Glovers boss Russell Slade made three changes to the Tuesday night line-up with David Poole, Ishmael Welsh and Kevin James all promoted to the starting line-up. For former West Ham United winger Ishmael Welsh this was his Football League debut, whilst for Kevin James it represented his first start for the Glovers. Carlisle meanwhile featured Kevin Gall in their side - making his first return to Somerset since being released at the end of the 2005-06 season.

It was Carlisle and indeed Kevin Gall who started the brightest on the day. A third minute move saw Gall cut inside a Yeovil defender, whereupon he shot from end of the area - hitting a right-footed curler that Glovers keeper Steve Mildenhall did well to tip over the bar for a corner. Four minutes later, Gall whipped in a cross that was almost picked up by midielder Paul Murray, but Steve Mildenhall anticipated well and managed to get in before Murray could follow through on the dangerous ball. Michael Bridges hit a third shot at Mildenhall but with no real power and the Yeovil keeper gathered easily.

David Poole created Yeovil's first chance of the match - a curling shot from distance that went over the crossbar. However, after this early flurry, the majority of the early play from the Glovers was not of great quality - a few too many aimless clearances from defence that were not being picked up in midfield and bar the couple of chances created by Gall, Carisle weren't showing too much more.

However, converting your chances when you get them is what matters and Yeovil scored with their first clear-cut chance of the game. Karl Hawley fouled Terry Skiverton inside the Carlisle half giving Yeovil a free kick. Nathan Jones took the dead ball from just inside the Yeovil half and as Wayne Gray and Chris COHEN both went for the ball, the latter got in with a stooped header from eight yards out to give Yeovil the lead at 1-0.

Midway through the first half though, the inevitable happened as Yeovil failed to hang onto their advantage. Michael Bridges sent through a through ball that split the Yeovil defence, finding Kevin GALL who equalised for the Cumbrians to do what he had struggled so much during the previous season - the former Glovers striker getting in just in front of keeper Steve Mildenhall to poke the ball home.

The equaliser spurred Yeovil into life and they did respond well to the set-back. Ishmael Welsh was causing the Carlisle right-flank plenty of problems, getting width onto the pitch and stretching the Carlisle defence and forcing them to use some fairly physical challenges to try and stop him from achieving his aims. Kevin James spotted the keeper off his line and produced a deflected shot that went over the crossbar from 30 yards out and for a corner. David Poole almost got in on the end of a loose ball in the penalty box before Westwood managed to block with his feet. Next Wayne Gray turned and shot on goal producing a strong save from Carlisle keeper Kieren Westwood, whilst the same player followed up with a glancing header on the near post from a corner that went wide for a goal kick.

Carlisle did have their moments though in the period that remained. Karl Hawley managed to twist and turn on the edge of the box, sending Yeovil defenders first one way then another, but his attempt went straight into the arms of Steve Mildenhall. Three minutes before the break though, the Yeovil dominated spell produced a second goal. Ishmael WELSH produced a neat one-two with Nathan Jones and the ball fell nicely into the young winger's path and he unleashed an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box into the back of the net to restore Yeovil's lead at 2-1 and to give the teenager a dream debut for the Glovers. The half-time team talk suddenly became a far easier job for Russell Slade to deal with.

No changes at half time and a slow start not helped by a linesman's flag breaking that produced a slight delay to the game. Karl Hawley opened up for the visitors with a wild shot that went well over the bar as the visitors attacked the Westland end of the ground.

But the first real chance came at the other end, setting up a topsy-turvey 10 minutes or so, when Kevin James combined well with Wayne Gray, resulting in the former setting up Ishmael Welsh who sent the ball flying across the face of goal. As the game swung to the other end, Hawley's poor downward header made for an easy save for Mildenhall. Switch to the other end and there was Gray again, using his power to shrug off two Carlisle challenges, only for keeper Kieren Westwood to save at his feet, gathering the ball at the second attempt. Hawley then provided the action at the other end, with more waywardness - sending a chance over the bar. It was an open game to say the least - almost as if both sides were taking it in turns to give each other chances of increasing the scoring.

As the end-to-end action continued, Carlisle captain Kevin Gray put a header straight at Steve Mildenhall from a Zigor Aranalde shot. But then Yeovil broke away and found David Poole in acres of space and through on goal, only for the winger to see his shot saved by Kieren Westwood, who dived low to his left to force the ball out for a corner.

At last though, the continual 'ping pong' nature of the game died down somewhat as the game closed up into midfield and five substitutions also saw play slowed down somewhat. The only really concerning one of those was the third Yeovil one that saw David Poole limp off and be replaced by Arron Davies after the winger had to signal to the bench that he was in problems.

The game didn't slow down but the chances did with Carlisle only able to create half-chances. Rather surprisingly, Yeovil chose not to close down play to keep the play tight - if anything the Glovers seemed to be constantly looking out for a third goal to seal the game, leaving the game somewhat on a knife-edge. But the Glovers managed to hold off despite three minutes of injury time and to secure their first three points of the season. Ishmael Welsh deservedly won the man of the match award for his winning goal. Carlisle could have easily nicked a share of the points during the middle period of the game if their star striker Karl Hawley had packed his shooting boots with him, but sometimes as Yeovil have found in other matches over the past couple of years, it is the quality of the shot rather than the quantity that matters and that is what won Yeovil the game today.

MOTM Vote Result:

Pos	Player
1	Chris Cohen
2	Ishmael Welsh-Elliott
3	Terrell Forbes

Overall match rating: 6.4 / 10
Performance: 6.0
Entertainment: 6.8

68 votes received.

Any comments/questions please email ytfc.motm@tiscali.co.uk

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