Venue: Glanford Park
Sat 6th March 2004, 3pm kick-off.

Conditions:
Ground:

Scorers: Steven MacLean (26, 1-0), Darren Holloway (45, 2-0), Steven MacLean (60, 3-0)

Attendance: 3,355 - including 347 Glovers supporters

Referee: Andy Penn (West Midlands)
Assistant Refs: Stephen Artis (Norfolk), Stan Gate (Tyne and Wear)

Bookings:
Yeovil: Williams (22, unsporting behaviour), Johnson (29, dissent)
Scunthorpe: Sharp (29, unsporting behaviour)

Yeovil Town : (4-4-2)
1. Chris Weale
16. Andy Lindegaard 2. Adam Lockwood 12. Hugo Rodrigues 15. Steven Reed
25. Simon Weatherstone 8. Lee Johnson 6. Darren Way 3. Abdelhalim El Kholti
20. Gavin Williams 7. Adam Stansfield

Subs:
9. Kevin Gall (46, for Weatherstone) 18. Kirk Jackson (27, for Rodrigues) 22. Lee Elam (63, for Stansfield) 23. Jamie Gosling 13. Steven Collis

Scunthorpe United :
1. Tom Evans 8. Wayne Graves 2. Nathan Stanton 4. Jamie McCombe 3. Kevin Sharp 27. Cleveland Taylor 12. Lee Ridley 28. Paul Groves 29. Darren Holloway 22. Steven MacLean 10. Steve Torpey

Subs:
16. Terry Barwick 17. Andy Parton 20. Lee Featherstone 24. Russell Penn 25. Marcus Williams

Gary Johnson's squad was once again stretched to it's limits as they made their second trip to the North inside five days. With Paul Terry suspended and Roy O'Brien, Jake Edwards, Colin Pluck, Terry Skiverton and Nick Crittenden all injured and Andy Bishop returned to Walsall following his injury, it was another strange looking team that took to the field.

Probably partly through necessity, Yeovil started the game with a 3-4-1-2 formation, fielding Stephen Reed in the back three and using Abdou El Kholti and Andy Lindegaard as wing-backs. Simon Weatherstone acted as the most forward looking of the midfield trio and Gavin Williams and Adam Stansfield formed the front partnership.

The opening 20 minutes of the game was a scrappy affair. Yeovil nearly opened the proceedings when some indecision in the Scunthorpe line allowed Simon Weatherstone to try and intercept a ball back to keeper Tom Evans. He got the ball first but home captain Nathan Stanton managed to head Weatherstone's lob away for a corner with Weatherstone getting a bang to the head for his efforts. Then Adam Stansfield received a Hugo Rodrigues flick-on from a Lee Johnson free kick but Stanno's attempt was saved comfortably by the keeper.

Wayne Graves gave the home side their first chance but he blasted his attempt after 11 minutes clean out of the ground. The hosts were using an up'n'under approach to the game, largely bypassing the midfield entirely, and only right winger Cleveland Taylor seemed to be there for the more purists type of footballing game, putting up a great battle with Abdou El Kholti all afternoon.

Referee Mr Penn was to prove to be an irritatingly inconsistent official who never really gained control of the game. He started off with a flurry of yellow cards, including a caution for Gavin Williams for apparently diving, when it was quite apparent that Gavin had trod on the ball and lost his balance as a result. But this early bit of card-waving made a rod for his own back as he later ignored far worse infringements such as a late foul by Lee Johnson that were far more worthy of a caution.

What was a fairly tame low quality game of football turned 25 minutes into the game. Just when Gary Johnson thought he couldn't lose any more central defenders, Hugo Rodrigues got a whack in the face and had to come off, with the diagnosis eventually being a broken nose. Whilst he was still off the field, Scunthorpe got their opening goal. Steve MACLEAN hooked a ball home from 15 yards giving Chris Weale little chance of getting a hand on his excellent strike.

At the time, it seemed that Yeovil's main defficiency was that they lacked a physical presence up front, so it was somewhat unfortunate that the only available substitute to replace Hugo was centre-forward Kirk Jackson, who came on and slotted into an unfamiliar position.

Scunthorpe weren't exactly swarming all over Yeovil's beleagured defence with the game continuing in the same messy fashion. Cleveland Taylor produced most of the quality moments with his backpost cross forcing Chris Weale to make an excellent save from a Steve Torpey header. Yeovil still mounted their own occasional attacks, but were largely toothless in their final delivery. Adam Stansfield's knock-down to Simon Weatherstone was one of the more fruitful moments but Weatherstone's final shot went wide of the target.

It did seem though that Yeovil would be able to regroup at the half-time break until the very last move of the half. Darren HOLLOWAY managed to squeeze a near post header off the underside of the crossbar deep into the injury time allocated for the injury to Rodrigues and Scunthorpe went in at the break 2-0 up.

Simon Weatherstone was replaced by Kevin Gall at half time but to little effect on the game. In fact little of note happened on the field of play prior to Scunthorpe's third goal on the hour mark, as the ball spent most of it's time in the air. Cleveland Taylor provided the low right wing cross into the penalty box which bounced off the shins of Steve MACLEAN falling loose in the penalty box. The on-loan Rangers striker was the first to react to his own mis-control of the ball and he fired the loose ball into the bottom right hand corner.

Lee Elam became Yeovil's final substitution, making way for Adam Stansfield who had barely touched the ball in the second half, and to the Glovers credit, they refused to let their heads go down. Kevin Gall managed a scissors kick from a Lee Elam cross but his attempt lacked power and was saved, whilst Andy Lindegaard's full-blooded strike from the edge of the area cleared the crossbar. Elam himself went close after a good patient build-up, but his hooked shot was saved by Evans.

But all in all, Yeovil's final 30 minutes of penetration lacked physical presence, despite Kirk Jackson and Adam Lockwood making several raids from defence. Ironically, Yeovil could have done with a player like Jacko in the forward line but his physical strength was needed more urgently at the back, showing just how badly the current injury crisis has stretched the Glovers.

With Lincoln blowing a 2-1 lead to lose at Cheltenham, things are still very much in Yeovil's hands, but Gary Johnson and John Fry really must use the seven clear days to work out what resources are available to the club to try and keep the club within the playoff positions, and how to cover the current lack of numbers, particularly in the defensive positions. With Bristol Rovers and Doncaster to come at Huish Park, now is very much the time to make some big decisions.

Badger

MOTM Vote Result:

Overall match rating: 3.6 / 10
Performance: 4.1
Entertainment: 3.1

17 votes received.

Any comments/questions please email [email protected]

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