Whilst a fair proportion of Russell Slade's line-up appear to be taking a consistent shape and line-up, it is quite apparent that he is still looking to shuffle and change the two wide midfielders and striker in his 4-5-1 formation in efforts to get the creative side of Yeovil's game flowing a little more. With Arron Davies on international duty and Marcus Stewart coming in on loan, this was the area of the park he shuffled once again. Stewart made his debut as a loan striker, whilst Wayne Gray dropped into midfield as a right-sided wide man. Lee Morris swapped over to the left meaning that Ishmael Welsh dropped down to the bench.

The home side started slightly stronger with the Glovers looking to smother their attacks - something that they did with quite comfortable ease. The nearest they came during the opening period was when Mark Lynch was pulled up rather harshly for a foul on Andy Robinson - the first of many home-friendly decisions referee Paul Melin would make throughout the night. Robinson himself took the free kick from 25 yards out, curling the ball over the wall. Thankfully Steve Mildenhall was there to palm the ball around the post for a corner. Once again Robinson grabbed the ball but Terry Skiverton was able to relieve the pressure immediately with a powerful header.

Former Glover Kevin Amankwaah managed a trademark break out of defence up the right flank to a chorus of boos from the away end. From a personal point of view, I didn't agree with that kind of reaction to a player that was part of our League Two title winning squad and the whole of our first season at League One level. Whilst it's always a shame to lose a good player, it seemed a little over the top, especially when compared with the standing ovation that Darren Way got an hour later - another player who told the club he wouldn't be signing another contract with the club. Amankwaah's run saw him perform an overlap move with Tom Williams, whose cross found Rory Fallon in clear space, but the header went clearly wide.

Having got past those early scares, Yeovil gradually began to push their own men forward. Lee Morris won a corner when he had his shot blocked by the legs of Amankwaah. Minutes later another Morris shot was blocked by Swansea central defender Alan Tate after a corner reached him on the back post.

Paul Terry became the first of many players to land into the fussy Mr Melin's book when he committed the crime of a perfectly timed tackle in the centre circle on Darren Pratley. When Swansea's Tom Williams vaguely nudged Jean-Paul Kalala two minutes later in the same area of the park, the tit-for-tat logic of Mr Melin was both laughable and unnecessary as Williams also landed in the book. A few minutes later Williams got a final warning from Melin - presumably for mouthing off - it certainly wasn't for anything you could see with the naked eye. That certainly didn't impress the home crowd and a succession of far more pleasant looking home-friendly decisions followed, even allowing Swansea to build up a dangerous looking attack with two balls clearly in the middle of the pitch, provoking a chorus of "you don't know what you're doing" from all parts of the ground.

Marcus Stewart was holding the ball up well during the first period, showing exactly why Russell Slade had brought him into the club. However the main problem the Glovers had was that the gap between Stewart and his midfielders was a little too great at times and certainly during the first 25 minutes it was proving difficult to carve open definitive chances. As the half wore on though, that communication between the new boy and his team mates seemed to grow and Yeovil finished the half well on top.

Lee Morris carved open the best move of the game when he linked up with Chris Cohen on the left flank - the ball from Morris finding Wayne Gray on the back post who forced Swansea keeper Willy Gueret to tip over his own crossbar. From the resulting Chris Cohen corner, Terry Skiverton caused havoc in the penalty box as he beat Gueret to the ball, but Wayne Gray's attempt to fire the loose ball home resulted in a slice and a goal kick.

A minute from the break, Marcus Stewart was the width of a bootlace from connecting with an excellent ball over the top from Chris Cohen that caught the Swansea backline entirely flatfooted. Stretching wildly, the toe-poke needed eluded Stewart, but in missing the ball, he still gave Gueret a real fright with the Swansea keeper having to dive late, having braced himself for a shot from the Yeovil striker that never came. Next Lee Morris exchanged a real classy one-two with Stewart as Yeovil ended the half in a dominant mood - the eventual shot from Morris being well saved again by Gueret. A good 45 minutes for the visitors and they were growing in confidence as the half went on.

Half time saw Adebayo Akinfenwa replace Rory Fallon, who had barely touched the ball, bar the one early chance he got. But Yeovil continued as they left off and Swansea had a miraculous let-off four minutes into the second period when Marcus Stewart broke through, successfully chipping goalkeeper Willy Gueret. A goal seemed certain, but Swansea defender Alan Tate somehow managed to recover enough ground to clear the ball off the line.

The let-off didn't last long for Swansea though. A corner from the left by Chris Cohen saw Wayne Gray take a marker with him as he ran forward and coming in at the near post was Marcus STEWART whose stooped header was perfectly placed to give Gueret no chance and give Yeovil the lead. Not a bad way to make your mark with your new club! 1-0 and thoroughly deserved against the preceding 53 minutes.

Chris Cohen could have made it 2-0 when he shot from inside the area, but this time Gueret was equal to it. With the second half being dominated by Yeovil, Jacks manager Kenny Jackett made his second change of the match, bringing on former Glovers hero Darren Way for Tom Williams. An impressive standing ovation was offered to Way from the away end, complete with a chant of "Darren Way Way Way!" in recognition of his five years of service at Huish Park.

Way's presence though seemed to breathe new life into the Swansea midfield, helped by the bulk of Akinfenwa, who these days seems to make Trundle look positively petite by comparison. It does make you wonder what is put on the menu for Swansea's strike force. The bulk of Trundle finally wriggled into a bit of space when he took advantage of a loose ball when a cross was half cleared, almost surprising everyone in the ground with a shot that was sliced, but somehow contrived to clip off the outside of the woodwork.

Just past the hour mark though, Swansea got a lifeline with a moment of extreme controversy. The extreme bulk of Adebayo Akinfenwa barged his way into the penalty box, and to many eyes looked to be the aggressor as he grabbled with Terrell Forbes inside the box, with the Swansea striker looking as though he was backing into his Yeovil counterpart. Even when he fell to the floor, no-one from Swansea seemed too bothered, but referee Paul Melin blew his whistle, and logic would have assumed Terrell was about to get a free kick. But with two hotly contested penalties being donated to Swansea on previous visits to South Wales, Yeovil were about to get another harsh one given against them. Melin compounded the situation by harshly booking Forbes for the 'foul' and then Lee Morris for protesting about it. Even if the penalty could be justified, it certainly didn't warrant a booking. After much 'look at me' arm-waving from Mr Melin, Lee TRUNDLE blasted the penalty kick straight up the middle and Swansea were level.

The mysterious Mr Melin continued his bemusing performance by landing Marcus Stewart and Izzy Iriekpen in the book for ... errr ... something. Whatever it was, it wasn't anywhere near the football. Both looked bemused - thankfully they didn't say what they really thought. Some late substitutions were designed to deal with some tiring Yeovil legs. Ishmael Welsh came on for the excellent Lee Morris, whilst Anthony Barry replaced Jean-Paul Kalala. Then as the clock ticked down Wayne Gray made way for Kevin James.

Swansea pressed, but they found it difficult to find their way past the Yeovil back line, with Terry Skiverton in particular immense in the centre and Paul Terry equally impressive in often breaking up play long before it got near the backline. On one occasion Swansea truly threatened. Lee Trundle finally broke clear of two or three Yeovil bodies with perhaps indecision on who should be the one to close down the Swansea striker and for the first time in the game he got enough room to put the ball onto his favoured left boot. The ball went half a yard wide of the far post. Four minutes of injury time, extended to six by the man in black wasn't enough to give the home side a winner that they didn't really deserve, and so a fairly creditable point was Yeovil's to take back home.

Once again Yeovil are adopting that "difficult to beat" stance to their games and that showed on tonight's game. It isn't going to be as pretty or flamboyant as in previous seasons, but at present it is nine points from the first six games, where Yeovil only had two points at this stage last season, and so it is hard to argue against. Up front there is still a slight bit of extra creativity needed although Marcus Stewart showed enough to suggest that once he gets his bearings, communication and match fitness going with the rest of the Yeovil side, he could be a significant threat to League One defences. A very pleasing evening overall, and one that could have been even more pleasing had referee Paul Melin not spoiled matters with a poor penalty decision, and seven yellow cards - wonder how many he would have dished out in a dirty game?

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