Russell Slade made three changes to the side that had won 2-0 at Bournemouth in midweek. One - Leon Best - was enforced with the striker returning to Southampton and that allowed a fairly natural return for Marcus Stewart who partnered Wayne Gray up front. Elsewhere it was two wingers who were drafted in, with on-loan pair Martin Brittain and Peter Sweeney coming into the starting line-up ahead of Nicky Law and Arron Davies to give the Glovers an ordinary 4-4-2 formation. Matthew Rose landed on the bench after signing a short-term contract with the club yesterday. They were coming up against a Swansea side that saw Kevin Amankwaah make his first start for their club since the first week in January, with caretaker boss Kevin Nugent making his final appearance in that job, with new manager Roberto Martinez having been introduced to their side before the game before taking a position in the director's box.

Yeovil nearly got off to a flyer in the first minute of the match after a great move down the left flank. A move involving Nathan Jones, Peter Sweeney and Chris Cohen saw the latter break clear down the flank and Cohen's ball into the box was inches away from being connected with by Marcus Stewart. Kevin Amankwaah landed in the book for cutting down Peter Sweeney within five minutes of the match starting and so would have a nervy 85 minutes to avoid any early exit against his former club.

At the other end, Andy Robinson's free kick went so far over the bar it landed in the Copse End car park. Then Terry Skiverton had to block a Pawel Abbott attempt when the former Huddersfield man fired on goal, but Skivo's looping header was comfortably cleared over the crossbar and out for a corner. But in the main, the Glovers were dominating proceedings and Swansea were not getting a lot of time in Yeovil's final third.

Nathan Jones, who was frequently getting forward down the left flank, found Wayne Gray inside the box with a disguised pass that almost confused Gray, who deflected the ball into the path of Marcus Stewart with goalkeeper Andy Oakes doing well to block the ball out for a corner.

Just 20 minutes into the match, Kevin Austin became an early injury casualty for Swansea, replaced by Ian Craney with Alan Tate moving into Austin's position whilst Cranie moved into the centre of midfield as the visitors were forced to reorganise their lines.

As the Glovers continued their relative domination, Marcus Stewart turned and shot inside the box close to the half hour point, but his left-footed attempt was saved by keeper Andy Oakes. Scott Guyett then headed straight at Oakes from a corner after a mix-up between the keeper and Alan Tate had forced the set piece to be taken. Then Wayne Gray broke clear, shooting through a covering defender's legs but again Oakes was well placed to make the save.

About the only thing that was giving Swansea much hope was that Steve Mildenhall didn't seem to have brought his kicking boots with him - often slicing the ball away when receiving backpasses and often the ball was falling to the likes of Lee Trundle in dangerous positions. But such mistakes came to nothing with Skiverton and Guyett in fine form to block out Tundle and Abbott and it was Yeovil who went in at the half time the more satisfied. Having managed a few rather ropey looking home performances lately, it was good to note that this was a vastly improved turn-out, but of course there was still a small matter of a goal being needed.

Swansea had appeals for a penalty turned down early in the second half when Andy Robinson claimed to have been taken down inside the box by Martin Brittain, but referee Tony Bates waved the Welsh appeals away with perhaps the way that Robinson had fallen convincing the official he had no need to blow up.

Marcus Stewart's 20 yard attempt had keeper Andy Oakes back-peddling as the keeper was caught off his line, whilst there were Yeovil appeals for a free kick turned down after Andy Oakes appeared to carry the ball outside his area when trying to collect a ball on the edge of his box. Nathan Jones was booked for both his protests and for taking out Leon Britton as the ball fell loose.

Pawel Abbott was booked for bringing down Peter Sweeney in a cynical fashion, picking up a deserved booking in the process. Nathan Jones was the man to make him pay, putting in a free kick that was flicked on at the near post and Marcus STEWART provided the final touch to give him his first goal of 2007 and to give the Glovers a priceless lead, with just 11 minutes of the half gone.

Inevitably Swansea tried to hit back and Steve Mildenhall had to get down well to his right hand side to block a Lee Trundle attempt and push it out for a corner on the hour mark. A long range Ian Craney effort had to be carefully watched by Mildenhall as well as Swansea fired in shots on Yeovil's goal but without any great deal of incisive pressure.

At the other end, Wayne Gray turned and shot inside the box, firing right-footed with the ball creeping past Andy Oakes' left-hand post. As the game went through a quiet patch with both sides sizing each other up, Pawel Abbott forced Steve Mildenhall into a comfortable save from distance. Swansea were having trouble getting in behind the Yeovil back four, mainly putting balls over the top and into the channels to try and expose or upset the defence but on the whole matters were relatively calm. About the only criticism would be that when Yeovil did snuff out the Swansea attacks there were little options up front with most Yeovil players stuck firmly behind the ball.

With 15 minutes to go, Pawel Abbott was replaced by Chris Jones for Swansea, whilst Peter Sweeney and Martin Brittain were replaced by Arron Davies and Lee Morris. Perhaps Russell Slade felt the same about the lack of numbers up front with Davies and Morris able to create more attacking options. Almost immediately Scott Guyett was replaced by Matthew Rose as Terrell Forbes shuffled into the centre allowing Rose to take the right-back slot.

A rare moment of indecisiveness by Steve Mildenhall saw the ball run loose in the penalty box with it dropping to Andy Robinson but his shot was blocked on the line by Nathan Jones and turned out fror a corner. A near escape but about as close as Swansea had come all afternoon.

As the minutes ticked down, an Arron Davies breakaway saw the substitute race up field with Swansea caught short but the final pass through to Marcus Stewart couldn't be connected with and Swansea got another let-off. Then deep into injury time, Wayne Gray was the next Yeovil player that broke away, ultimately being brought down 30 yards from goal, with defender Alan Tate probably a little lucky to get away with a yellow card for what was as cynical a foul as you can get. Lee Morris was booked for disputing the decision to only award a caution against the Swansea defender but thankfully the spot of undue lenience from Mr Bates mattered little and the three minutes injury time mattered even less.

A few shredded nerves, caused mainly by the slenderness of the lead rather than anything Swansea threw at the Glovers, were relieved when the final whistle went, with manager Russell Slade even more animated than usual - punching the air and then immediately making a bee-line for Steve Mildenhall and Nathan Jones as he ran onto the pitch. An excellent win and one that moves the Glovers into the dizzy heights of an automatic promotion slot. Most importantly it widened the gap between them at Swansea to 12 points, leaving Carlisle United in 7th slot, and nine points behind. Would it be possible to ask for anything more out of Russell Slade and his players right now?

MOTM Vote Result:

Pos	Player
1	Scott Guyett
2	Marcus Stewart
3	Nathan Jones

Overall match rating: 8.0 / 10
Performance: 8.0
Entertainment: 8.0

56 votes received.

Any comments/questions please email ytfc.motm@tiscali.co.uk

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