Venue: Huish Park
Wed 10th December 2003, 7pm kick-off.

Scorers: Sean Smith (1-0, 24), Jake Edwards (2-0, 52), Abdelhalim El Kholti (3-0, 58), Abdelhalim El Kholti (4-0, 66), Adam Stansfield (5-0, 77), Luke Corbett (5-1, 83)

Attendance: 200 approx

Referee: Mr A Gary Chapman
Assistant Refs: Mr N Brimming, Mr S Knapp
Fourth Official: Mr L Cox

Yeovil Town : (4-4-2)
13 Steve Collis
28 Lloyd Walker, 19 Chris Giles, 25 Sam Croft, 15 Steve Reed
22 Lee Elam, 29 Sean Smith, 23 Jamie Gosling, 3 Abdelhalim El Kholti
7 Adam Stansfield, 17 Jake Edwards

Subs:
27 Charlie Welch (65 mins for Croft), 26 Dale Williams (65 mins for Smith), 30 Greg Squibb (77 mins for Stansfield)

Cheltenham Town: (4-4-2)
1 Steve Book
2 Anthony Griffin, 5 Betrand Cozic, 6 Luke Buttery, 3 Dan Thompson
7 Craig Dobson, 8 Lee Howells, 4 Ben Cleverley, 11 Graham Fyfe
9 Luke Corbett, 10 Kayode Odejayi

Subs:
12 Craig Humphries, 14 Lee Davis (74 mins for Fyfe), 15 Adam Connolly (68 mins for Howells), 16 Andy Gallinagh (74 mins for Dobson), 17 Michael Wylde

The match started in fairly thick fog, and only action close to the main stand was visible to those attending. The home side started brightly, and won a corner from the left after just two minutes. A couple of corners won soon after, taken from where the Bartlett Stand and away end meet, were completely invisible to the spectators and all that could be seen was the ball appearing out of the fog and into the penalty area!

Abdelhalim El Kholti had an early effort well saved by Steve Book in the Cheltenham goal. Although the visitors did not make too many forward moves early on, a timely tackle by Steve Reed just after ten minutes stopped Luke Corbett in a good position.

Yeovil looked the more aggressive and attacking of the two sides, and Jake Edwards had a couple of good efforts saved within the first quarter of an hour. After coming back into his own half to make a good tackle to break up a Cheltenham attack, he then had a 25 yard shot parried away for a corner, and he was certainly the most influential player on the pitch at this stage.

A fine Cheltenham cross on 20 minutes was well taken by a confident Steve Collis, and a good run and angled shot from Adam Stansfield at the other end narrowly missed the target. With the fog starting to lift a Jamie Gosling corner from the left was almost caught by keeper Steve Book, but he let the ball slip and youth player Sean SMITH was on hand to put the ball into the net. 1 - 0.

A minute after Yeovil took the lead Cheltenham won their first corner of the game, but made little of it. At the other end the Glovers continued to press, with Jamie Gosling trying a shot from distance. Lee Elam, Gosling and El Kholti controlled the midfield area and threaded balls through to the lively Yeovil front men.

Just after half an hour had been played - and with the fog now having pretty much dispersed - a very good Yeovil move involving El Kholti and Stansfield saw Steve Reed push the ball through to Gosling who shot well forcing a good save from Book. Cheltenham made a rare attack, but a saving tackle from the impressive Chris Giles in central defence thwarted their efforts. As the half drew toward a close the visitors pushed forward more, and Collis took a teasing ball well under pressure from Corbett.

Craig Dobson and Graham Fyfe began to make some useful runs, but the next chance fell to Yeovil when a lovely turn and run from Stansfield was followed by a pass to Jake Edwards, but with the home support already beginning to rise to celebrate his shot went agonisingly past the post. A minute later a Gosling through ball was crossed by El Kholti and headed over by Stansfield. Cheltenham finished the half strongly, earning three corners in the seemingly endless minute of stoppage time.

Five minutes after the restart Yeovil very nearly conceded an equaliser. After the ball had ping-ponged around the box from player to player, Steve Reed on the goal line miskicked a clearance and the ball appeared to go from post to underside of bar to post again before being blasted away at the second effort. As is so often the case after such a near miss, just 30 seconds later the ball was in the net at the other end, when Adam Stansfield fired a cross into the Cheltenham area which Jake EDWARDS slotted home from close range to double the lead. 2 - 0.

A couple of minutes later Edwards beat a Cheltenham defender superbly before crossing for Stansfield, but the chance was missed. Fyfe broke through the Yeovil defence to fire a low, hard shot, but Steve Collis blocked well. Adam Stansfield then broke out from the Yeovil defence and ran at the Cheltenham backs. A perfectly weighted and timed defence splitting pass equalled by a superbly timed run left Abdelhalim EL KHOLTI with only Book to beat. The Cheltenham custodian seemed more interested in appealing for offside than trying to make a save, and was well beaten. 3 - 0.

With 25 minutes remaining a Yeovil double substitution saw Charlie Welch and Dale Williams replace fellow youth players Sam Croft and Sean Smith, who had both done well. Perhaps the substitution was inspired, as it was followed immediately by a goal, although neither of the replacements was involved. Edwards flicked a header on to Stansfield who was forced wide. He back heeled the ball to Lee Elam, whose cross was headed in by Abdelhalim EL KHOLTI for his second goal of the game. 4 - 0.

Cheltenham made a change with Adam Connolly coming on for Lee Howells. They then had a couple of chances with Corbett shooting into the side netting, and a cross from Dan Thompson blasted over the bar by ex-Forest Green Rovers striker Kayode Odejayi. Two more changes saw Andy Gallinagh and Lee Davis replace Dobson and Fyfe, and in my opinion Cheltenham had taken off their two most impressive players.

Just inside the last fifteen minutes Jake Edwards picked up a great through ball and ran to the by-line to the right of goal before pulling the ball back for Adam STANSFIELD to shoot into the Cheltenham goal. 5 - 0. This was Stansfield's last touch of the match as he was immediately replaced by Greg Squibb. Squibb took over the left back berth, with Steve Reed playing in central defence and Dale Williams moving forward to his familiar role as a striker alongside Edwards.

The final positive action of the match saw a fine consolation goal for the visitors. Odejayi played the ball to substitute Davis on the left, and his cross was well met by Luke CORBETT, who had looked more threatening in the second period. 5 -1. Although both sides continued to push for further goals no more clear cut chances were created.

Final score: Yeovil Town Reserves 5 Cheltenham Town Reserves 1

Another excellent win for the Glovers reserves, with fine performances from squad players Jake Edwards, Adam Stansfield, Lee Elam, Jamie Gosling, Steve Reed, Steve Collis and Chris Giles together with the youth players used tonight. Lloyd Walker - presumably a trialist - had a solid if unspectacular outing, and Abdelhalim El Kholti has hopefully shown Gary Johnson enough to prove his worth as a member of the squad.

Robin Evans

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