If it's the final Monday before the season proper begins then it must be Ladysmead - and sure enough, here we all were again in deepest Devon for what is becoming something of a traditional curtain raiser to the real action. Gary Johnson rested everyone who started against Cheltenham last Saturday - both goalkeepers apart - and gave starts to virtually everyone else in the squad. Again, the Glovers boss gave one half each to keepers Collis and Weale, so no real indication yet on who he will prefer at Boundary Park. Adam Lockwood, Scott Guyett and Luke Oliver made up the back three; Andy Lindegaard and Michael Rose patrolled the right and left flanks respectively; Steve Reed, Arron Davies and Dale Williams - back from Welsh u-19 international duty - took up midfield positions; and Kevin Gall and Matt Harrold started up front.

The home side began the match strongly, their physical approach hustling the Glovers out of their stride somewhat. Tivvy made a couple of half chances without forcing Steve Collis to actually make a save, but the first real opportunity of the half fell to Kevin Gall. Good work on the right wing between Harrold and Lindegaard set up Gall in space inside the box, but the Welshman scuffed his shot into the grateful arms of Tivvy keeper Mark Ovendale. In fact it turned into a frustrating 45 minutes for Kev. Time after time he was flagged for offside - sometimes correctly - by the linesman and he never really got a chance to properly stretch his legs and show off his greatest asset - his blistering pace.

A misjudgement by Steve Collis led to him handling the ball outside the area and from the subsequent free kick the former Tivvy keeper was forced into making his first save of the game, though ex-Glover Steve Winter's effort lacked the power to seriously test Collis. The game was now beginning to settle down a little after a seriously scrappy start, but both teams playing the same formations meant that there was precious little room to move in midfield with the Glovers being forced into a rather longer game than they would have probably liked. They still managed to carve out a couple of decent chances however, through good individual play rather than any flowing team moves. Arron Davies smacked the ball against the crossbar from 30 yards after a clever individual run, and Matt Harrold tried an audacious chip from a similar distance when he spotted Ovendale off his line, unfortunately only succeeding in hitting the roof of the low stand behind the goal.

Tivvy had the final word in the half, on-loan Exeter fullback George Friend shooting across the face of the goal after being set up by Jamie Mudge on the stroke of half-time. A disjointed first half then with not too many Yeovil players shining out, though Arron Davies and Andy Lindegaard were beginning to show what they were capable of in patches. If Gary Johnson had been hoping that the players would show him exactly why he should be picking them against Oldham next weekend, then on that first half performance he may have found a few reasons to justify not picking them instead.

Both sides made changes at halftime: For the Glovers, Chris Weale replaced Steve Collis in goal, Colin Miles came on for Kevin Gall, enabling Luke Oliver to do his Peter Crouch impression up front; and trialist Luciano Alvarez replaced Dale Williams. For Tivvy the main point of interest was the withdrawal of loan signing Friend and the addition of former Cardiff and York (amongst many other clubs!) striker Kurt Nogan.

Again Tivvy started the half well, Mudge and Nogan in particular not giving the Glovers defense a minute's peace. Chris Weale had to get down quickly to block one Mudge effort, and the no. 11 should have done better a couple of minutes later when he dragged a shot wide with the goal looking vulnerable. A Chris Bale cross then beat everyone in the box, defenders and attackers alike, but it was the home side who had come out of the second half blocks looking rather more likely than their football league opponents (it still feels good writing the words 'football league opponents' when describing Yeovil Town!)

However the Glovers had too much class in their side for that state of affairs to last for long and gradually their passing game was beginning to assert itself over their opponents enthusiasm and the somewhat bumpy pitch. Yeovil went ahead on 54 minutes and a simple goal it was too: An Andy Lindegaard freekick from the halfway line found Luke Oliver in the Tivvy penalty box. His header in turn found Scott Guyett in space, the defender showing good technique to volley into the net from 12 yards to put his side 1-0 up.

Tivvy kept pressing but by now the back three of Lockwood, Guyett and Miles had come to terms with the pitch and their opponents and were coping more comfortably with the threat of Mudge and Nogan. Indeed, Chris Weale had more to fear from his own team's back-passes at this stage, the Yeovil keeper being left with rather more to do than he and his manager would have liked by a couple of careless returns. At the other end the Argentinean trialist Alvares twice ran into good positions in the Tivvy penalty area and was found on both occasions by good crosses; unfortunately he was unable to convert, one chance being put over the bar and the over being saved by substitute keeper James Bodley.

The Glovers made it 2-0 on 73 minutes, Luke Oliver the scorer. The former Woking defender owed his goal to the persistence of Matt Harrold however, the striker robbing a dithering defender of the ball deep in the Tivvy half before drawing keeper Bodley out wide and crossing to give Oliver the simplest of tap-ins into the empty net. It was 3-0 with 4 minutes left on the clock. In what looked to be a training-ground move, Lindegaard's corner found Steve Reed in space on the edge of the box and the youngster's low volley into the left hand corner of the net gave Bodley no chance - another well-taken effort with Reed again showing good technique to keep the ball down and on target.

In the end, the Glovers superior fitness, technique and organisation gave them a comfortable margin of victory, but this was a very good workout for Gary Johnson's side and the actual match was never as one-sided as the scoreline might suggest. The Glovers go on to the real thing now and their first ever season in the dizzy heights of League One. Tiverton go on to play Weymouth in a friendly on Friday. For Tivvy, never was the phrase 'from the sublime to the ridiculous' more apt.

Taff

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