The home side started brightly with some good early pressure. Good skill from Marcus Richardson on the left was followed by a low cross, but no Yeovil forward was close enough to meet it. David Poole fired a low, hard shot, which was well blocked, and the rebound came quickly to Marvin Brown who sent it wide.

In the tenth minute Dale Williams played a lovely long ball to Richardson, who took the ball around goal keeper Andrew Stevens, but to the right of the area. His shot was blocked by Stevens, but he collected the rebound and slid the ball across to Andrejs STOLCERS who shot, which the keeper did well to get behind but could not keep out of the net. 1 – 0.

Stevens held onto a volley from Brown after a header out, but was less successful when Steve Thompson took a low corner from the right, which passed through players in the area before being flicked in from close range by David WOOZLEY. 2 – 0.

With Yeovil comfortably ahead Steve Thompson was replaced by Richard Cullingford as early as the 16th minute. After the change the Glovers continued to press, with a Williams cross after a Brown flick on narrowly missing the head of Richardson. Another Yeovil corner followed, and twenty minutes in a foul on Steve Reed by Simon Patterson appeared to be as the result of frustration. Gavin McCallum won a throw on the right as the result of a good run.

Midway through the half Marvin BROWN collected a flick on by Richardson, and kept his cool to fire home from 12 yards. 3 – 0.

Josh Llewellyn picked up an excellent long ball, but Reed did very well to win the ball from him. For the first time Rovers began to win a bit of possession in the Yeovil half, but the Glovers back four looked very comfortable.

With half an hour gone a lovely Yeovil move from right to left saw the ball pass from Richardson to Stolcers to Brown to Williams, but he blasted his shot over the bar. Poole volleyed wide from just outside the area, McCallum shot wide after a long run and Williams made a fine cross which unfortunately no-one managed to meet. A flowing move from end to end involving more than half of the Yeovil side won another corner, which was played back to substitute Cullingford who fired low and hard, and Stevens did well to get down to make a good save.

Five minutes before the break Aaron Cornwall made a good run and passed to Josh LLEWELLYN who placed Rovers’ first on target shot of the match over Danny Barker and into the far corner from the edge of the area. 3 – 1.

Just a minute later some lovely one touch football from Yeovil from deep in their own half finished with Gavin McCALLUM shooting just inside the right hand post from inside the Rovers penalty area. 4 – 1.

A good run from Williams ended with a wayward shot. Rovers earned a free kick centrally midway in the Yeovil half, which was taken by Marcus Sawyer, and flicked on by Patterson for a crisp shot by Llewellyn, which Danny Barker saved very well diving to his right.

On the stroke of half time Gavin McCALLUM cut in from right midfield and sent a rasping drive from 30 yards which Stevens dived to touch, but could not keep out of the net. 5 – 1.

The visitors started the second half with Ted Griffin replacing Llewellyn – the only Rovers player to have made a shot on target in the first 45 minutes.

Within the first minute of the restart Poole played the ball back across the area, and Cullingford tried a fairly delicate chip but dragged the ball just wide of goal. Five minutes later McCallum fired a cracking shot from the edge of the area which cannoned off of the joint of post and crossbar. Richardson then headed a corner just over. Another corner resulted in a goal line clearance after a scramble in the Rovers area as the Glovers tried to add to their tally. In almost a mirror image of his first half goal a corner came through a crowd of players to Woozley, but this time he flicked the ball wide.

A lovely long ball through from Williams for Poole gave him the chance to cross, but this was cut out for a corner. The corner was played back to Cullingford who floated it in for Marcus RICHARDSON to head home from close range. 6 – 1.

In the 58th minute Dale Williams was brought down in the Rovers area and referee Mr Malone had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Initially Richardson took possession of the ball, but then Gavin McCALLUM was called forward, and he completed his hat trick by planting his left foot shot low into the left corner after sending Stevens the wrong way. 7 – 1.

Just a minute later David Poole looked to be tripped on the edge of the area but nothing was given – sympathy perhaps? Rovers left back Narada Bernard became the second player on his side to register a shot on target, but in his case it was an over hit back pass which Stevens managed to keep out. Marvin Brown squandered another Yeovil chance, so Yeovil remained just six goals ahead. Dane O’Connor made a good run for Rovers until an excellent tackle by Woozley. With 25 minutes remaining Reed shot from 30 yards but it was deflected for a corner.

Good work from Poole saw him slide the ball to Richardson on the right, and his cross was deflected for a corner. This was cleared for another corner which was flicked on and David POOLE capped a fine performance by touching the ball in. 8 – 1.

With just over 20 minutes to go Yeovil replaced Stolcers and Richardson with Nicolas Mirza and Jamie Underwood. After a lovely chip from Brown, which went just wide, Mirza impressed with a great run. Poole won the ball back with a brilliant recovery, and flicked the ball across but Richardson volleyed wide.

With the home crowd discussing how the scoreboard would cope with double figures it was Dane O’CONNOR who broke away, and a Woozley tackle only pushed the ball toward goal for him to coolly slot the ball past Barker to set up a nail biting finish! 8 – 2.

The final twelve minutes passed – perhaps surprisingly – with no further goals, although Gavin McCallum shot across the face of the goal from 25 yards with three minutes remaining. It would be harsh to award Man of the Match to anyone other than young Gavin, although Andrejs Stolcers (who controlled midfield) and David Poole (excellent again) both ran him close.

Robin Evans

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