Glovers boss Steve Thompson had that rare luxury of not only an unchanged starting line-up but an unchanged sixteen for Yeovil's final away match of the season up in a very sunny looking Yorkshire. For the first time in recent months, the Glovers were up against a side that probably needed the points more than they did - the Terriers needed three points to maintain any hope of automatic promotion, lying three points behind Colchester with two games remaining. Although the Glovers went into the game not safe from relegation, the three point cushion between themselves and their relegation rivals meant that they could probably afford to come home with a point and still see it as a good result.

The match started with a flurry of activity at both ends. Phil Jevons headed wide an Arron Davies cross, whilst at the other end former Torquay United striker David Graham went for an ambitious volley, putting the ball wide of the target by a yard or two. The home side though were to get the start they wanted when just eight minutes in they grabbed a goal. Andy Booth fed the ball straight through the middle of the Glovers defence, David GRAHAM timed his run perfectly to get in behind, and the striker turned and shot the ball into the far corner of the net giving Steve Collis not an awful lot of hope in stopping the well placed strike.

Danny Adams landed in the book for a fairly horrendous foul on Andy Lindegaard that even had the home fans wincing, even if they then tried to dispute referee Mr Hegley's decision to only book Adams after he had played an advantage that ended up with Terry Skiverton heading just wide. It wasn't the hardest decision to make and the only surprise was that the chopdown from Adams had not resulted in an instant stoppage of play.

Huddersfield fans cheery joy at being 1-0 up was dampened somewhat when news came in on the half hour mark that their biggest promotion rivals Colchester were 1-0 up and the noise in the Galpharm Stadium dropped down to hushed mutterings as Terriers fans consulted their programmes to work out what that all meant. Phil Jevons further disturbed their thinking with a run and shot that cannoned off a defender for a corner as the jitters began to creep in.

Arron Davies superbly intercepted a Huddersfield throw-in inside their own half, running on down the left wing, cutting inside and sending a shot over the bar. Although Yeovil had yet to trouble home keeper Paul Rachubka with a direct on target shot, it was becoming clear that the Huddersfield back line were not enjoying any attempts by Davies or David Poole to run at them and either this or a set piece looked to be Yeovil's main possibility of grabbing a goal back. That said the home side were good value for their lead with David Graham the main threat by far, although a wonderful sliding block tackle by Colin Miles prevented Gary Taylor-Fletcher from getting his own chance on goal. Not a bad 45 minutes by any means for the Glovers, but they would need to seize on the nervousness of the home crowd to stand any real chance of getting back into the game.

Huddersfield came out of the traps looking far more dominant at the start of the second period. Steve Collis produced an outstanding save when he blocked Mark Hudson's attempt on the angle, knocking the ball out for a corner after the defensive midfielder had made a rare burst forward. From the resultant corner, Andy Booth got a free header but he planted the ball into a surprised Steve Collis's hands, who almost spooned it to his left. Thankfully a watchful Colin Miles was on the post and able to hack the ball away.

Paul Terry produced a brilliant defensive block on one occasion when Huddersfield stole a break on a Glovers attack, but the Yeovil midfielder was able to not only thwart the breakaway in a single tackle but also had the cheek to come away with the ball at his feet, distributing it up field. As the Glovers gradually committed more men forward, this was the main concern, but there was little doubt they needed to take a few more risks to pull the game back.

Midway through the second half though, the Glovers were back in it. As a cross was floated into the box, Danny Adams grabbed the arm of Arron Davies as he threatened to pull away from his marker, and up went a linesman's flag to let referee Grant Hegley know that a penalty should be awarded. The Yeovil players celebrated as if Davies had scored, such was the joy at the decision but there was still the small matter of needing to convert the spot kick. Mr Ice Cool himself, Phil JEVONS was on hand and like all bar a couple of Jevo's penalties in the past two seasons he succeeded in sending the keeper the wrong way. 1-1 and the away end erupted, knowing that the penalty scored could be enough to guarantee League One football, with none of their relegation rivals showing any signs of winning their matches.

Not that Yeovil Town seemed prepared to sit back and take that as a result. Huddersfield seemed to freeze on the spot and got scrappy, committing several fouls. David Graham landed in the book for up-ending Paul Terry, then on the edge of the box Martin McIntosh was guilty of using Arron Davies to give himself additional height and referee Hegley blew for a free kick. A lengthy delay ensued as firstly Huddersfield argued about the decision, then there was an age as the wall got put back the obligatory 10 yards. But then up stepped Phil JEVONS to curl a masterclass of a free kick into the top corner where it crashed off the underside of the bar, hit goalkeeper Paul Rachubka on the back and saw it nip over the goal-line. 2-1 and the Glovers were in total dreamland. Not only that but League One Football was looking more than a possibility if only they could see out the remaining 18 minutes!

Now you might have expected Huddersfield - needing to win to maintain their automatic promotion - to come storming back and push Yeovil deep into their own half with their own version of the Alamo, but strangely it never happened. If anything it was the Glovers who looked the more likely to score, refusing to change their gameplan of attacking the home side during the second period. Paul Terry made an excellent run through the centre of the park, peeling the ball wide to David Poole who in turn fed the ball back into the centre of the penalty box towards Arron Davies who had his shot blocked for a corner.

As Yeovil began to make more use of the channels and the area around the corner flags to run down the clock and frustrate Huddersfield, still they maintained the upper hand, with Jevons and Poole combining superbly to suddenly slip between a crowd of Huddersfield defenders by one of the corner flags. Poole really should have shot on goal, but he pushed the ball across the face of goal towards Jevons and the chance of sealing the match was lost.

Huddersfield substitute Pawel Abbott, who never really got into the game, did cause Yeovil hearts to flutter a touch during what turned into six minutes of injury time when his cross fell kindly to Andy Booth, but Huddersfield's goal king directed his header wide. Steve Thompson introduced Matt Harrold four minutes into injury time replacing Arron Davies and that allowed the tall striker to wind down the clock further by holding the ball up well and heading towards the corner flag every time he got possession.

At last the final whistle blew, and the away end erupted as the 500 strong supporters celebrated staying up in much the same way that they celebrated winning League Two this time last season. The players clearly felt the same, if the pumping of fists in the air and the obligatory "piling on" of Colin Miles onto his team-mates was anything to go by. After tasting the likes of Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Huddersfield Town at League One level, the whole experience is just too good to let go after just a single season, and it is with pleasure that Huish Park will next season welcome Millwall, Brighton and Crewe as their League One equals next season. The dream lives on!

Badger

MOTM Vote Result:

Overall match rating: 8.6 / 10
Performance: 8.3
Entertainment: 8.9

34 votes received.

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