No Marcus Stewart with the experienced striker having completed his three month loan period in Yeovil, meant that Russell Slade was forced into ringing the changes for the trip to Rotherham United. With Stewart now departed, he decided that was perhaps the right moment for a change in formation - the 4-2-3-1 shape has become a touch predictable in recent weeks and there has been a sense that the opposition have done their homework and worked out how to snuff it out. Hence it seemed the right moment to change to a 4-4-2 formation with Lee Morris and Leon Best given the job of fitting into Stewart's shoes. Club captain Terry Skiverton returned from injury to finally make his 300th appearance for the club in the centre of defence and that allowed Martin Cranie to shuffle up into midfield, with Anthony Barry displaced and Jean-Paul Kalala surprisingly not even making the bench.

Rotherham are of course in a league table position that doesn't really reflect their form this season - the penalty for going into administration has seen them at the wrong end of the table whilst their actual form would have seen them alongside Yeovil in challenging for the playoffs. It was therefore no surprise to find the game having a frantic start with Rotherham hitting the ball long and using the multi-ball system well, keeping the ball at a high tempo.

That said, it was the Glovers who created the first half-chance of the game. An early cross by Nathan Jones put into the box following a free kick, Lee Morris was found in the box, but the ball was forced out for a corner. Rotherham hit back straight away through a long distance attempt, with Martin Woods catching it on the outside of his boot and sending the ball wide of the target.

The Glovers were looking slightly shakey at the back and hadn't really got into their new formation and surroundings and that was shown up by a double setback within two minutes of each other. Firstly Rotherham won a corner that was only half cleared by the Glovers defence. When Eugen Bopp fed Will Hoskins on the corner of the area, the cross into the box was met by Delroy FACEY who got in front of Terry Skiverton, gaining far too much room in the box to plant his header.

Two minutes later and matters went from bad to worse. In trying to cut out a Rotherham cross from Martin Woods, with strikers coming in behind him, Terry SKIVERTON ended up deflecting the ball into his own net whilst trying to get the ball out for a corner. Not the best way to cap his 300th appearance for the club and with Rotherham now 2-0 up and just 13 minutes gone, matters were already looking somewhat desperate.

Rotherham continued to press, but somewhat against the run of play, Yeovil's first serious shot on goal resulted in them pulling a welcome goal back. Chris Cohen grabbed the ball on the left flank and put in a deep cross into the box that was perfectly timed for Leon BEST, who used all his neck muscles to head the ball into the opposite corner to give Yeovil a lifeline.

Justin Cochrane fired narrowly wide of the target as Rotherham responded almost straight from kick-off, but it was the Glovers - now with their tails firmly up - that could have grabbed an equaliser within minutes. Martin Cranie, now growing into his new midfield role, surged forward and produced a long range shot, which keeper Neil Cutler could only fumble, seeing Lee Morris and Leon Best scramble in for the loose ball but Cutler just about got in ahead of them and grabbed the ball at the second attempt.

Just past the hour mark though, the Glovers did get their equaliser. A long ball up field by Steve Mildenhall was knocked down by Leon Best into the path of Chris Cohen. That set the teenager off, galloping into acres of open space, and when he played the ball low into the box, running across the ball was Lee MORRIS who managed to find the tiniest gap on the near post flicking the ball past the stranded Cutler. 2-2 and after their horror start, Yeovil were finally back on level terms.

In a topsy-turvey half, it wasn't long before Rotherham had the ball in the back of the net but it wasn't to count. Will Hoskins was the 'scorer' but referee Carl Boyeson had long since blown up with Mark Lynch having been fouled by Delroy Facey, who he had earlier intercepted the ball from, only to find Facey grabbing it back through foul means.

As the half closed, Rotherham gradually began to work their way back into the match. Nathan Jones was booked after he tripped Richie Partridge. But as the fourth official put up the board for a minute of additional time before the half time break, it looked as though Yeovil would be going into the break on level terms. Over two minutes into injury time though, with Boyeson still not having blown, Will HOSKINS weaved his way into the penalty box and following challenges from Terry Skiverton and Chris Cohen crashed to the floor. Referee Carl Boyeson pointed to the spot much to the fury of the Yeovil players but with the last kick of the half Hoskins was able to send Steve Mildenhall the wrong way and provide the last laugh in an extraordinary 45 minutes worth of football.

The second half opened with an early flurry of chances for both sides. Will Hoskins met an early cross by Richie Partridge but his header went straight into the grateful arms of Steve Mildenhall from close range. At the other end, Rotherham had a spot of luck when a Chris Cohen cross was deflected by Pablo Mills also into his own net but the ball looped narrowly over his own bar.

Yeovil were winning a series of free kicks around the Rotherham penalty box but the delivery of many of these were slightly lacking and they were unable to take advantage. David Worrell was booked for a poor foul on Lee Morris - studding him high up on his thigh and seeing Morris hobbling around for much of the rest of his stay on the field of play.

The worrying trend of things being thrown by football 'fans' onto the field of play continued with an object being thrown at the linesman from a home area of the ground, resulting in a slight delay whilst that was relayed to firstly the match referee and then to a steward, whose attitude was non-plussed to say the least until his more senior counterpart came onto the scene. Sadly this is becoming a more than occasional situation this season in football and the clubs and authorities need to sit up and take proper notice of the situation and deal with it before it gets out of hand.

Paul Terry became a second Glovers player to become part of the walking wounded when he twisted his knee, requiring some lengthy treatment. Hobbling back into play, it was pretty apparent that he was unable to continue but before Yeovil could get the substitution organised, Rotherham set off on an attack and Chris Cohen was forced into a 'tactical foul' on David Worrell that earnt him a booking, but probably ensured that the home side did not capitalise on the Glovers effectively being a man down.

Ishmael Welsh was the immediate replacement, allowing Cohen to move into central midfield, and there was a second change made shortly afterwards when Lee Morris was unable to continue following his thigh injury and he was replaced by Wayne Gray. With Gray, Welsh, Best and Cohen as the four forward thinking players in the line-up and Martin Brittain - although far quieter on this occasion - hardly a slouch, there was a frightening amount of pace in the Glovers line-up as they built up a head of steam looking to grab a third goal before the final whistle.

Rotherham reminded Yeovil though that they were still a definite threat, with Hoskins once again at the centre of things - firing in a shot on goal after turning his man which Steve Mildenhall did well to turn around the post for a corner.

Martin Cranie had gone down with cramp during the second period and so it was no surprise when he was replaced by Anthony Barry who provided a dynamic fresh pair of legs for the closing segment. The Glovers flung ball after ball into the Rotherham box and seven minutes from time they almost did it when Terry Skiverton won a header in the box, allowing the ball to reach Leon Best, whose shot was deflected across the face of the box. Wayne Gray slid in but the ball span just wide of the post.

Then as the match reached the 90th minute, referee Boyeson was at the centre of another controversial penalty decision - at the other end - but this time it wasn't given. Pablo Mills looked to be pulling Leon Best down from behind inside the penalty box but in the 90th minute of the match right in front of the home fans it would take a brave referee to give the decision and Boyeson's performance over the 90 minutes wasn't brave by any stretch of the imagination.

Six minutes into injury time a Chris Cohen cross was met with a Terry Skiverton header but the Yeovil captain couldn't quite get over the ball and it went out for a goal kick to sum up Skivo's and Yeovil's day. Game over and Yeovil couldn't quite complete the comeback. But at least there is spirit there within the Yeovil camp right up to the final whistle and in Best and Morris, they have a few options available to them in attempting to fill the void following Marcus Stewart's departure.

MOTM Vote Result:

Pos	Player
1	Lee Morris
2	Chris Cohen
3	Terrell Forbes

Overall match rating: 7.5 / 10
Performance: 6.7
Entertainment: 8.3

6 votes received.

Any comments/questions please email ytfc.motm@tiscali.co.uk

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