For the second match running, Steve Thompson was able to select the exact same sixteen as last Saturday's match against Barnsley - surely a rarity for the Glovers this season. That meant no place still for the likes of Pablo Bastianini and Colin Miles, whilst Terry Skiverton and Chris Weale were forced to continue their unfamiliar practice of bench-warming.

The start of the game was frenetic with both sides forcing pressure at the two ends of the park. Kevin Amankwaah put in an early cross that got stuck under the boot of Bournemouth defender Shaun Cooper but Matt Harrold stood just behind him couldn't get the ball loose to take advantage. Bournemouth were at least getting clear shots in but their first two attempts were laughably wide, with James O'Connor and Brian Stock both managing to clear the stadium after they attempted shots of a kind from one of several early corners.

One thing the Glovers are trying to cut out is conceding early goals, whilst another is to stop conceding penalties. Thommo will therefore be disappointed to see the Glovers manage both just 19 minutes into the match. The ball bounced off a player's legs and when Bournemouth's Andrew Surman went chasing after it, the outstretched leg of Efetobore Sodje caused Surman to fall to the floor in a theatrical fashion. Certainly at the time Surman's manner of falling made the decision look dubious, and Sodje made furious complaints to match referee Scott Mathieson. I have yet to see television replays with my own eyes, but despite what the Bournemouth press may have said about a "cast iron" penalty, the video apparently suggests that the decision was by far as clear-cut as the south coast journalists would imply. Whatever, James HAYTER stepped up and executed the perfect penalty - placing the ball right into the bottom left-hand corner of the net with Glovers keeper Steve Collis going the wrong way.

James Hayer got in behind the Yeovil defence midway through the first half when Kevin Amankwaah couldn't cut out a through ball, and Hayter nipped in behind him. Fortunately he dragged his shot across the face of the Yeovil goal. At the other end Yeovil went close when James O'Connor had to clear the ball close to his own goal-line. Matt Harrold had laid the ball out onto the left wing to Nathan Jones whose low cross was hacked away by O'Connor. Almost immediately the ball swung round to the right flank, David Poole hit the ball first time on the volley and although he struck it well, the end result went just wide.

With 26 minutes gone, Phil Jevons played a great one-two with Matt Harrold on the edge of the area, with the big striker laying the ball back to an in-rushing Jevo, whose shot was kept low and hard, but beat the post by the proverbial whisker

Overall, Yeovil were a little bit guilty of waiting for the ball to come onto them whilst Bournemouth were the slightly quicker side in intercepting passes. Since the goal, the Cherries were adopting a slow-slow-quick-quick-slow tactic of taking their time with their passes, often reducing the game to walking pace, but then using the breaks of Hayter to suddenly speed up the game having tried to lull Yeovil into a false sense of security. It wasn't really working as the away side were struggling to get anything even remotely near Steve Collis's goal, but whilst they had that 1-0 lead, they looked comfortable with it.

Once again Yeovil's left-back position proved to be an early problem. Liam Fontaine picked up a knock from a heavy Bournemouth challenge and after a lengthy delay was deemed to be unfit to continue, and like his predecessor Colin Miles, he had to limp off the field. Steve Thompson reshuffled by getting Nathan Jones to drop into defence, whilst Paul Terry was the slightly surprising replacement given Arron Davies would have been a more natural left-winger. Perhaps given that Bournemouth were making more of their attacking moves down that flank, Thommo felt that a more defensively minded player needed to be in that position.

The half fizzled out to a close with the game largely packed in midfield, and with neither side troubling the opposition keepers, although one area that Bournemouth had on the Glovers was their use of the wings. Nathan Jones, then Paul Terry along with David Poole on the opposite side of the pitch, had gone far too narrow, whilst Stephen Foley for the Cherries was more or less pinned to the touchline in his efforts to make as much use of the pitch as possible.

The second period opened quietly with Bournemouth again using their passing game to keep Yeovil at play. If you don't give the opposition the ball, then they can't score a goal, and although Bournemouth were creating nothing themselves, that tactic seemed to be running down the clock to their satisfaction. Scott Guyett had to leave the field for treatment after landing Steve Fletcher's elbow in his face. This just shows the nonsense of the current rules on players having to leave the field. Fletcher had fouled Guyett, was not booked for his offence, and the end result was Yeovil being punished by being reduced to ten men for five minutes whilst Guyett got his face repaired. Perhaps someone can explain to me how that encourages fair play?

Matt Harrold was climbed all over by James O'Connor right on the corner of the penalty box, setting up Phil Jevons with a chance from a free kick. His attempt pinged off a Bournemouth defender and headed wide of goal for a corner. At the other end Bournemouth's inability to get close to the target from open play continued as Brian Stock got on the end of a nice bit of passing play. The Yeovil defence were somewhat static as Stock burst through, but his shot looped high into the Westland Stand.

With time running out and Bournemouth still looking far too comfortable in possession, Steve Thompson decided to liven things up by introducing Arron Davies as his second substitute, replacing David Poole out on the right. Two minutes after getting onto the park, Davies almost made a serious impact - his right wing cross being met by the head of Phil Jevons, who forced Bournemouth keeper Gareth Stewart into an excellent tip-over save to force the ball over his own crossbar.

But with 10 minutes remaining, Yeovil finally got a lifeline. After a ball was knocked back into the penalty box, Matt Harrold twisted and turned in an attempt to get into a position to shoot, and a shove in the back from Bournemouth defender Shaun Cooper was enough to send him to the floor and referee Scott Mathieson had little alternative other than to award his second penalty of the night. A lengthy delay ensured as first Gareth Stewart booted the ball 50 yards up field to delay the spot kick - becoming the game's one and only yellow card offender - then a small number of spectators in the Bournemouth end started scuffles with police and stewards after one of their number was stopped from entering the field of play and another Bournemouth spectator threw a bottle onto the pitch. The Cherries fans are on the whole well-behaved but seem to have a minority who react badly when decisions go against them - this was a similar scene to the LDV Trophy tie two seasons previously. Despite all of the goings on, Phil JEVONS was unruffled and calmly sent Stewart the wrong way to tie the game at 1-1.

Although Yeovil forced the pressure in the final 10 minutes, they still had to be on their guard and had to thank Kevin Amankwaah for a blinding sliding tackle inside his own box as he whipped the ball off James Hayter's feet after the pacey frontman had accepted a ricochet off the legs of Efetobore Sodje out on Yeovil's left flank. That was the closest Bournemouth had come to any sort of a goal outside the penalty, in a game in which they had failed to produce a single on target shot in open play. Not that Yeovil had exactly been exactly keeping Bournemouth's keeper busy either - it really had been that sort of a game. Both sides will know they can play better than that, but in having such similar styles of play, they had cancelled each other out and the end result was stalemate, and the 1-1 scoreline probably a fair result on the night.

Badger

MOTM Vote Result:

Player MOTM Score Matt Harrold 9 530 Chris Cohen 5 391 Lee Johnson 4 261 Scott Guyett 2 235 Phil Jevons 2 209 Kevin Amankwaah 1 78

Overall match rating: 5.9 / 10
Performance: 5.5
Entertainment: 6.2

23 votes received.

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

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