Pre-match team news showed that Efetobore Sodje had recovered from his knock at Walsall, which meant that according to the folk at Brentford allowed incredibly the first ever meeting of Sodje vs Sodje in a competitive match. Brother Sam was once on trial at Yeovil under Gary Johnson but is now one of the lynchpins of a high-flying Brentford side. Meanwhile the ever-rotating forward line featured Kevin Gall and Matt Harrold as the latest pairing to try and break Yeovil's goal drought resulting in Phil Jevons moving over to the left flank and Nathan Jones dropping into defence, with Colin Miles not risked after several early injuries during matches.

The Glovers got off to a sluggish start in a woeful opening spell that threatened to see Brentford turn the game into a fair old thrashing. Paul Brooker had been allowed to get the ball around the six yard box with his back to goal. A couple of defenders watched him until the ball was thumped away by Chris Weale for a throw-in. From the suspiciously looking foul throw, Brentford pushed the ball down the left wing before an attempted pass by Andrew Frampton saw the ball ricochet off a Yeovil defender, back to Frampton and then loop into the box. Chris Weale came out of his goal calling loudly, but Nathan JONES beat him to it, and only succeeded in glancing the ball into an empty net where he presumably thought his team-mate was standing.

Dudley Campbell got in behind the Yeovil defence shortly afterwards after he received a cross field ball from right to left, but as he advanced upon goal, he dragged his shot across the face and wide of the target. Minutes later Campbell got in on goal again, and with his shot taking a deflection, Chris Weale had to be at his best to take the ball from the top corner of the net and around for a corner.

However, with just 13 minutes gone, and Brentford all over Yeovil like a swarm of ... errrr .... Bees, the home side doubled their lead, with again a ricochet providing them joy. Jay TABB took the ball through the centre, tried to execute a pass through to a team-mate that instead pinged off a Yeovil defender's shin and straight back into the winger's path. Keeping running, he forced his way past the surprised Yeovil defence and slotted the ball into the back of the net. 2-0 and this one had all the suggestions of a diabolical thrashing. Had you stopped the clock at this point, Brentford's possession probably stood at about 80 percent and Yeovil were chasing shadows. Would the Glovers now cave in?

Matt Harrold, playing at his former club for the first time, perhaps had other ideas, He flicked a ball into the path of Kevin Gall, who finally showed that maybe Yeovil had a spark to them. The move was great, but the outcome was not so perfect, with the ball passing narrowly wide of the post. Paul Terry put in a fairly tame looking effort on 26 minutes that keeper Stuart Nelson easily saved - worthy of note because it was it was Yeovil's first on target shot of the game and only their second of any kind during the match!

That seemed to be a turning point though in the pattern of the game with the Glovers finally exerting some true pressure on their defence. Jay Tabb was forced to clear off his own goal-line from a Phil Jevons header after he took advantage of an Efetobore Sodje flick-on from a corner. But if Yeovil thought they were now going to have it all their own way, they were mistaken. Straight from the goal-line clearance, Dudley Campbell picked up the ball and ran 60 yards through a pushed-up Yeovil defence, laying the ball off at the last minute beautifully to Lloyd Owusu. But fortunately for Yeovil, Wealey had anticipated the situation and wonderfully blocked the ball at Owusu's feet before the former Slough striker could compose himself to shoot. A minute later Efetobore Sodje used slightly more crude methods of stopping Owusu, landing himself in the book in one of several edge of the area fouls that the Glovers were to concede.

Seven minutes before the break though, Yeovil got a lifeline. Matt Harrold was fouled by Brentford's Ricky Newman about 35 yards out. Phil Jevons knocked it sideways, resulting in referee Andy D'Urso nearly fouling up the set piece by getting in the way of Lee Johnson's run. Lee moved around the poorly placed official and shot low and hard but found his attempt half blocked. However, when the ball ran loose to Matt HARROLD in the box, he instinctively reacted first, and fired the ball home from 12 yards to break 308 minutes of goal-less football from Yeovil Town. 2-1 and maybe now a chance in the game.

Before the half was out, a Jay Tabb corner caused Yeovil concerns with the ball being flicked on at the near post, but the ball evaded everyone and Yeovil went in at the break having at least recovered partially from that horror show start to the match.

Seven minutes into the second half and Yeovil should have been awarded a cast iron penalty. Matt Harrold wide on the wings, came up against Brentford defender Michael Turner. Turner semi-crouched trying to size up Harrold's next move, spreading his arms wide of his body to anticipate Harrold's next move. Perhaps he didn't expect Harrold to whip the ball into the box instead of attempting to beat his man - the ball struck the outstretched arm of Turner, and the away support all went up for the penalty, which mystifyingly referee Andy D'Urso failed to award. As mentioned on Saturday, when you're not completely on form, what you do not need is for poor decisions to go against you and make your task doubly hard, but at the moment, Yeovil Town can't buy a penalty for love nor money.

Ricky Newman took out Lee Johnson from behind without D'Urso taking an interest, only to immediately blow up for a spurious handball decision against Efetobore Sodje on the edge of the opposite area. Thankfully Kevin O'Connor put the ball over the bar from the resultant free kick. But on the hour mark, Yeovil's luck went from bad to worse as Chris Weale was red carded for a reckless challenge on Dudley Campbell. The pacey striker had beaten the off-side trap but was chasing wide towards the corner flag. Wealey raced off his line, clearly taking the player out, but D'Urso surprised many in the ground by giving a straight red, despite Kevin Amankwaah and Efetobore Sodje appearing to offer cover and Campbell being closer to the corner flag than to the goal. Sadly Amankwaah's position inside the penalty box is not captured on the match video, and so D'Urso's decision to raise the red card will have to stand. Wealey's challenge was undoubtedly headstrong and deserving of a yellow card, but the actual decision made seemed harsh.

Steve Collis took over in goal, replacing Phil Jevons, and Yeovil had another mountain to climb. Steve immediately got his gloves warmed by sharply saving Dudley Campbell's header from the resultant free kick. Two minutes later, Yeovil could have been in real problems as Lloyd Owusu dug his studs into Steve Collis's thigh after the Yeovil replacement keeper had smothered a ball. Collis recovered, and in reality Owusu should have been the one in problems, but D'Urso bottled the decision right in front of the home fans. Certainly a far worse challenge than the one that saw Gavin Williams red carded at Lincoln last season.

However, eight minutes after Wealey's red card, incredibly Yeovil drew level. Matt Harrold, showing the kind of performance that will surely grant him a starting place in Saturday's line-up, was climbed all over by a Brentford defender, from 25 yards out, and as Brentford lined up a wall, Lee JOHNSON curled a free kick that slightly deflected off the outside of the wall and landed sweetly into the corner of the net for Lee's third goal in his last five games. Yes - someone in the Yeovil Town line-up is on form when it comes to goals!

Brentford made a substitution to try and deal with their new problem with Isaiah Rankin brought on for Paul Brooker. The substitute made an instant impact, putting the ball across the face of the Yeovil area, but an incoming Lloyd Owusu somehow missed a gaping goal and the ball trickled past the far post.

Yeovil continued to give away a nail-biting number of free kicks on the edge of their area as they tried to defend out their valuable away point and Brentford winger Jay Tabb forced Steve Collis into a brilliant one handed save as he curled one such attempt over the wall, but was denied by the the Yeovil custodian as the ball went out for a corner.

Steve Thompson made two late substitutions to try and keep his ten players fresh with Matt Harrold replaced by Pablo Bastianini and Chris Cohen making way for the more defensively minded Andy Lindegaard, who was making his first appearance for the Glovers since August. But on the whole, Yeovil were playing deeper and deeper as time went on, although they still had two great chances to win it on the break. Kevin Gall forced home keeper Stuart Nelson into a stunning save as he combined with Kevin Amankwaah on the right flank, with Gally's first time shot from Amankwaah's layoff almost catching Brentford out. Then Pablo Bastianini received the ball from the opposite flank via Nathan Jones, only to find the keeper once again equal to his attempt.

But with the minutes ticking down, Yeovil were to lose the game in the cruellest of manners, with an 88th minute goal deciding proceedings. A corner from the right saw the Glovers semi-clear their lines, but only as far as Michael TURNER. He had all the time in the world to chest the ball down inside the area and shape to shoot, before Terry skiverton belately sensed danger, but there were too many static players ball watching and Turner was able to fire his shot into the bottom corner giving Steve Collis little chance. Sadly Yeovil couldn't muster another significant attack on goal in the remaining two minutes, and so despite coming so close to victory let alone a draw, they ultimately went home with nothing.

So, another defeat - five in a row for the Glovers in the league. However unlike the FA Cup match at Walsall, and the League match against Oldham, this was a far more encouraging display from the attacking side of the team. Matt Harrold won many aerial balls, took his goal well, and linked up encouragingly with Kevin Gall. For that reason, I would hope to see both in the starting line-up on Saturday along with Phil Jevons. It was a shame that a kamikaze opening 20 minute spell cost Yeovil the game so badly. But perhaps even positives can be taken from that mess of a start - if the team still can mentally recover from a start like that on the back of a run of defeats, then perhaps they still have the strength and character to turn around this loss of form before matters start to get truly serious.

Badger

MOTM Vote Result:

Player MOTM Score Kevin Gall 3 450 Terry Skiverton 2 400 Lee Johnson 2 250 Steve Collis 1 50

Overall match rating: 6.75 / 10
Performance: 6
Entertainment: 7.5

8 votes received.

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

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