Yet another unchanged sixteen at Huish Park as manager Russell Slade kept faith with a set of players who had certainly done the business in the last 10 days. Lee Morris was one of the pre-match injury doubts, having not trained between the Crewe and Brighton matches, but he was passed fit to play in the starting line-up.

Often it is all about how you start games, and Yeovil certainly started with a flyer. Brighton found themselves chasing shadows right from the moment the game kicked off, and went behind just six minutes into the game with a real cracker. Nathan Jones, up against his old club, started the move off with a trademark run up the left flank. His ball inside was collected by Marcus STEWART who controlled the ball, then executed a stunning 25 yard strike into the top right hand corner for a brilliant opening goal!

Whilst Yeovil's start was nothing short of outstanding, not everything was going to plan. The decision to start Lee Morris didn't work out as planned with the striker limping off just 10 minutes into the game with some sort of injury - some parties have said groin, others have said hamstring, but either way it looks like Morris may have to put his feet up for a game or two. He was replaced by Wayne Gray who slotted into one of the wide-midfield positions.

The Glovers continued to dominate though and could have gone 2-0 up in quick succession as firstly Jean-Paul Kalala got in behind the Brighton defence wide on the angle. His shot was sliced wide with the possible hint of a deflection, but only a goal kick awarded. Next Arron Davies went on a typical mazey run that finished with him laying the ball off for Chris Cohen who fired from distance, sending a shot skimming just over the crossbar.

Brighton just about rode the storm, but it took them 27 minutes to build up anything of note at the other end of the pitch. A corner was delivered by Dean Cox and it fell to Alex Revell who initially saw his shot saved by Steve Mildenhall, and as the loose ball went up for grabs, Terry Skiverton blocked the follow-up and Chris Cohen hacked the ball away. It was by far Brighton's best opportunity so far.

As the visitors began to get some sort of a foothold in the game, the match got a touch on the scrappy side as the half went on. Steve Mildenhall had to come to the rescue again two minutes before the game as a shot from Kerry Mayo almost caught him unsighted, but he saved low down by the foot of his post. Although Brighton had come back into the game slightly as the half closed, the opening 20 minute period had been more than enough to deserve the Glovers their half time lead.

The second half opened with Brighton again gradually improving, although without any great signs that they were going to grab an equaliser. Joe Gatting, who has a decidedly more famous cricketing uncle, replaced Tommy Fraser as the Seagulls huffed and puffed but the Yeovil back line stayed firm. The pattern of play was making the Huish Park crowd a touch on the nervous side and they needed their players to put Brighton on the back foot every now and again to stop things becoming so edgy.

Not that Brighton were exactly doing much to cause Yeovil genuine tangible concerns. The closest they came during the opening 20 minutes or so was when Dean Hammond produced a shot that Mildenhall had to parry away but no Brighton player was on hand for the rebound. Curiously, despite Brighton's territorial pressure, it was the Glovers who were carving out the more dangerous moments. Georges Santos was forced to acrobatically hook away a dangerous looking cross from his former team-mate Nathan Jones as the ball whipped across the face of the box, eventually being put out for a corner.

Brighton defender Joel Lynch cynically pulled back Wayne Gray as the Yeovil striker burst forward on a sharp break up field, with perhaps some questions about how many Brighton players were there to cover for his actions. Referee Ray Olivier, who tended to adopt a lenient approach throughout the evening, produced his only yellow card of the night.

That should have a wake-up call for Brighton that just because you're keeping the ball in your opponents half, it doesn't mean they can't score. With eight minutes remaining, Paul Terry broke up play in his own half, fed Chris Cohen who sprinted across the halfway line, taking two Brighton defenders with him, and when he placed a low crossfield ball towards the right side of the pitch, it was almost telepathy as the ball passed straight onto the boot of Wayne GRAY, who gleefully slotted the ball home from 10 yards to wrap the game up for good.

That was the call for Russell Slade to rest a couple of his places with Jean-Paul Kalala replaced by Anthony Barry with JP getting the sponsors man of the match for some outstanding snuffing out of the Brighton attack across the 84 minutes he spent on the field. Arron Davies made way for Ishmael Welsh as Brighton's attempts to get something out of the game fizzled out, and as the game closed up it was Marcus Stewart who could have grabbed a late goal, with his shot heading just wide of the target.

Overall Yeovil have probably played better this season, although there seems to be a growing technique and pattern to the gameplan that is gaining the Glovers their results this season. The passing and movement is very much the same as before, but the feeling is that you're watching a team picking off the opposition much in the same way that two chess players play a game out. So far, Russell Slade appears to be very much on top of his game in that respect, and the end result is Yeovil Town occupying a very different part of the League Table to what the bookies and pundits were predicting at the start of this season.

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