING - 6.2 (out of 10)
Performance 6.5
Entertainment 5.9