A dreadful start by Yeovil found them a goal down before they had even established any kind of rhythm in their side. Chris Sparks found himself facing his own goal, and under pressure seemed to want to dribble the ball back to his own goal. A weak back pass instead of a boot out of the ground resulted in Pennock being left exposed and as the ball found its way to the goal-line on the right hand side of the Yeovil penalty area, it was Gary ANSELL who reacted first and he shot first time from an acute angle before Pennock could recover to give hayes an early 1-0 lead.

Yeovil seemed to be creating alot of exciting stuff in order to pull back an equaliser, but their defence, and in particular Chris Sparks and Jamie Pitman, were being given a torrid time by the combination of England striker Lee Charles and ex-Stevenage and Welling striker Neil Trebble. Sparks in particular seemed numbed by the idea of facing his former team mates, whilst Pitman was being exploited by Trebble, seemingly twice Pitman's size, on his wrong foot. Despite Yeovil's flirtations towards the Hayes goal, it was these defensive weaknesses that were being exposed. And so Hayes extended their lead in the 13th minute when another Hayes right wing move resulted in Terry SKIVERTON sliding the ball into his own net, with the Hayes public address system trying in vain to give the goal to Neil Trebble, who may have crossed the ball, but definitely could not lay claims to the final touch.

Yeovil could have been three behind inside 20 minutes when Pennock made a diving save high to his left but could only parry the ball onto the shoulder of Jamie Pitman who deflected the ball past his own post for a corner. Surely it couldn't be Scarborough all over again ?

But slowly, and surely, Yeovil began to recover from their disasterous start, threatening once when Warren Patmore flicked a ball onto the top of the crossbar with the keeper beaten, and on 33 minutes, a Jamie Pitman cross flashed across the area, was dummied by Ben Smith, and that left Matt HAYFIELD (or Mayfield if you are on the Hayes P.A.) was left in a position he seems to openly relish. Ten yards out, plenty of space to move, and a clean whallop into the roof of the net to bring it all back to 2-1.

The second half proved to be a little less eventful for clear cut chances, but still followed a similar pattern where you just felt that the score was never going to end as it was at half time. Yeovil seemed to tighten up on the left hand side of the pitch, with Matt Hayfield frequently aiding Pitman and Sparks, and despite Yeovil having to see off more Hayes pressure, the situation was far less fraught and eventful.

What was becoming more of an issue was the antics of Mr Pettitt in the referee's shirt. He began to incur the wrath of the large away support as several decisions failed to go Yeovil's way. In particular, Matt Hayfield had his shirt pulled persistently over a period of five seconds, yet the best that could be offered was a throw-in when Yeovil would have fancied more the idea of a free kick just outside the penalty area. Next Ben Smith was having leap-frog played on him by a Hayes midfielder, yet somehow the referee suggested that Smith was at fault for the challenge, and gave the kick the other way.

As is typical of such referees, something usually ends up being evened up. Just after Lee Charles had thankfully exited the field, Adrian Foster once again prepared to make mincemeat of Nathan Bunce. The hapless Hayes defender was turned once more, then Foster, spotting a vaguely raised leg, made a bee-line straight for it and fell pole-axed just inside the area, close to the corner flag.

It took us a while to realise what the referee had given. After all the little decisions going against Yeovil, here was one big controversial one going their way, and as Matt Hayfield looked to take the penalty, it was Warren PATMORE who took his familiar role and sent the keeper the wrong way as he cut the ball into the corner of the net to give Yeovil a priceless lead with only 12 minutes remaining.