Venue: Huish Park
Wed 10th September 2003, 7.45pm kick-off.

Scorers: Jamie Gosling (1-0, 20), Jake Edwards (2-0, 37), Jake Edwards (3-0, 53), Jake Edwards (4-0, 67), Jamie Gosling (5-0, 69), Jamie Gosling (6-0, 83), Dale Williams (7-0, 85), Jake Edwards (8-0, 89)

Attendance: 186

Referee: Mr S Hollick
Assistant Refs: Mr N Brimming, Mr K Milford
Fourth Official: Mr A Matthews

Bookings:
Yeovil: None
Swansea: None

Line up : (4-4-2)
13 Steve Collis
26 Andrew Davies, 12 Hugo Rodrigues, 15 Steve Reed, 27 Ian Joy
16 Andy Lindegaard (C), 23 Jamie Gosling, 24 Paul Terry, 3 Abdelhalim El Kholti
17 Jake Edwards, 7 Adam Stansfield

Subs: 21 Steve Thompson (sub 61 mins for Stansfield), 30 Sam Croft (sub 75 mins for Joy), 29 Shaun Smith, 28 Dale Williams (75 mins for Davies), GK Danny Barker

Swansea City: (4-4-2)
1 Brian Murphy
2 Kevin Davies, 5 Liam Hancock, 4 Nick Tolios, 3 Jay Thompson
7 Matthew Roberts, 8 Antonio Corbisiero, 6 Steve Evans, 11 Andrew Fairburn
10 Lee John, 9 James Thomas (C)

Subs: 12 Luke Harrington (sub 63 mins for Davies), 14 Billy Timothy (sub 27 mins for Thomas), GK Ryan Harrison

After the Yeovil first team ended their three game losing streak by beating Swansea on Saturday the reserve side were hoping to gain their first points of the season by sending the Swansea seconds back across the Severn Bridge with nothing to show for their visit.

Like the first team, Yeovil lined up with four across the back. Ian Joy and Andrew Davies made debut starts either side of Rodrigues and Reed, with a more familiar looking midfield and attack. The Swansea starting eleven included Antonio Corbisiero, who appeared as a substitute for their first team in the 2-0 defeat on Saturday.

The game started fairly quietly, and five minutes had elapsed before Paul Terry shot into the side netting after a cross from captain Andy Lindegaard. Within a minute Swansea had forced their first corner. Roberts cross was headed away by Hugo Rodrigues, who went on to - perhaps not surprisingly - win just about everything in the air in and around the Yeovil penalty area for the entire match.

For the first fifteen minutes the play was all from Yeovil. Jamie Gosling had a couple of shots from distance; Jake Edwards ran at the Swansea .defence; Ian Joy impressed on the left side of defence.

A great run from Adam Stansfield saw him beat a defender before providing a low cross, but the Swansea defence cleared well. On a fairly rare excursion forward Lee John crossed but Rodrigues headed over for a corner. From the Roberts corner a shot was well blocked by Abdelhalim El Kholti. Good work from El Kholti at the other end saw him as provider from Edwards, but his shot went to the right of the Swansea goal. The visitors were certainly playing with a lot of men behind the ball, and on the break John and Roberts looked as if they could potentially pose problems for Yeovil but the home defence seemed to be coping well.

With nearly twenty minutes on the clock El Kholti beat a defender before running into the left of the penalty area. He threaded the ball through to Jamie GOSLING who beat Murphy from close range. 1 - 0.

Yeovil looked to build on their lead with El Kholti again beating defenders before finding Edwards on the right, whose shot missed the target. Andy Lindegaard put an excellent pass through for Adam Stansfield, but after delaying his shot he was surrounded by defenders when his effort was well stopped by Murphy. Less than a minute later the Swansea keeper was again on good form when coming out to save at the feet of Stansfield.

Swansea made a change with Billy Timothy replacing captain James Thomas. Timothy took his place up front and seemed to relish running at the Yeovil defence, but for all this effort the half hour mark passed without Steve Collis having had to make a save. Yeovil still pushed forward menacingly and in the 37th minute Lindegaard pushed the ball through to Stansfield. He placed a superb low cross which Jake EDWARDS virtually tapped in. 2 - 0.

Swansea looked to have played Lee John in and it looked as if Collis would finally be called upon, but an offside flag ended the move. A good Swansea free kick was taken by Roberts but was headed wide.

A fine ball from Paul Terry was well headed back to Murphy by Kevin Davies under pressure from Lindegaard on his right and El Kholti on his left. Steve Reed looked solid in the Yeovil defence and took charge of distributing the ball from defence to midfield and attack.

Yeovil started the second half a little sluggishly, and Swansea came forward more in the first couple of minutes than in the first half, with Billy Timothy having dropped back behind Roberts and John. Good tidying up by Reed in the penalty area allowed Yeovil to come forward again, and a corner was earned which Edwards headed on to the top of the crossbar. Swansea won a corner, but made little of it, and Yeovil extended their lead when Andy Lindegaard latched on to a long ball and ran on before powering a low cross from the right which Jake EDWARDS slotted home in a move which nearly replicated his earlier goal . 3 - 0.

Edwards very nearly completed a hat trick just a minute later when El Kholti found him deep into the Swansea penalty area, but his first shot was well saved and the rebound was shot from an acute angle into the side netting. Yeovil had an excellent attacking spell, with Edwards looking extremely dangerous. Andrew Davies played very well both in defence and pushing forward. Both he and Ian Joy seemed to slot almost effortlessly into the Yeovil set up, and both look excellent prospects for the future.

Lindegaard and El Kholti combined very well on a number of moves, and Yeovil looked extremely comfortable with their passing game. A change was made when Steve Thompson came on to replace Adam Stansfield, and rather than slot into midfield Thommo took his place as a forward. Swansea made a second substitution with Kevin Davies off and Luke Harrington on.

The change did nothing to help the Welsh side as a fine El Kholti cross in the 67th minute was met with an excellent Jake EDWARDS diving header as the Yeovil forward completed his hat trick. 4 - 0. Two minutes later Andy Lindegaard passed to Steve Reed, who played a neat chip over the Swansea back line for Jamie GOSLING to run on with only the keeper to beat, which he did by comfortably slotting the ball home. 5 - 0.

Yeovil looked like extending their lead further, and a beautiful cross from El Kholti with a little over fifteen minutes remaining was very well taken by Murphy when a sixth goal looked likely. Gary Johnson brought on Sam Croft and Dale Williams for full backs Joy and Davies. The departing youngsters were warmly applauded by the appreciative crowd and I sincerely hope to see a lot more of these two. Sam Croft took his place in the defence, but Andy Lindegaard moved to right wingback with Dale Williams taking up a forward role.

Edwards had two more attempts to add to his scoring tally. A shot on the turn after an El Kholti cross went over the bar, and then a close range shot was well held by Murphy. When the sixth goal arrived, however, it was to complete a hat trick for Jamie GOSLING. Steve Thompson was the provider, threading the ball through the Swansea defence leaving Gosling once again with just the keeper to beat, which he did in what looked to be an action replay of his second goal. 6 - 0. I wonder when a Yeovil side last saw two hat trick heroes in green and white?

Two minutes after the sixth saw an awful mix-up between Swansea defenders in their own penalty area, with the ball gifted to Jake Edwards. He pushed the ball across to Dale WILLIAMS in front of the keeper, and he guided the ball left footed into the corner. 7 - 0.

With a little under five minutes of normal time remaining El Kholti found Dale Williams on the edge of the area, and he confidently beat one man before his shot was blocked. A few minutes later it was Jake EDWARDS who would have the last word. A superb long ball from Steve Reed was well controlled by Edwards on the right side of the area, before he dragged the ball back across towards the centre and slotted his fourth goal past the unfortunate Murphy. 8 - 0.

A brilliant display from a mixture of youth and experience.

Robin Evans

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