They say football is a game of two halves and after this game you couldn’t really argue with that. The first half was lively with both sides playing some good football but on balance Yeovil just edged it.

The game started at quite a pace and a David Poole volley after 3 minutes bought a very good save from Basso. Bristol City took the lead after 14 minutes with a goal from Elliot BENYON, which was somewhat against the run of play. The lead was short lived though because less than 2 minutes later Alejandro MELONO headed in a David Poole corner at the far post.

Kevin GALL was a constant threat with his tireless runs and after 25 minutes he was rewarded with a goal. A well timed through ball from Michael Rose left Gall one on one with the keeper and he made no mistake from 12 yards out. Several other good runs from Gall were only thwarted by a linesman who felt the need to wave his new yellow flag for no apparent reason.

On the 40 minute mark Gall tested the keeper again with a 30 yard effort that forced Basso into making a fine save. Three minutes later and it was all level again, Ryan HARLEY picked up the ball just inside the Yeovil half and some lackadaisical defending allowed him to beat several players before firing his shot past Steve Collis.

The second half was a generally uninspiring affair and the players on both sides seemed to tire as the half went on. The rhythmic passing from the first half was gone and because of this the game became rather scrappy. There were also several long delays while the Bristol City physio used his magic sponge on the injured players, which only helped to break up the play.

The first real action of the half came after 72 minutes when Steve Collis pushed the ball onto the post after a goalmouth scramble. Less than a minute later Bristol City were ahead again when Steve Collis could only half save a free kick from the edge of the box and Elliot BENYON beat him to the loose ball to score his second goal of the afternoon.

There was a brief moment of concern late in the second half when it appeared that Guy Madjo had been shot in the chest. He was shielding the ball near the corner flag, in an attempt to run the clock down, when all of a sudden he fell to the ground as if he’d been felled by a sniper. I was fully expecting to see lots of claret coloured blood pouring out of him but he seemed to recover fairly quickly. The score line was made even more flattering in the 90th minute when Elliot BENYON completed his second hat trick in 5 days.

Full Time 2-4

Overall it was a reasonably good display from Yeovil, especially in the first half. Alejandro Meloño was like a lighthouse in the middle of the defence, seeing away danger on many occasions. The trialist, Damien Ming, showed one or two good touches but was muscled off the ball most of the time and didn't look much better than any of the current players. Kevin Gall was his usual self, full of running and he looked more confident in front of goal than he has for a while. Luciano Alvarez again looked a class player and linked up well with Gall.

Mike Kerrigan (Macphisto)

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