Manager Russell Slade made one change to last week's side that lost at Oldham, bringing Wayne Gray back into the starting line-up and sacrificing Anthony Barry in an attempt to introduce a slightly more attacking line-up against a Scunthorpe side that had not lost in the league for nearly four months. A win for Scunthorpe would put them within touching distance of automatic promotion, whilst a win for the Glovers would put huge pressure upon their rivals for the four playoff positions. Thus a large crowd gathered at Glanford Park for what was a crucial match for both sides.

The match started at a frenetic pace - Andy Crosby picked up an early booking for a foul on Marcus Stewart as the Yeovil striker broke clear of the Scunthorpe captain. Scunthorpe then broke clear when Cliff Byrne robbed Lee Morris of possession and Byrne instantly played the ball into the path of dangerman Billy Sharp. Thankfully Steve Mildenhall got in there first, rushing out of his area to clear. But overall the Glovers made a bright start, forcing the home side onto their back foot with Chris Cohen and Wayne Gray in particular looking lively, with Cohen providing their first shot on target, albeit straight into the arms of keeper Joe Murphy. The first 15 minutes belonged to the Glovers with Scunthorpe perhaps a little surprised at how positively Yeovil had started.

Billy Sharp and Terrell Forbes were engaged in a terrific battle whenever Scunthorpe did break forward, even if Sharp's methods of handing off Forbes looked to be illegal at times. He even had the cheek to persistently complain to referee Lee Mason, clearly trying it on with the match official in his attempts to suggest that Forbes was the aggressor in some of their tussels. Mason didn't seem to know what decision to make and in the end tended to let the battles continue between the players.

Scunthorpe's tendency to play the ball over the top for Jermaine Beckford and Billy Sharp to run onto was not making life easy for the Yeovil back line though as the home side tried to push forward and Mason gave a foul against Jermaine Beckford when he fell to the floor inside the area. Scunthorpe's appeals for a penalty were greeted by the blowing of a whistle but it was Yeovil captain Terry Skiverton that had been fouled. Then Nathan Jones and Matthew Rose did well to block out a Beckford attempt on goal for a corner after Forbes and Skiverton had allowed the ball to bounce on the edge of their box. Then Beckford was let in again, this time volleying the ball over the bar as the home side began to put pressure on the Glovers for the first time in the match.

Billy Sharp's continual mouthing off continued when he tried to claim that Matthew Rose had fouled him in the box. The match official refused to be interested and awarded a corner.

Just when it looked as though the Glovers would escape up to the half time break with matters still even, a bad piece of luck saw Scunthorpe take the lead. Terry Skiverton was fouled by Billy Sharp, but referee Mason allowed a supposed advantage. Skivo's clearance fell into the path of Kevan Hurst, whose run down the flank ended with him whipping in a dangerous cross and as Nathan JONES tried to clear the ball with Cleveland Taylor breathing down his neck, his header went in off the inside of the post and into the back of the net to give Scunthorpe a rather fortunate lead, even if on the balance of play as the half had progressed it had been looking increasingly likely.

Terrell Forbes brilliantly blocked Cleveland Taylor's break down the right flank to thwart Scunthorpe's attempts to increase their lead and Steve Mildenhall pushed the loose ball out for a corner. From that set piece, Jermaine Beckford's header landed straight into the hands of Steve Mildenhall.

As the half closed, the Glovers did manage to gain some kind of control back after Marcus Stewart's cross was almost connected with by Wayne Gray, but on the whole the longer that the game had gone on, the greater the stranglehold the home side had got on the game. It had been a positive start by Yeovil, but the home side had gradually put them onto their back foot and ultimately had done what all teams that put together four month unbeaten runs do - grabbed a goal out of nothing.

Arron Davies and Lee Morris switched wings at half time with the latter in particular having had a fairly quiet 45 minutes in the left wing position. A much more tentative second period from both sides saw Jean-Paul Kalala land a cross on the top of the Scunthorpe crossbar as he made a rare surge forward to try and get a ball into the box.

The game burst into life on the hour mark when Terrell Forbes lost possession on the halfway line, allowing Billy Sharp a route straight down the middle in a one-on-one. But Glovers keeper Steve Mildenhall brilliantly got a palm on the ball, forcing Sharp wide and losing the striker his opportunity and when he tried to lay the ball back to Jermaine Beckford who blasted over the bar.

Sharp didn't appear to let his fluff affect him, trying a 40 yard long-ranger from 40 yards that looped over the bar, and then a minute later he forced Mildenhall to smother another attempt from half the distance. But in the main Scunthorpe were not quite as penetrative as they were in the first half. Was this a case of them increasingly settling for a 1-0 scoreline, or a case of the Glovers forcing them onto the back foot? Probably a bit of both.

The Glovers at the other end were getting plenty of possession but were not getting an awful lot into the box. In particular the swapping of the two wingers appeared to have achieved little in getting penetration down the flanks in the way that Hurst and Taylor had done for the home side during the first half. Therefore it wasn't much of a surprise when Russell Slade made his first change of the match with Anthony Barry coming on for Arron Davies with Chris Cohen moving out wide into the position vacated by Davies. Barry's first impact was to land in the book for a foul - within 10 seconds of arriving onto the pitch!

The move of Cohen into the wide position managed to create their first decent chance of the half, with Cohen getting in a great cross into the box. Wayne Gray powerfully headed the ball towards goal but couldn't get it on target - a great chance as the game entered the last 15 minutes and one that the Glovers were to live to regret.

As the clock ticked down further Darryl Knights replaced Wayne Gray, with the Glovers still pressing but bar that Gray header they were struggling to create clearcut chances. The home side chose to settle for their slim advantage, and were composed in the way that they fended off the Glovers attack over the closing minutes. Yeovil couldn't find a serious route in on goal despite some valiant efforts, and the end result was fourth consecutive Yeovil match that has been settled by a single goal. However, on the positive side, this performance was a world away from the match against Oldham that ended with a similar scoreline, and a similar performance against Leyton Orient on Monday hopefully will produce a more positive result.

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