Line-up changes? No chance! Gary Johnson was always unlikely to change the sixteen that had done a clean sweep in December of all fixtures and so the same squad that thrashed Cheltenham on Boxing Day were asked to come up with a repeat performance at Cambridge.

There was nothing really wrong with the opening. The Glovers began to pass well on a Cambridge pitch that was cutting up badly right from the off. Lee Johnson put in a right wing cross which Andrejs Stolcers connected with on the far post but could only scuff the ball wide of the post. Justin Walker's late tackle on Phil Jevons was an academic booking and Yeovil were well on top.

Cambridge were not really getting over the halfway line and when they did, Colin Heath's angled shot was comfortable for Chris Weale to deal with. The roles were definitely reversed with Yeovil playing like a home side and Cambridge performing the role of the away side, trying to catch the Glovers on the break.

One of the best moves of the half saw Darren Way's backheel on the left flank carve the Cambridge defence wide open as Michael Rose ran in on the overlap and the left-back's cross nearly turned into a goal but Phil Jevons saw the ball run off his shins for a goal kick before he could control the ball. Then Yeovil went one step closer as Andrejs Stolcers put through Phil Jevons but despite aiming for the corner of the net, goalkeeper Lewis Price got a palm on the ball to spin it agonisingly wide of the post. Kevin Gall was the next to try his luck as he made room across the face of the penalty box, but his shot was blocked for what should have been a corner, but referee Fred Graham had a bizarre view of the situation and awarded a goal kick.

There were two problems with Yeovil's total dominance of the game. Firstly it hadn't produced a goal, but secondly the balance of play was seeing the majority of the green and white shirts in one half of the field and this was allowing the speed of Cambridge striker Amandou Konte to occasionally threaten. That threat told on 37 minutes when Cambridge unexpectedly took the lead. Konte got in behind the Yeovil defence as they expected the offside flag to go up and as he met Chris Weale, he squared the ball across to Richard HODGSON, who again could have been pulled up for being forward of the ball, but he stroked into an empty net to put the home side a goal up despite having been under the cosh for most of the game.

The Glovers seemed to wonder around like little lost sheep in disbelief for the remainder of the half and it was going to take a bit of magic talk from Gary Johnson to persuade them that the 1-0 deficit was not a major crisis.

The second half started as the first half had started - with Andrejs Stolcers nearly opening up the Glovers scoring. His shot was hard and true and a deflection off the boot of Warren Goodhind made for an extremely good save by Lewis Price in the Cambridge goal.

But five minutes into the second half, the unthinkable happened. A low cross from the right appeared to have been blocked out by Colin Miles but Darren Quinton squared a short ball back to Amandou KONTE who fired home from six yards out to give Cambridge a 2-0 lead, despite the home side having created little more than the two chances their goals had produced.

It seemed as though this was going to turn into one of those holiday period nightmares where the form book goes out the window, but Cambridge seemed to have a touch of vertigo at their unexpected heights and began to give the Glovers all kinds of charitable gifts to put the visitors back into possession of the ball.

That two goal margin was to only last give minutes. Lee Johnson charged into the penalty box with the ball and was unceremoniously chopped down by a waist high tackle by Matt Somner. Those Cambridge fans who accused Johnson of taking a dive might want to inspect the stud marks and spectacular bruising on Johnson's arm to find out why the Yeovil midfielder went down. The only controversy about this penalty was that Somner's wild challenge did not land him in the book. Up stepped Phil JEVONS and he calmly rolled the ball into the net with the keeper having gone the other way.

Under 60 seconds later, the comeback was completed. Jevons turned provider, taking three Cambridge defenders with him as he jinxed through their back-line, and with their backline having completely lost his shape, a short pass through a gap found Darren WAY in behind the defence and he bravely slotted the ball past out-rushing goalkeeper Lewis Price to level the scores at 2-2.

Cambridge unsurprisingly looked stunned and their crowd switched their "staying up" chants to one of "2-0 and we mucked it up", or at least it sounded like mucked! Clearly having a sense of humour in Cambridge's situation is essential. Yeovil replaced Kevin Gall with Arron Davies and Michael Rose was booked for a late tackle on Ashley Nicholls as the Glovers continued to press for a winner.

Arron Davies swivelled and turned from close range but Price was down quickly to smother the shot. But there was nothing Price could do about Yeovil's next attack. On 69 minutes, Darren Way won a header in midfield and Cambridge's Andy Duncan managed a back header straight into Phil Jevons's path on the right wing. Cutting inside towards the penalty box, he drew Price to his near post and then executed a simple pass to the back post where Lee JOHNSON was there to put the ball into an empty net and silence those Cambridge fans who had spent the whole of the second half taunting him.

With nine minutes left, it seemed as though it was 'game over' when a Darren Way ball into the box was handled by a Cambridge defender. Up stepped Phil JEVONS once again, and this time he chose the opposite corner of the net, once again sending Price the wrong way for his 17th goal of the season. Executing a cheeky celebration with the team that poked fun at team-mate Michael Rose's lovelife, referee Fred Graham ridiculously chose to book Jevons for the innocent celebration after having his attention drawn to it by the home crowd.

Scott Guyett and Andy Lindegaard were brought on for Phil Jevons and Bartosz Tarachulski as it seemed the job had been done but Cambridge still had the opportunity to provide a late scare. After a Cambridge player slipped on the turf and appeared to handle while on the floor, a ball in from the right was found by Jermaine EASTER who made for a nervy last three minutes by firing home from eight yards. 4-3 and yet you wondered if it really was all over!

It wasn't but not the way Cambridge fans would have wanted it. As they pushed players up for an improbable equaliser, a ball over the top found Andrejs STOLCERS cutting down the left wing and as he drew keeper Price off his line, a spectacular chip to the back post landed clean into the net for a 20 yard winner and a crazy 5-3 scoreline.

Eighteen goals in just three games over Christmas has certainly not proved unlucky for Gary Johnson. Although he might show some degree of concern at some of the slightly 'random' defending and marking inside his own penalty area, the Glovers have looked likely to score at every opportunity, and realistically their five goal tally doesn't even begin to tell the story of how many goals the Glovers really could have got at the Abbey Stadium. Certainly those who have watched the holiday games can't suggest they didn't get value for money, although perhaps Swansea will provide a slightly sterner test of character.

Badger

MOTM Vote Result:

Player MOTM Score Darren Way 13 606 Phil Jevons 4 362 Kevin Gall 5 238 Bartosz Tarachulski 1 146 Colin Miles 1 77 Paul Terry - 69 Lee Johnson - 69 Andrejs Stolcers - 46 Terry Skiverton 1 38 Chris Weale - 31

Overall match rating: 8.6 / 10
Performance: 7.7
Entertainment: 9.5

26 votes received.

Any comments/questions please email ytfcmotm@ntlworld.com

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