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Season 2006-2007 : Brentford vs Yeovil Town : Saturday 30th September 2006
Coca Cola League One : Brentford vs Yeovil Town

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Venue: Griffin Park
Saturday 30th September 2006, 3.00pm kick-off.

Scorers: Terry Skiverton (57 mins, 0-1), Jo Kuffour (80 mins, 1-1), Chris Cohen (88 mins, 1-2)

Attendance: 5,770 (including approx 800 Yeovil supporters)

Referee: Ray Lee (Essex)
Assistants: Gary Evetts (Hertfordshire), Matt Stewart (Essex)
Fourth official: John Hayto (Essex)

Bookings:
Yeovil: Kevin Cooper (foul, 60 mins)
Brentford: John Mousinho (foul, 42 mins)

Team Line-Ups

Yeovil Town : (4-2-3-1)
1. Steve Mildenhall
24. Mark Lynch, 4. Terry Skiverton, 6. Terrell Forbes, 3. Nathan Jones
7. Paul Terry 14. Jean-Paul Kamudimba
9. Arron Davies 11. Chris Cohen 30. Kevin Cooper
29. Marcus Stewart

Subs: 2. Anthony Tonkin 5. Scott Guyett 8. Anthony Barry 10. Wayne Gray (63 mins for Arron Davies) 27. Ishmael Welsh (73 mins for Kevin Cooper)

Brentford :
1. Stuart Nelson 2. Kevin O'Connor 4. Thomas Pinault 5. Matthew Heywood 6. Adam Griffiths 7. Paul Brooker 10. Jo Kuffour 18. Sam Tillen 19. Calum Willock 22. John Mousinho 28. Clyde Wijnhard

Subs: 21. Clark Masters (GK) 11. Gavin Tomlin (60 mins for Clyde Wijnhard) 17. Alex Rhodes (75 mins for Sam Tillen) 20. Ryan Peters (81 mins for Jo Kuffour) 24. Karleigh Osborne

Match Report

Just one change to Yeovil Town's starting line-up and also the overall sixteen as Lee Morris dropped out of the squad on the back of a midweek hamstring injury, with on-loan midfielder Kevin Cooper making his debut for the Glovers by starting the game, taking up the left-wing position that Morris has made his own in recent weeks. For Brentford, much of their pre-match claims that they would be short of multiple players proved to be a slight exaggeration, with Kevin O'Connor, Thomas Pinault and Adam Griffiths all landing in the starting line-up despite being listed as on the crocked list during the week.

The first period was a very open affair with both sides playing the ball from end to end, with plenty of chances emerging at both ends. The Glovers opened up the stronger, with Arron Davies getting in a third minute cross that went straight onto the left boot of Marcus Stewart who volleyed first time over the crossbar. Two minutes later, Stewart had an even better chance to Yeovil in the lead. A poor clearance by Brentford keeper Stuart Nelson was headed back into the Brentford half by Terry Skiverton, putting Stewart straight through on goal but his shot found the legs of Nelson in the way and the loose ball went begging. A minute later and Yeovil were creating yet another chance, with Jean-Paul Kalala receiving a Nathan Jones crossfield ball and letting fly from distance, but despite Nelson being beaten by the shot, it also cleared the bar.

Brentford took 19 minutes to find their feet in an opening spell that Yeovil dominated. Paul Brooker finally got some room down the left flank, putting in a cross to the far post, but it was always an inch too far away from former Macclesfield striker Clyde Wijnhard and on full stretch, he sliced his header wide of the target. Brentford were also winning a lot of free kicks, thanks to some pretty home-friendly decisions from referee Ray Lee who was reacting to whatever the home supporters told him, but these lacked invention and Steve Mildenhall claimed all of the early three that came his way with ease.

However, the Bees best chance of the half came on its midpoint, with former Grimsby Town midfielder Thomas Pinault almost netting as he got free space behind the Yeovil back line, but even though he managed to beat Mildenhall, he didn't allow for Terrell Forbes - another former Mariner - clearing his lobbed attempt off the line.

For the rest of the half, the game swung from end to end on an alternating basis. Jean-Paul Kalala had a shot deflected for a corner, whilst Calum Willock's downward header brought the best out of Steve Mildenhall as he palmed the ball away for a corner. At the other end, a long ball from Mark Lynch was chested down by Chris Cohen with home keeper Nelson reacting quickly before Cohen could control the ball onto his foot. Marcus Stewart tested Nelson from distance, whilst yet another strangely awarded free kick allowed Kevin O'Connor a chance to test his 'Beckham' skills. He executed the kick perfectly, but didn't allow for a rather unwitting 'defensive header' from team-mate Wijnhard, who turned a dangerous on target shot into a tame attempt wide with Mildenhall struggling to cover his ground. Thanks Clyde!

As the half closed, John Mousinho became the first name in the book for a reckless tackle on Arron Davies as Yeovil finished the half on top with a couple of near misses. Firstly Chris Cohen's curling backpost cross caused defensive confusion between home keeper Stuart Nelson and his full-back Kevin O'Connor when both left the ball for each other, nearly resulting in embarrassment as the ball sneaked out for a goal kick. Then right on half time, Arron Davies spurned Yeovil's best chance of the half when he followed up on a shot from Kevin Cooper that was parried by keeper Stuart Nelson, only to slam the ball against the crossbar from 8 yards out with the goal gaping - seconds before the half time cuppa.

Half-time: Brentford 0 - 0 Yeovil Town

Neither side made any changes at the break. Brentford opened by flicking another header wide of the target - again Clyde Wijnhard was the culprit. This was a slightly less open half though with neither side willing to overly commit themselves to the extent that they had during the first 45 minutes. Yet rather ironically this quiet spell brought the game its first goal. Chris Cohen forced a corner when weaving out onto the right and took the set piece himself. The ball was sent in towards the penalty spot and Terry SKIVERTON finally broke the deadlock with a trademark Skivo goal. The Yeovil skipper rose high to power the ball into the bottom right hand corner. 1-0 and once again Yeovil were in the lead.

Jo Kuffour missed a glorious opportunity to equalise two minutes after the opener when he scuffed a shot wide from 10 yards when put through in a great position with the ball at his feet. Then Kevin Cooper was booked for what looked to be a perfectly executed sliding tackle, though not in the somewhat red-tinted eyes of referee Ray Lee who continued to react to the home support. Both sides began to ring the changes - Yeovil's first was to swap Arron Davies for Wayne Gray. Later Ishmael Welsh replaced the tiring Kevin Cooper.

Matters appeared to be going the same way as the recent matches against Crewe and Brighton with Brentford getting plenty of second half possession but little in the way of tangible chances. One of Brentford's closest came when Nathan Jones was forced to execute a brilliant defensive hooked clearance when under pressure from Paul Brooker on the back post. However, 10 minutes from time they had a lifeline when a Gavin Tomlin attempt to shoot was blocked out by a Yeovil defender, straight into the path of Jo KUFFOUR and the former Torquay United striker found equalising an easy task from eight yards out. Forbes made loud protests to the Main Stand linesman that the ball had gone out of play during the build-up to the equaliser, but that all fell on deaf ears.

Bizarrely Brentford's reaction to this lifeline was to substitute the man who had brought them their return on goal and to slow play down drastically. It looked as though Yeovil would for once have to settle for the point, but strangely the home side seemed to be the ones easing up on their game, and that was to their cost when the Glovers decided to up their own game in response to the equaliser. After Calum Willock had continued the trend of slicing Brentford headers wide of the target, Yeovil made Brentford pay for their wayward headers and their attempts to wind the game down. Chris COHEN grabbed a throw-in and took it quickly towards Marcus Stewart who immediately fed the ball back to the inrushing Cohen deep in the Brentford box and the Glovers midfielder slammed the ball home on the angle to give Yeovil all three points. Not even the remaining two minutes plus an excessive four minutes injury time imposed by the unimpressive referee Ray Lee of Essex could prevent that from being the case.

The win takes Yeovil Town up to 2nd in the Coca Cola League One table, sandwiched by the financial clout of Nottingham Forest and Bristol City. Needless to say, yet again, the Glovers have entered unchartered waters with the highest position in the club's history. With 12 games gone, it is far too early to speculate what that table position might lead to, but the main thing is that Russell Slade's side are way ahead of schedule and all rational expectations anyone may have had of them, and that is no bad thing.

Full-time: Brentford 1 - 2 Yeovil Town
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