For the second half Yeovil started with Andy Lindegaard replacing the impressive Gavin Williams on the right wing. Wolves replaced goalkeeper Matthew Murray with Michael Oakes.
Wolves again began well, and again forced an early corner. Replacement keeper Oakes was soon tested, firstly coming well out of his area to clear after beating Kevin Gall to the ball, and then claiming well from a Gosling cross.
Wolves hopes were raised by a good 53rd minute shot from Paul Ince, which was well parried and then held by Steve Collis. A minute later Gosling was very well tackled in the penalty area by Kevin Cooper after running through the Wolves defence in an excellent attack.
Gary Johnson replaced Collis and Jackson with Chris Weale and Adam Stansfield respectively. Darren Way had a low shot held by Oakes after Kevin Gall had chested the ball down to him. Chris Weale came into action quickly firstly claiming a cross from Melligan, and then making a point blank save from Alex Rae after Ince had cleverly chipped over the Yeovil back line.
Gosling continued his fine game with an excellent through ball for Adam Stansfield, but the attempted cross was cut out. Yeovil continued to attack, with a longish Gosling shot comfortably held by Oakes. The Yeovil defence continued to look both comfortable and fairly solid, with Roy O�Brien continuing his fine form from last season.
A 62nd minute break by Stansfield saw him feed the ball out to Crittenden on the right wing. His cross cleared a jumping Darren Way in the centre of the goalmouth, but Kevin GALL slotted the ball home with a left foot shot to double the Yeovil lead.
Steve Reed came on instead of Hugo Rodrigues, and Wolves tried to come back into the game with Weale saving well from Proudlock after Ince had again provided a telling pass. A quick Lee Johnson free kick failed to stay in play for Nick Crittenden, and Rae again shot wide of goal for the Premiership side.
With nearly 70 minutes gone a Steve Reed free kick came back off of Oates and was narrowly missed by Adam Lockwood. A few moments of panic in the Wolves area saw the ball ricochet from defender to attacker before dropping again at the feet of Lockwood who shot wide of the goal.
El Kholti and trialist Jake Edwards replaced Crittenden and Gall before Lee Johnson took a free kick which saw a slight touch from the head of Lockwood but drifted wide of the goal. Wolves then substituted Lewis Gobern for JJ Melligan, and a few minutes later brought on Ashley Vincent for the disappointing Proudlock.
A powerful 35 yard shot from Lee Naylor failed to find the target for Wolves. Yeovil made their last change with Ian Patchett playing for the last ten minutes instead of the excellent Jamie Gosling.
For the last ten minutes fairly heavy rain poured steadily and it was no surprise that several of the Wolves fans in the open end decided they had seen enough and left early. They missed the introduction of Mark Clyde for Paul Butler for the final five minutes and a late consolation goal for their side.
Yeovil continued to look the better side with more possession, and seemed the more likely to score against a Wolves team who were quite frankly poor and did not really seem to trouble the Yeovil goal too much in the latter stages. It was therefore perhaps a little surprising when with two minutes of normal time remaining Alex RAE rose to head home from a cross. A final minute goal line clearance then prevented Wolves from gaining an equaliser which their performance would not really have deserved.
For Gary and the boys it was a very good day at the office. In all honestly I believe that the 2�1 scoreline was actually rather flattering to Wolves. I wish the team well in the Premiership, but fear that after their trips to Christie Park and Huish Park then their forthcoming visits to such grounds as Highbury or Old Trafford will see them less as wolves and more as lambs to the slaughter.
Robin Evans
|