Yeovil usually give the players who made up the substitutes bench in their last game a run out for the reserves, but tonight no players from the sixteen man squad from last Saturday were featured. This gave the Glovers an unusual looking starting eleven, and even the keenest follower could be forgiven for not recognising most of the players – in fact, most of the players probably didn’t know each other until shortly before kick-off! Two players had different shirt numbers to those listed on the team sheet, but fortunately it was the familiar faces of Reed and Mirza who wore the number credited to the other; had it been two of the trialists then we may never have known.

The visitors from Bournemouth sent a fairly strong looking side, with Stewart, Purches, Stock, Connell and ex-Glover Rodrigues the most familiar names. After a fairly scrappy start it was the returning Dani Rodrigues who created the first chance in the 5th minute, playing James Coutts in, but the Cherries forward missed the goal with only Danny Barker to beat. Yeovil youth player Jamie Underwood did very well against Rodrigues, and certainly restricted his opportunities.

In the 12th minute Yeovil earned the first corner of the match. This was taken by Steve Thompson from the left, and his low effort was defended and returned to him. His second effort was a fine cross which Nicolas MIRZA, playing in a forward role, glanced into the net with an excellent header. 1 – 0.

Although many of the Yeovil players were almost strangers to each other they went on to play the rest of the game - particularly in the first half - very much as a team, and the youth team players involved were certainly not out of their depth at all. A couple of minutes after the goal trialist Danny Jackman, who looked very promising on the left wing, made one of many good runs before firing a cross which Stewart was grateful to collect. Jackman and fellow trialist Paul Madden played very well together and both appear to be excellent prospects.

In the 19th minute Bournemouth won their first corner, and when Alan Connell shot across goal the ball deflected off of Mirza and went toward the net, but Danny Barker tipped the ball around the post for another corner. Soon after a free kick from Brian Stock from about 25 yards out cleared the Yeovil wall, and was put out for the visitors third corner.

Midway through the half saw Steve Thompson do some fine defensive work, and then a good ball from Steve Reed sent Jackman away on the left, but his shot drifted wide. Great work from Jackman again saw his hard, low cross deflected for a corner. It was then the turn of the Cherries to win a succession of corners, before a lovely Yeovil move featuring Thompson and Madden and then Thompson again finally ran out of steam.

Three minutes before the break Bournemouth found the net only for their effort to be ruled offside. A good turn and shot by Jackman was followed by a minute of added time before the interval.

Within a minute of the restart a lovely Glovers move saw Marvin Brown pass to Mirza, who slotted in past Stewart, but like the Bournemouth “goal” at the same end shortly before the break it was deemed offside. Brown then emphasised his abilities with a very fine defensive tackle at the other end.

In the 48th minute Mirza “stole” the ball from a Bournemouth defender and slid it across to Brown, whose shot bounced off of the bar and was collected by a relieved goal keeper.

Two minutes later a scramble in the Yeovil area ended with the ball hooked over the bar. A foul on Rodrigues gave Bournemouth a free kick to the left of the opposing penalty area, but a floated ball by Stock was confidently headed out by Underwood for a corner. This was followed with another corner, which was well defended by the impressive Jackman in his own area.

Coming up to the hour mark and new loan signing David Woozley did well against Ben Krauss. Sean Hogan then wrestled trialist Nick Howell to the ground on the right wing, and the resulting free kick from Thompson was followed by another fine Jackman cross which was headed down and appeared to be handled by a Bournemouth defender although no penalty was given.

After some fine footwork from Thompson on the left wing, another glancing header from Mirza found the visitors net, but another offside decision was given. A good Bournemouth move at the other end forced a fine save from the excellent Danny Barker.

The first substitution saw Yeovil introduce Richard Cullingford for the fairly anonymous Howell. Cullingford went on to play well and show some nice touches. The superb Mirza attempted a lob from about 30 yards out, which beat Stewart but hit the top of the bar. Steve Thompson was then replaced by James Ansell for the final 22 minutes.

Rodrigues made a run at goal, but trialist Chris McDonald did well to block his attempt at goal. I felt that McDonald had a fairly quiet first half, but did well in the second period. A Bournemouth attack saw the ball reach Connell in an offside position, but after the referee whistled for a free kick he continued to take the ball around Barker and blast it into the net – an action which earned him the only yellow card shown in the game.

With just over fifteen minutes remaining Rodrigues found Coutts in the penalty area, but Barker dived bravely to smother the ball. Bournemouth took off Krauss for Ryan Moss, and at the same time the final Yeovil change saw Ben Wood on for Jamie Underwood, who had played very well.

Mirza – who had played most of the second half in central midfield - put through Reed, who ran on and shot just wide to the right of goal. Brown then shot well over the bar. Inside the last ten minutes Bournemouth made a second change with Hubbard on for James Rowe.

With five minutes left another excellent move between Madden and Jackman ended with a shot blocked in the Bournemouth area. The second half, particularly after Thompson went off, had been largely controlled by Mirza, but the left side pairing of Madden and Jackman looked very promising indeed.

In the last couple of minutes the final substitution saw James Burden replace the largely ineffective Rodrigues. With two minutes of stoppage time added it looked as though the Mirza goal would settle the game, but Yeovil had two more chances – firstly, another low cross from Jackman, and secondly when a long ball over the defence was chased by Marvin BROWN who shrugged off a defender and then chipped the ball over the advancing Stewart, who could only turn and watch as it bounced into the net. 2 -0.

Robin Evans

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