With the usual Christmas break seeing the Under 18s without a game for almost a month over the holidays, and First Team fixtures failing to coincide with Youth Team fixtures, this was the first time I had managed to get to see Stuart Housley's side play since their FA Youth Cup win at Brentford in late November. It was also my first chance to see the football club's new training ground - effectively Kingsbury Episcopi's Recreation Ground - a set of two full sized pitches, what looked to be a slightly smaller-sized pitch, possibly for boys football and two large green portacabins set alongside a children's playing area in a very tranquil looking village found out beyond the meandering lanes on the far side of Martock.

The team hasn't changed too much in the past few months. Central defender Tom Parsons is currently occupying the central defender spot that Gary Bowles has vacated for much of the season whilst the Youth Team skipper is out getting first team match experience with Dorchester Town. Tom seems to have slotted into that role well, and although he is one of the newer arrivals to the side, the feedback from recent matches, including those at Reserve Team level is that he is certainly putting in some fine performances. Alongside the strong Harry Sherwood certainly Bournemouth found it hard to break the Glovers down for most of the afternoon.

Up front, Tom Clarke is currently on loan at Taunton Town and so the versatile Matt Concliffe partnered Liam Horder. In a slightly disjointed first period, it was certainly the Glovers who forced the pressure the most and their best chance of the 45 came when Concliffe got in behind the Cherries defence, only to see his shot blocked by the legs of the advancing keeper.

Most of the first period though was scrappy, not helped by a rather brutal and physical Bournemouth side, who displayed all the wrong sides of the game and did so in an increasing manner throughout the match, gradually escalating the little raised studs after the ball had gone and their constant yip-yip of "advice" being given to the referee that verged from sarcasm through to telling the match officials how to do their job better right up to plain old-fashioned abuse in the face of the officials. If this is the way Bournemouth are bringing up their youngsters to ultimately play at League One level, then heaven help them when they try it on with Trevor Kettle in charge. The match official for the game at Kingsbury Episcopi preferred to opt for the "schoolmaster" approach in the main, frequently telling them to grow up and act their age, and until the end of the game seemed to be a man with the patience of a saint.

The other thorn in Yeovil's side was the linesman's flag. Judging from Stuart Housley's berating of Messrs Concliffe and Horder, telling them to pay more attention to the line, it sounded as though Stu agreed with the official's decision-making, although certainly in the second period when I stood in a side-on position, not all of those decisions were entirely to my liking. The frequent flagging though was frustrating a Yeovil side who were up against a Bournemouth back line playing high up the field, and certainly they needed to work out how to deal with that.

Having edged the first period, the Glovers got themselves off to an excellent start, netting the opening goal just five minutes into the second half. Finally beating the offside trap cleanly, top scorer Liam HORDER received a short pass straight through the middle of the park and had the instinct to immediately turn and take a few steps before stabbing the ball home with an outstretched boot past the advancing keeper and into the bottom corner of the net.

Bournemouth's first chance of serious note came close to the hour mark when a header had to be blocked close to the goal-line and pushed out for a corner. At the other end, Greg Taafe forced the Cherries keeper into a strong save when he cut in from the right. Taafe himself was replaced by Lewis Gundry midway through the second period as Yeovil made their first change of the game, still looking relatively comfortable.

They did have a let-off though not long after that as a low shot from outside the box from a Bournemouth player went through a crowd of players, nestling into the bottom corner for what the Cherries instantly celebrated as an equaliser. However, that joy only lasted a second - a linesman's flag rightfully went up for offside with a Cherries front-man having dummied the ball by stepping over it right in front of Peter Burridge as he dived for the ball.

Jamie Morgan missed a great opportunity when Liam Horder laid the ball back for him on the edge of the box. Running in like a steam-train, Morgan fired his attempt hard enough, but it went wide of the target in a move that would have almost certainly have wrapped the game up.

The only surprise was that Bournemouth's constant mouthing off and overly-aggressive tactics had prevented the match referee from reaching for his cards. For instance, Jamie Morgan had already been taken out twice by the touchline by Bournemouth's No.2 - moves that would have undoubtedly brought yellow cards at League One level. However, there is only so far that you can go when it comes to being lenient. When Bournemouth's No.9 slammed into Harry Sherwood by the touchline with all the grace of an American Footballer - and Harry is not the size of player to go down easily - it looked for one minute as though all hell would break loose as the players rushed in.

The match official was again fairly lenient in only producing a yellow for the offence, but when the same Bournemouth player left his boot in on Glovers keeper Peter Burridge only a few minutes later, you'd have to wonder what planet the lad was operating on. A second yellow dutifully followed, and Bournemouth were to play the final 15 minutes with just 10 men. Sometimes you get what you deserve.

If Bournemouth had kept the extra man on the pitch they might have got something out of the game as they had been seeing a lot more of the ball during the closing stages. Again in the final 10 minutes they were convinced they had scored when a shot seemed to be goalbound after Peter Burridge had committed his only mistake of the game by coming for and missing a cross. James Hatcher was brilliantly placed on his goal-line to protect the stranded Burridge, but despite the Bournemouth players running off celebrating, both referee and linesman were unmoved. The view from behind that goal was that the linesman had got his decision right.

Despite that late scare, the Glovers hung in there even if perhaps they never really played at their best during the match. Probably the main reason why they won the match was because they kept their heads amidst some fair old provocation and let the referee get on and do his work. Constant shouts from the Yeovil bench of "don't get involved" made it quite clear to the lads of their responsibilities. Special mention is due in particular to Phil Ormrod, who was occupying a deeper midfield role in this game. His strength allowed Yeovil to dominate that area of the park where perhaps physically weaker players may have suffered from the approach the visitors took. In the end not the most attractive of games to watch, but nonetheless a good learning curve for the players and interesting for Stuart Housley to see how his players coped with such a situation.

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