Despite winning three games in a row, manager Gary Johnson decided to make a tactical change for the visit of Rushden and Diamonds, electing to go for the tactics and personnel that had served him so well in the second half of the Notts County match and the latter period of the Carling Cup game against Plymouth Argyle. As a result, Paul Terry got his first start of the season, with Kevin Gall and Phil Jevons frequently alternating between the free midfield role.

The Glovers started well in control with a series of smart passing but took the lead with their first real chance of the game. Phil Jevons produced a downward header which Billy Turley got down well to parry, but first to the rebound was Lee JOHNSON, who capped an incredible week by forcing the rebound home from six yards out, right in front of the Westland Stand.

Straight after the goal, the Glovers were forced to replace Adam Lockwood when he suffered ligament damage following a strong challenge by Rushden's Alex Hay. After limping around for five minutes, Roy O'Brien was the man to replace him.

Huish Park 'favourite' Billy Turley was left screaming at his defence when Paul Terry got plenty of space to knock a ball right across his six yard line, with the entire Rushden defence seemingly watching and admiring the dangerous ball as it fizzed across somehow avoiding everyone. Phil Jevons could have doubled the lead but somehow found his shot blocked by Kevin Gall, who couldn't jump fast enough to get out of the way. Next Paul Terry tested Turley with a rasping drive on the angle that the Rushden keeper could only palm for a corner.

Rushden had managed to get deep into the Yeovil half at times, but their wayward shooting was letting them down, with four such first half chances going well wide of Chris Weale's goal, to the amusement of the home supporters. Gary Mills was probably the most guilty - spooning one chance well wide of the target despite being given plenty of space on the edge of the area.

Darren Way had loud appears for a penalty turned down as the game approached half time when skipping through a crowd of Rushden defenders. Gary Mills appeared to take his legs but referee Fred Graham was having none of it.

All that mattered little when a minute before the break Yeovil doubled their lead with the simplest of goals. Kevin Gall knocked in a cross to the far post, that was picked up by Phil Jevons between the post and the edge of the penalty box who stood it back up again for Bartosz TARACHULSKI to creep in unnoticed and nod home an easy six yard header into an empty net.

The Glovers weren't finished though and killed the game off in first half injury time. Phil JEVONS has scored for Yeovil in every league game he has started and he kept up that fine record when he picked the ball up deep in midfield, and did the sort of run at goal that Gavin Williams has made a Yeovil career out of, finishing off the move with an excellent strike into the corner of the net. 3-0, only half-time and the game was already done and dusted.

Perhaps the fact that the Glovers had played 120 minutes in midweek led to a somewhat less lively second half. With Mansfield still to come on the Monday, this was going to be a half to test Yeovil legs and perhaps understandably the Glovers resorted to playing 'keep ball' for the majority of the second half.

Gary Johnson took off both Phil Jevons and Bartosz Tarachulski, bringing on Adrian Caceres and Kezie Ibe and reverting back to a 4-4-2 formation in the process.

Michael Rose produced one of Yeovil's rare second half chances when he cut in from the flank unchallenged, producing a long range drive that went just over the bar. Alex Hay was booked for the visitors for kicking the ball away and was immediately substituted. Kevin Gall got in on the attempts to increase the lead when Paul Terry played him in but again the long ranger went over the bar.

Rushden were seeing alot more of the ball in the second half though, and with the clock running out, they grabbed a consolation goal when a right wing cross saw Gary MILLS produce a looping header that nipped over the top of Chris Weale, giving the scoreline perhaps a fairer look for what had been a very low key half for the Glovers.

That was to be Rushden's only shot on target during the whole 90 minutes, and Terry Skiverton, playing in a surprisingly advanced position in the final five minutes nearly extended the lead when he drove a shot just over the bar in the dying seconds. In the end Yeovil had done all they needed to do, and were able to conserve energy for the difficult trip to Field Mill on Monday. But with four wins out of four, they will go there in very high spirits indeed.

Badger

MOTM Vote Result:

Player MOTM Score Darren Way 19 724 Terry Skiverton 1 253 Phil Jevons 4 176 Paul Terry 2 176 Lee Johnson 3 153 Bartosz Tarachulski 2 135 Liam Fontaine 1 71 Kevin Gall 1 65 Chris Weale 1 29

Overall match rating: 7.3 / 10
Performance: 7.8
Entertainment: 6.8

34 votes received.

Any comments/questions please email ytfcmotm@ntlworld.com

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