Jason Eaton kept Adrian Foster out of the starting line-up for the first time since both players joined Yeovil last summer. Jamie Pitman dropped back to wing-back in the absence of Glen Poole, and Paul Tisdale took Pitman's midfield position on his comeback from injury. Matt Hayfield put his injury woes behind by claiming a place on the bench.

The game kicked off in bright conditions and the usual howling gale blowing into the face of the fans stood on the home terrace. Local firms needing to use a wind-tunnel in the future should look no further than setting up their equipment on the halfway line at Huish Park, their needs would be met without fail. It was the home side who had the wind in their favour during the 1st 45 minutes.

The visitors nearly opened the scoring as early as the 2nd minute - though it would have been a controversial goal if it had gone in. Andy Ducros collapsed as if he had been shot outside the Yeovil box following a challenge from a Yeovil defender - more of a reverse somersault with pike than a dive, but good enough to fool referee Mr Spicer. The resultant free kick beat Pennock in the Yeovil goal, but not the post, which knocked the ball out for a goal-kick.

The next 20 minutes were dominated by Yeovil in what was to be easily their best spell of the match. The Glovers were playing some good one-touch football, closing down Nuneaton quickly when the visitors had the ball and all in all were looking like the genuine championship contenders the morning's league table suggested they were. Warren Patmore was foiled by keeper Chris Mackenzie when one-on-one with him following a defense-splitting pass from Jamie Pitman; and a Rob Cousins 30-yard effort shaved a coat of paint off the cross-bar.

The Glovers took a deserved lead on the 20 minute mark. A Dean Chandler clearance found Jason Eaton wide on the left. His cross was met by Patmore in the middle who set up the oncoming Jamie PITMAN to head powerfully into the top corner. 1-0, and a deserved lead it was.

That was as good is it got for the home fans however. Instead of pushing on from what had been an excellent start, Yeovil appeared content to sit on their lead. The one-touch passing football with plenty of movement disappeared to be replaced by hopeful punts of the ball from the boot of Tony Pennock which the wind was taking all the way to the visitors penalty area without bouncing. In the meantime Nuneaton - in the middle of a run of form which has seen them win only 1 of their last 9 games - were being allowed back into the game.

The visitors missed a golden opportunity to score in the 35th minute with 3 players completely unmarked in the Yeovil penalty area - McDermott's cross somehow contrived to pass them all by to the relief of the absent Yeovil defence. The loss of Terry Skiverton with a leg injury shortly afterwards did nothing to help Yeovil's cause, Matt Hayfield doing a straight swap with the defender. In hindsight perhaps Rob Cousins should have dropped back into defence with Hayfield going into midfield. At any rate the defence was now being pulled all over the place by Nuneaton's attacks and it was no surprise when Drew BROUGHTON, again completely unmarked, was found by a deep cross and headed past the despairing Pennock with glee. 1-1 at half-time, and in 15 short minutes the pattern of the game had changed completely.

The 2nd half was dreadful viewing for the home supporters. Nuneaton dominated from start to finish, creating numerous chances on goal and with a little more luck and some better finishing might have got into double figures. No, I am not exaggerating!

Both 2nd-half Borough goals came from corners. The first was a scrambled affair from Ged MURPHY in the 68th minute, the second yet another unmarked header from Shaun WRAY with a couple of minutes to go. In between times Nuneaton rained down a barrage of attempts on Yeovil's goal, with Tony Pennock pulling off some excellent diving saves aided and abetted by some desperate goal line clearances to give the scoreline some semblence of credibility. According to the stats found at sports.com, Nuneaton put together 21 attempts at goal to Yeovil's 6 throughout the game - having sat through the match all one can say is that whoever compiled those figures was being generous to the home side.

The first 20-25 minutes today were great to watch from a Yeovil point-of-view. The team passsed and moved, passed and moved, kept the ball on the ground in the main, defended from the front by closing down Nuneaton quickly when they had the ball and looked a good side - genuine championship contenders. If they can recreate that kind of performance over the whole match next weekend then there is every reason for optimism against Kingstonian in the FA Trophy.

That was a terrible performance, and there's very little more you can say about it; that was awful. I thought there was possibly one player out there who did quite well, but I'm not going to name him, there seems little point.

I thought we had a chance after 20 minutes of beating them. But to be fair, we were outplayed in the last 20 minutes of the first half and the whole of the second half, and Nuneaton thoroughly deserved their win.

Terry Skiverton going off doesn't help, but I wouldn't put it down to that. If losing one player has an influence like that on us, then we've got a very big problem. I've been too busy saying what I think about the game to find out what the extent of his injury is, so I'm going to find out later (see Terry Skiverton's own view below).

I think the fans deserved to see more passion than was shown by the players today. But I thought a lot of it was competance. It was about the controlling and the passing of the ball today. I'd put put it down as much as competance today as passion and both were sorely missing today. You saw it for yourself. The passing was poor, the tackling was poor, the crossing was awful - they're all the important aspects of football, and I don't think anyone did themselves any favours, especially in the second half.

I really am not interested in the results from other games. Because to be fair, we were already six points behind the leaders, and with a performance like that I think it would be a miracle if we won the league now.

Tony Pennock picked up a knock in training last week, and he's been feeling it a bit through the Taunton game and today's. He's OK I think, but putting Tim Malessa on the bench was just a precaution.

In terms of morale within the team, there are maybe some players who aren't getting into the team who aren't too happy, but overall I've felt that morale within the team was good. We'd put on a good run, we'd gone overnight to Southport and I felt that morale was good. Obviously players who aren't in the team or aren't involved might not be too happy that they're not involved in it all.

We've got training on Tuesday and a game on Wednesday, and there will be a few people involved in that game, as well as their training on Tuesday.

The FA Trophy game is a very important one next week. If we go out for that game in the last sixteen of the Trophy, without enough passion, then I've got to look at myself, or the players have got to look at themselves. I'm passionate about the Trophy, I love the competition, and it's been good to me. I want it to be good for me again, and I want it to be good for the players. But you can't just turn up, you've got to make it happen. It's going to be a vital game for our season.

We're hopeful of bring in two new players this week. I think that one is 90% certain, and the other is about 50-50. I'm speaking to Matthew Hale of Weymouth at the moment, the clubs have agreed terms, and its a case of speaking with the player about his terms.

Jamie Pitman 41%
Tony Pennock 33%
Ben Smith 6%

MATCH RATING - 3.5 (out of 10)
Performance - 2.75; Entertainment - 4.25