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| Hednesford Town 1 Yeovil Town 0
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Scorers
Davis (69, 1-0)
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Attendance : 976
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Officials
H M Webb
I Scarr(red trim)
H Singh(yellow trim)
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Line-Up & Formation
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Tony Pennock |
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David Piper |
Chris Sparks |
Kevan Brown |
Matt Stowell |
Tony Pounder |
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Matt Hayfield |
Rob Cousins |
Jamie Pitman |
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Jason Eaton |
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Warren Patmore |
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Substitutes :
Terry Skiverton (for Sparks, 45)
Dean Chandler (not used)
Steve Thompson (83, for Eaton)
Ben Smith (66, for Pounder)
Paul Tisdale (not used)
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Opposition Line-Up :
1. Morgan, 2. Evans, 3. Colkin, 4. Comyn, 5. Brindley, 6. Robinson, 7. Kimmins,
8. Norman, 9. Davis, 10. Mike, 11. Szewczyk.
Substitutes :
O'Connor (35, for Szewczyk), Hunter, Rhodes, Devine, Hayward.
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Bookings :
Yeovil : Patmore (19, foul)
Hednesford : Robinson 41, foul)
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Team Selection :
One major shock change in the Yeovil line-up as captain Steve Stott dropped
entirely out of the sixteen, with his position in midfield taken by Rob
Cousins. However, the captaincy did not go as expected to Cousins, but to
Kevan Brown, who captained the Woking side when he and Thompson were
teammates. Jason Eaton came in for Adrian Foster who had a knee injury,
and so the two vacant positions on the bench were taken by Paul Tisdale and
Steve Thompson.
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First Half :
Yeovil started the game brightly and could have taken the lead within 60
seconds. Tony Pounder ran his way down the left wing and after a neat
interchange of passes, his shot from 15 yards was blocked by a home defender.
However, although Yeovil were controlling the posession their final ball
was lacking hugely, as in a near repeat of the first half against Sutton at
Huish Park, lofted balls were being carried by the strong end to end wind and
mostly into the arms of Hednesford goalkeeper Phil Morgan.
At the other end striker Neil Davis seemed to be handling the game far
better than any other player on the pitch. After 10 minutes he shot straight
at Pennock from close range, then on the half hour mark he danced past two
Yeovil defenders and his shot was deflected for a corner. From the resulting
corner transfer listed striker John Norman headed over the bar.
With the rain coming down Hednesford were having a purple patch. Adie Mike
also headed over the bar, and later had a shot blocked by Pennock's feet.
With the pitch rapidly deteriorating, the tackles flew in and this caused
Paul Szewczyk to leave the field after he was involved in a nasty collision
with Chris Sparks. The Hednesford midfielder was replaced by Sean O'Connor.
Sparks was also hurt but chose to carry on. Ian Robinson was booked after he
committed three late tackles on Jamie Pitman inside five minutes.
The interruptions disturbed the home sides style and Yeovil came back into
the game with an on target shot by David Piper which was saved by Morgan,
and a Patmore header that went wide. Ged Kimmins should have given the
home side the lead but his injury time shot hit the side netting.
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| Half Time : Hednesford Town 0 Yeovil Town 0
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Second Half :
Yeovil replaced an injured Chris Sparks with Terry Skiverton during the
half time break. The half started in a far less eventful fashion with the
first chance of the half falling on the hour mark to defendeer Chris Brindley
whose header flashed across the face of the Yeovil goal. This was followed by
a deep O'Connor right wing cross but the header from Davis went straight into
Pennock's arms.
On 65 minutes Ben Smith replaced Tony Pounder, and as per the Reading game
the team switched to a 4-4-2 formation with Matt Stowell taking the left back
slot. Whilst this increased Yeovil's own chances, it left them more exposed
at the back, and on 69 minutes, a ball from O'Connor into the Yeovil box was
only partially cleared by Terry Skiverton and Neil DAVIS shot low into
the right hand corner from 20 yards, with Pennock standing little hope of
keeping the shot out.
As the game drifted into its last ten minutes, the chances increased for
both sides. Sean O'Connor who had a fine game on the right wing, found his
shot blocked again by Pennock from close range. Then Andy Comyn nearly turned
into his own net from a Matt Hayfield left wing cross. Davis nearly added to
his tally as he found one shot blocked by Kevan Brown, then put his shot on
the rebound wide of the post.
Steve Thompson was a late change for an out of sorts Jason Eaton as the
Head Coach went up front with Patmore. And the change nearly got Yeovil the
point they badly needed. With 90 seconds left, Hayfield and Thomson exchanged
neat passes on the left wing, and when Hayfield's excellent deep cross found
an unmarked Warren Patmore 10 yards out with the ball at head height there
seemed to be only one possible result. But the big striker got under the ball
and his header looped over the bar to send Yeovil home pointless.
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| Final Score : Hednesford Town 1 Yeovil Town 0
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Web Site Verdict :
This was one of Yeovil's poorer performances of the season. At times they
passed well, but the final ball to the two strikers was woeful and Yeovil
spent the first half overhitting their passes. Against the wind, things
changed and Yeovil managed to get behind the home sides defences. But they
still failed to connect with the two strikers leaving chances few and far
between. There was something that you could not put your finger on - some
kind of lack of creativity - that was holding Yeovil back. The defence played
soundly, but something is still not quite right beyond that in the middle of
the park. I'm glad it is Thommo and not me trying to figure out what that
"something" is.
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Thommo's Verdict :
Well obviously I was very disappointed with the result, but I felt that it was one that
could have gone either way. We got behind them quite a lot particularly in the second half,
but our final ball lacked that quality we needed. In fairness, their final ball probably
created more
genuine chances. Their goal went low into our right hand corner, and I wouldn't have expected
Tony to save it. He'd made two or three great saves during the game, but he couldn't keep
that one out. Tony had a great game, but conversely there were one or two players out there
who didn't play to my expectations.
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Man of the Match :
Dave Piper 25%
Jamie Pitman 21%
Matt Hayfield 19%
Tony Pennock 9%
MATCH RATING : 4/10
Eighteen votes received
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More Match Photos :
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Above : Matt Stowell shoots wide in a crowded goalmouth
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Above : Warren Patmore (left) and Warren Patmore with Matt Hayfield (right)
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Above : Rob Cousins (left) and Matt Hayfield (right)
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Above : Two shots of Matt Hayfield
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Above : Two more shots of Matt Hayfield
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Above : Matt Hayfield (left) and David Piper (right)
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Above : David Piper hits Yeovil's only on-target shot (left) and Warren Patmore (right)
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Above : David Piper (left) and Chris Sparks (right)
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Above : Warren Patmore
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