Despite losing Tuesday night's match 4-1 at Southend, caretaker boss Steve Thompson kept faith in the side that started in that match, choosing to make two changes to the bench in the form of Adam Lockwood and David Poole as they replaced Colin Miles and Luciano Alvarez in the sixteen.

Liam Fontaine invoked the game's first early chance when he broke down the left wing, delivering a cross for Nathan Jones, whose flicked header went wide of goal. But it was the home side who started in a more impressive fashion, forcing their way forward in a threatening manner on a couple of occasions but without actually creating chances.

With just 13 minutes gone though, Scunny went ahead with their first clear-cut chance of the afternoon. Kevin Amankwaah lost possession of the ball to Billy Sharp and although he nearly won the ball back, Sharp dissected the Yeovil defence with a ball to Andrew KEOGH who looked suspiciously offside as he ran through and slotted the ball home for a 1-0 lead.

Lost possession also gave Scunthorpe their second chance of the match, as Arron Davies found his cross blocked by a Scunthorpe defender. Matthew Sparrow managed to run through the middle of the Yeovil defence as he prepared to shoot and only a last-ditch tackle by Liam Fontaine stopped him from getting a shot in on target. But straight from that corner, Yeovil only half cleared the ball, and Keogh then chose to return the favour for his striking partner, squaring a low ball across the six yard line which Billy SHARP turned in to put Scunny 2-0 up after just 20 minutes!

With the travelling supporters looking shell-shocked and a clear worry that the team might cave in as they did at Southend on Tuesday night, Steve Thompson moved swiftly to shake his side up and introduced Matt Harrold into the match as an early substitute. Nathan Jones was the surprise sacrifice - surprising in the sense that there had been far more ineffective performances from other players during that opening period, however the switched allowed Yeovil to play with three forwards on the field of play with Phil Jevons operating as a left winger who could provide a 4-3-3 link-up where required.

It only took a minute from that substitution for the change to have an effect upon the game. Matt Harrold won an aerial ball, Pablo Bastianini and Phil Jevons combined on the left and the ball was slipped through to Darren WAY whose forward run caught out the Scunthorpe defence, allowing him to produce a low angled shot to give the Glovers a lifeline at 2-1.

The new formation continued to work well for the Glovers and when Arron Davies and Kevin Amankwaah teamed up on the right flank, the latter's cross found Pablo Bastianini inside the penalty box, but he couldn't keep his header down. But the comeback was completed eight minutes from the break with a wonderful strike. Scunthorpe's defence was going to the dogs and as they continually failed to clear their lines, a Pablo Bastianini shot was blocked and rebounded straight back to Phil JEVONS who produced a bullet of a shot straight into the top right hand corner with keeper Paul Musselwhite unable to even move a muscle to try and stop the attempt. Jevo showed his appreciation by running straight to the Yeovil bench, as Thommo heaved a sigh of relief that parity had been restored.

Now it was Scunthorpe's turn to look shellshocked and although Marcus Williams shot wide from a loose ball that Chris Weale had punched half-clear, they looked rocked on their heels, with the pairing of Matt Harrold and Pablo Bastianini pulling their back four all over the place, clearly taking the pressure off their own defenders by keeping the ball mainly in the Scunthorpe half.

Early in the second period, Pablo Bastianini decided to test whether home keeper Paul Musselwhite was awake by attempting a 45 yard lob, but the keeper recovered and the ball cleared the crossbar by a matter of inches. Five minutes in and Bastianini missed a great chance to give Yeovil the lead, as Kevin Amankwaah tackled and beat Peter Beagrie to the ball, leaving him for dead as he ran the full length of the field, slipping the ball inside for Bastianini only for the Argentinian to blaze his shot over the crossbar.

Billy Sharp managed the same from a narrow angle at the other end, but was made to pay for that miss when the continued Glovers dominance of the match turned the game around entirely. Pablo Bastianini's chip cross to the back post found Matt HARROLD and his sweetly hit strike landed in the back of the net, despite the attempts of Scunthorpe defender Andy Butler to clear the ball off the line, with both landing in the back of the net.

Harrold got himself a slightly more unfavourable entry in the referee's notebook when he blocked a Scunthorpe player from taking a throw-in, after referee Clive Oliver and his assistant had given the decision against the Yeovil striker. But any frown turned into a broad cheesy grin a minute later when Yeovil increase their lead with Matt HARROLD once again taking the glory. Pablo Bastianini's work though was instrumental once again, exchanging passes with his striking partner up the flank before delivering a low right wing cross that Harrold stabbed home from six yards to give an incredible 4-2 scoreline!

Pablo Bastianini was replaced by Paul Terry as he tired towards the end of the match, and with the Argentinian no longer a threat, Scunthorpe seemed to seize the initiative in the dying minutes. They pulled a goal back with an element of fortune. Peter Beagrie's miscued shot landed well wide of goal, but turned into a pass for Billy SHARP who stabbed the ball into the net from close range.

In a near replica of the match earlier this year at Huish Park, that set up a grandstand finale with the match finely poised at 4-3, and with Yeovil defending for their lives as Scunthorpe piled on the pressure. Peter Beagrie was lucky to stay on the field of play when he delivered a clear elbow into the face of Terry Skiverton, who eventually emerged from treatment doing his best Terry Butcher impression. Darren Way had to have his shirt changed after he also suffered a head wound that temporarily forced him from the field of play.

Then as the game made it's way into injury time, Scunthorpe throught they'd snatched an improbable equaliser. Nathan Stanton's shot was parried by Chris Weale and as Andrew Keogh pushed the rebound into the net Glanford Park erupted in delight, only for that delight to be extinguished by a linesman's flag, with Keogh in an offside position from the initial shot. There was still time for substitute Wayne Corden to smash a shot against the crossbar four minutes into injury time before referee Oliver finally put Steve Thompson out of his misery and sent the ecstatic Glovers home with three points in the bag.

An incredible match and if the club have got any sense they will pile copies of DVDs into the refurbished club shop if they want to make a few quid from what was real old-fashioned end-to-end entertainment. Matt Harrold will rightly get the headlines for his super-sub performance that turned the game around, but Phil Jevons with his stunning equaliser, a rejuvinated Pablo Bastianini with his four assists, and of course Steve Thompson himself with an inspired substitution all deserve their own credit for what was on 20 minutes looking like a day time nightmare, but turned into a game that people will talk about in the years to come.

Badger

MOTM Vote Result:

Player MOTM Score Matt Harrold 19 804 Phil Jevons 2 279 Kevin Amankwaah 1 193 Pablo Bastianini 2 150 Terry Skiverton 2 121 Efe Sodje 2 93

Overall match rating: 8.4 / 10
Performance: 7.5
Entertainment: 9.3

28 votes received.

Any comments/questions please email yeo.motm@ntlworld.com

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