Gary Johnson had the rare luxury of being able to select his first unchanged line-up since the Oxford United and Bolton Wanderers games in mid-September as he took the side that had beaten Southend United 3-1 and asked them to see off a Darlington side struggling on the back of a couple of bad league results. Visiting manager David Hodgson had implied that many of his players were at the last chance saloon, but still selected nine of the eleven that had started the original fixture.

The Glovers looked like they'd got off to the most perfect of starts. Darren Way ran down the wings with the clock barely having ticked over the minute mark, and his superb cross in was met by Bartosz Tarachulski who finished the move sweetly by heading the ball home, only to find a linesman's flag dubiously rule out an early lead.

It was sadly the officials that were once again providing the talking points in a stop-start first half where both sides struggled to gain fluency. Referee Phil Joslin appeared to miss a shove in the back on Phil Jevons early on that could have seen a penalty awarded. Joslin also completely failed to look up the word 'advantage' in his rulebook when he failed to notice Darren Way racing away down the wing with the ball after Liddle had clipped the heels of Jevons. This and Darlington's attempts to break up Yeovil's play by using a five-man midfield with Neil Maddison operating in a deep position saw play become a little scrappy at times.

When quality did appear, generally it was Yeovil who came out on top. Gavin Williams shot from 25 yards but Darlington keeper Sam Russell covered his shot cleanly enough. Neil Wainwright was lucky not to land himself in the book when he chopped down Gavin Williams and the Welshman's free kick was well chested down by Darren Way, who controlled the ball well but shot wide.

The visitors did get one brief peep at Chris Weale's goal. Michael Rose and Colin Miles were guilty of a touch of indecision when they allowed Wainwright to ghost between them. Thankfully his shot was skied well over the bar from close range.

That was as close as they got in a half that saw Yeovil go close, but not close enough with their chances. Bartosz Tarachulski spurned a similar chance to Wainwright's after a quickly taken Lee Johnson free kick set up Paul Terry. Terry's attempt to shoot was blocked by Darlington defender Matt Clarke, but when the ball broke loose to Bartosz he shot straight at keeper Sam Russell.

Not that Yeovil were being helped by some dreadful decisions by the officials. Darren Way was flagged offside when clearly well onside but insult was added to injury when Bartosz Tarachulski was clearly felled by Matt Clarke right on the edge of the box. Would it be a penalty or a free kick? No - astonishingly, Clarke's foul resulted in a yellow card for Tarachulski, apparently for diving - the second such Yeovil player Joslin had wrongly booked for such an offence across the two ties, after Lee Johnson's caution in the original match. When Phil Jevons got a boot in the midriff during injury time, but no yellow card was forthcoming for the Darlington defender you really began to wonder what game Mr Joslin was watching.

Once again, a strong session at half time seemed to do the trick as the Glovers came out with all guns blazing. Just 20 seconds after the kick-off, Paul Terry broke down the right wing and delivered a ball to Phil Jevons, but the ball ultimately went off target for a goal kick.

Jevons had his second penalty appeal of the night turned down when Mr Joslin turned a blind eye to a handball in the box from a Jevons shot. But eventually the Glovers got the break they needed by concentrating on what they do best - the art of passing football.

A superb multi-man move developed through the field, with Lee Johnson typically orchestrating things. Feeding the ball out to Darren Way, his fellow midfielder exchanged passes with Michael Rose, before Way picked up the ball a second time. Cutting inside a Darlington defender, Darren WAY unleashed a 20-yard drive into the bottom corner to finally divide the teams. Not a bad manner to cap your 200th appearance for the club!

Andrejs Stolcers came close to doubling Yeovil's lead a minute later when he cut across his marker, delivering a rising shot across the face of goal that just missed the angle. Much of the game now depended on whether Darlington's players would react to manager David Hodgson's stinging words delivered over the weekend, claiming that his players were not fighters.

In reality, Darlington didn't seem to have much of a sting in their tail and even their one serious chance was down to the pitch than any serious attempt on goal. Clyde Wijnhard's shot took a surprisingly nasty bounce off a normally perfect Huish Park pitch, causing the ball to lift and apparently strike him in the face. Fortunately Wealey's reactions were still good enough to thwart an incoming Alun Armstrong sensing an opportunity on the rebound.

The game had developed a bit of a nasty under-current with both sides getting frustrated with Mr Joslin's decisions. Hodgson seemed to be engaged in a constant battle with the Nottinghamshire referee, with fourth official Wendy Toms having a right battle on her hands as she tried to stop the visiting manager from stepping onto the field of play to make his feelings known.

Out came referee Joslin's cards like confetti. Adrian Webster was booked for a foul on Lee Johnson, Paul Terry got the same for a foul on Matt Clarke, whilst a two-footed tackle by Clarke on Johnson could have seen worse produced. Colin Miles seemed to be in a running battle with Clyde Wijnhard and much of the football was in danger of being forgotten. Somehow though, both sides regained their composure with Yeovil content to sit back and hold a Darlington midfield that couldn't find their attacking team-mates.

As the clock ran down, it was Yeovil that looked the more likely to find the net again. Phil Jevons had his shot parried for a corner by Russell after Paul Terry put him through. Gavin Williams forced Russell into an excellent tip-over save after he cut in from the wings, whilst shots from Jevons and Way went wide.

But there was to be no Darlington final onslaught, and they limped out of the FA Cup with a whimper rather than with a bang, and for Yeovil only holding a single goal lead, this was a very comfortable final last quarter, with a route now through to the second round and a trip to Gary Johnson's former home of Histon.

For Darren Way though, this was a wonderful way to celebrate his 200th appearance. Captain in the absence of Terry Skiverton - tonight finally warming the bench again - and taking Yeovil Town into the next round of the competition they love with a super goal. If there's any player that deserves what he got for his efforts tonight, then it would be Darren. Roll on the next 200 appearances for Weasel ... and of course the next round of the FA Cup!

MOTM Vote Result:

Player MOTM Score Paul Terry 20 725 Darren Way 10 669 Gavin Williams 1 163 Scott Guyett - 75 Colin Miles - 38 Bartosz Tarachulski - 38 Michael Rose 1 31

Overall match rating: 6.6 / 10
Performance: 6.8
Entertainment: 6.4

32 votes received.

Any comments/questions please email ytfcmotm@ntlworld.com

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