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| Yeovil Town 3 Northwich Victoria 2
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Scorers
Pell (52, 0-1)
Owen (66, 0-2)
Skiverton (69, 1-2)
Hayfield (79, 2-2)
Patmore (90, 3-2)
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Attendance : 2, 239
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Officials
Mr P Prosser (Gloucester)
R Greenwood (red trim)
T Jackson (yellow trim)
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Line-Up & Formation
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Tony Pennock |
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David Piper |
Terry Skiverton |
Kevan Brown |
Dean Chandler |
Jamie Pitman |
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Ben Smith |
Rob Cousins |
Paul Tisdale |
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Jason Eaton |
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Warren Patmore |
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Substitutes :
David Norton (for Smith, 82)
Matt Hayfield (for Eaton, 64)
Steve Thompson (not used)
Tony Pounder (for Piper, 64)
Glen Poole (not used)
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Opposition Line-Up :
1. Key 2. Bates 3. Ellis, 4. Walker 5. Robertson, 6. Owen, 7. Gardiner
8. Walters 9. Cooke 10. Pell 11. Vicary
Substitutes :
Terry (82, for Cooke), Thomas, Poland, Birch, Gann.
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Bookings :
Yeovil : Skiverton (62, foul), Brown (90 foul)
Northwich : Bates (11, foul), Gardiner (24, dissent), Pell (80 foul)
Walters (86 foul)
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Team Selection :
One change from the starting XI that beat Weymouth in midweek, with Jason
Eaton replacing Matt Hayfield. Otherwise it was a case of it ain't broke - don't fix it.
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First Half :
The teams ran out to bitterly cold conditions with a strong wind gusting
towards the home terrace. Yeovil played with the wind in the first half and
as usual struggled to come to terms with it, overhitting passes and committing
the cardinal sin of failing to keep the ball on the ground. In contrast
Northwich settled the quicker of the 2 sides, playing some neat and
attractive passing football, albeit with little cutting edge up front
initially.
Yeovil finally began to impose some of their own style onto the game
after the opening 10 minutes had been pretty much dominated by the Vics.
Ben Smith volleyed wide from just outside the area and Jason Eaton only
just failed to connect to a Jamie Pitman free kick when unmarked inside
the visitors penalty area. Smith had another shot saved by keeper Lance Key
shortly afterwards and the midfielder would have been annoyed to miss the
target again when put through on goal after some good work by Jamie Pitman
from out wide on the left. Paul Tisdale also had a shot well saved by Keys.
Northwich were gradually coming back into the game however and causing the
home side some trouble from set pieces, in particular through the prodigious
long throw of Robert Pell. The Vics again had much the better of the final ten minutes
of the half, forcing a succession of corners. Darren Vicary spurned a
great chance from 8 yards out when he screwed his shot wide with only
Pennock in the Yeovil goal to beat.
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| Half Time : Yeovil Town 0 Northwich Victoria 0
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Second Half :
The Vics deservedly took the lead early in the second half after a quick
break from a Yeovil corner. Steve Walters took the ball into the Yeovil half and
provided an inch-perfect cross for PELL to volley home past the
helpless Tony Pennock. The home side came close to equalising almost immediately
with a Jamie Pitman cross very nearly being deflected into the net by a Vics
defender, but in truth Northwich were now in control of the game, using the
strong wind far more effectively than Yeovil had done when it was in their favour
in the first half.
They could and should have gone two up shortly afterwards when another
huge long throw from Robert Pell found Cooke unmarked on the 6-yard line, but the striker's
free header slid past the post. The second goal was soon to come however:
Val OWEN being allowed all the time and space he needed inside Yeovil's
penalty area to juggle with the ball before turning and shooting past Pennock into the top corner
of the net.
Yeovil looked down and out. Matt Hayfield replaced the tiring Jason Eaton
up front and Tony Pounder came on for the out-of-sorts David Piper. We didn't
know it at the time, but these were inspired substitutions by head coach
Steve Thompson. The home side hit back almost immediately after being awarded
a free kick wide on the left. Paul Tisdale's low cross received the slightest of
flicks from Terry SKIVERTON to find its way through a crowded goalmouth and
into the back of the net to give Yeovil a faint hope of salvaging something
from the match.
Northwich were now content to play out time but the home side were
seeing more of the ball and beginning to create chances once again. Warren
Patmore should have equalised with ony the keeper to beat from five yards
out, but his snap-shot was saved by Lance Key. With the crowd urging them on
Yeovil pushed forward once again, Ben Smith splitting the Vics defence with
a beautiful first-time pass for Matt Hayfield to run onto. The Northwich
defence screamed as one for offside but the linesman's flag correctly stayed down
and HAYFIELD beat Key with ease to draw the match level.
With five minutes to go Hayfield stole the ball from under a Vics defenders
nose inside the away team's penalty area. Tony Pounder was standing unmarked
on the 6 yard line but the emergency striker chose to try and place the ball
inside the far post - agonisingly the ball slid the wrong side of the upright
with keeper Key beaten.
It seemed that both teams would have to be content with a hard-earned point
when in injury-time Tony Pounder broke down the right wing before cutting inside
into the Vics penalty box. Instead of going for glory himself the wing-back slid
the ball across the goal to the unmarked Warren PATMORE who had the easiest
of tasks to tap into the unguarded net. Yeovil's players and fans were in ecstasy,
Northwich were in despair. The comeback was complete.
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| Final Score : Yeovil Town 3 Northwich Victoria 2
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Web Site Verdict :
What can you say? With 20 minutes to go we were down and out. Two-down,
the game was lost and we didn't look capable of mounting any kind of attack,
never mind snatching a draw. A win was surely completely out of the question.
Enormous credit to the team then for clawing their way back into the game
and having the character to battle back when all seemed lost. Enormous credit
too to head coach Steve Thompson for correctly identifying where we were
struggling and making the necessary substitutions early enough to have an
effect. Credit to the supporters for keeping on encouraging the team
when two down on a bitterly cold afternoon instead of getting on the team's
back as has happened in the past. And while I'm handing out congratulations,
credit to the Vics as well for playing some excellent football in difficult
conditions - they really deserved more out of the game than they eventually got.
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Thommo's Verdict :
Obviously I'm really pleased with the result. I thought the boys showed
tremendous character, and that sort of character can win you the
league. We know that's not all you need to win the league, but I don't
think there's a team with more bottle and more heart in the Conference
than we have.
In the first half I felt we had two good chances, whereas they
didn't have any, but overall the play was 50-50. I was disappointed
that we didn't put one of those two really good chances in, but
couldn't complain because it was fairly even.
Then in the first 20 minutes of the second half, we were totally
outplayed, and when they went 2-0 up, I must admit, I would have
grabbed a draw straight away without doubt. But if anything it looked
like they would score more rather than allow us to get back into it.
That happens in football games, teams do get on top of you.
Sometimes it is hard to put your finger on it. Sometimes you've got
to give credit to the other team, and I thought it was a combination
of them playing very well during the first 20 minutes of the
second half, and us playing playing the poorest we've played in
five or six games. And when you have two teams going in opposite directions
in terms of performances like that, you can get what happened out there.
Matt Hayfield obviously did brilliantly when he came on, not that
Jason was doing badly I thought. It was just that we had to make changes,
because the situation demanded it, and I put Matt Hayfield on because
he can put fear into the other team with his workrate, and the way
he is always involved. Also I put Tony Pounder on to provide us with
a little bit of width further up the field. We were getting width,
but it was very deep, and Tony laid on the winning goal by making
a great run.
I was surprised that the two teams above us both lost, but I'm pleased.
Some people have said that we don't want to be top of the league, because
we are there to be shot at. But for me, that's the place I want to
be and we are there now, and of course it's who is there at the end
of the season that matters. We know that we've taken 36 points
from 20 games, and we need to take at least that in the next 20 games
to be in with a chance of winning the league.
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Man of the Match :
As voted for in Paul Chesterman's Internet Fans survey that represents
Yeovil Town fans views across the Internet.
Terry Skiverton 31%
Ben Smith 14%
Warren Patmore 13%
Kevan Brown 12%
Jamie Pitman 11%
COMMENTS :
Performance 6.6
Entertainment 7.9
Sixty-One Votes Received.
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