The final score of 2-1 suggests a close game; however, this was not really the case as the Glovers dominated the match from start to finish. The Bournemouth goal came from an excellent speculative long range shot by Connell which gave Collis no chance, and in the second half Collis saved well from the same player. Apart from this the Cherries offered very little, and I thought that Dani Rodrigues (who played for Yeovil in the corresponding fixture last season) was very poor. By contrast, the two goals scored by Yeovil hardly reflected the numerous chances created, and had the finishing been sharper (or perhaps just with a little more luck?) then incredibly a tally well into double figures would have been possible!

Both sides played roughly 4-4-2, although the home side tended to push Cannon forward on the left side into a 3-5-2 when attacking; so 4-4-2 for most of the game it was then!

Yeovil started brightly, winning a corner as early as the second minute. A minute later a defensive mix-up by Bournemouth saw keeper Stewart well out of his goal, and a speculative lob from Kevin Gall from over 40 yards out bounced wide of the net. Rodrigues was beaten to a through ball by Steve Reed, and Gall volleyed over an Andrejs Stolcers cross.

It took 13 minutes before the first real Cherries attack, and that ended with an offside decision against them. Soon after a flick on by Stolch was powerfully volleyed by Gally, but into the arms of Stewart. Bournemouth earned a corner after Reedy headed out a Cannon free kick, but made nothing of it. A good Stolch run saw him play the ball through to Thommo, who fed trialist Marc Canham but his shot went wide. A few minutes later Stolcers set up Canham directly, but his shot again drifted wide.

Rodrigues had seemed to be the only outlet for balls played forward by Bournemouth, but totally against the run of play Alan CONNELL controlled well and shot from about 25 yards, leaving Steve Collis no chance as the ball sailed over him and into the net. 1 – 0.

Within a minute Gall tried a similar effort but shot over. Collis saved a long shot from Rowe, and Richard Cullingford played a great pass to Stolcers, but his cross almost evaded Gally who made contact but could not control his shot. Half an hour in Thommo made way for Jamie Underwood, and the substitute went on to have an outstanding game.

Bournemouth earned a corner, and Yeovil pressed with a couple of successive corners being followed by a good spell of pressure which led to a Stolcers shot being blocked and the ball falling to trialist Marvin BROWN who volleyed in from just inside the area. 1 – 1.

The remainder of the half was all Yeovil, with Gall, Canham and then Gall again peppering the home goal.

At half time Bournemouth replaced Krauss with Whisken, but it was still all Glovers with Stewart holding on to a Gall shot, Gall heading an Underwood cross wide, Stolcers taking a couple of corners, and in the 63rd minute Gall chesting the ball down but hooking wide. On the rare occasions when Bournemouth ventured into the Yeovil half solid displays from captain Adam Lockwood and Steve Reed held the back four together and gave no room to the opposing forwards.

With fifteen minutes left Sean Smith and James Ansell replaced Lockwood and the excellent Gavin McCallum, and for Bournemouth Moss replaced Burden. The changes did not weaken the Yeovil team, and just two minutes later Stolchers found Gall on the right wing, and he ran to the bye line before whipping in an excellent cross which Marvin BROWN headed in from close range. 1 – 2.

Into the final ten minutes and Brown passed to Gall, who slid the ball to Stolcers who shot over. Gally then saw his shot saved by Stewart after a good run. A brief rally from Bournemouth saw Collis called upon to save a shot from Connell, who had been the best player for the home side. In the last five minutes a flick on by Brown was chipped over the home defence by Stolcers, but excellent defending saw the ball wrestled from Gall for a corner. A good turn and shot by Brown went just over. At the other end Yeovil sub Ansell made a fine tackle on Moss, his opposite number from Bournemouth.

An 88th minute change saw Cleverly come at the expense of Hudson, but this final two minutes and two further minutes of stoppage time saw another corner for the visitors but nothing of note from the home side.

Final score: AFC Bournemouth Reserves 1 Yeovil Town Reserves 2

A quick look at the performances of the Yeovil players today:

Starting at the back, Collis had no chance with the Connell goal but did everything else required of him. Lockwood and Reed were both excellent. All of the youth players did well, and I have particular praise for Cullingford, McCallum and Underwood. Thommo played well for the 30 minutes he was on the field, and would have been missed if Underwood had not done as well as he did.

Stolcers was not as consistent as I would have liked, but he showed flashes of the brilliance we know he can attain. Trialist Canham was again (having played a recent friendly for us at Weymouth) very promising, and I hope that he is given a chance. Brown, the other trialist, was a constant thorn in the side of Bournemouth, and in addition to his two goals looked a fine player.

Man of the match for me was Kevin Gall, who played for the last 20 minutes or so against Northampton less than 24 hours earlier and then played the full 90 minutes today, and was outstanding.

Robin Evans

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