Venue: Kingston Communications Stadium
Sat 22nd November 2003, 3pm kick-off.

Conditions:
Ground:

Scorers:

Attendance: 14,367 - including 789 Glovers

Referee: George Cain (Merseyside)
Assistant Refs: Alec Clyde (South Yorkshire) and Andy Hogg (South Yorkshire)

Bookings:
Yeovil: Rodriguez (47, deliberate handball)
Hull: Joseph (80, unsporting behaviour)

Yeovil Town : (4-4-2)
1. Chris Weale
2. Adam Lockwood 4. Terry Skiverton 12. Hugo Rodrigues 5. Colin Pluck
20. Gavin Williams 24. Paul Terry 8. Lee Johnson 10. Nick Crittenden
9. Kevin Gall 17. Jake Edwards

Subs:
7. Adam Stansfield 13. Steven Collis 18. Kirk Jackson (89, for Edwards) 22. Lee Elam (71, for Crittenden 23. Jamie Gosling (61, for Rodrigues)

Hull City: (4-4-2)
12. Paul Musselwhite
28. Richard Hinds 6. Marc Joseph 16. Damien Delaney 3. Andrew Dawson
18. Jason Price 4. Ian Ashbee 14. Stuart Green 7. Stuart Elliott
8. Jamie Forrester 9. Ben Burgess

Subs:
19. Dean Keates 15. Justin Whittle 29. Ryan France (72, for Burgess) 24. Andrew Holt 25. Daniel Webb (87, for Forrester)

GJ and his Sunshine band get a point and a clean sheet at the KC!

The Hull MC read the teams out, he then introduced each stand one by one and the home supporters roared with approval �Welcome Yeovil Town� he said �You are in the KC Stadium� with the aggression even Shere Khan, the Jungle Book tiger would have been proud of!

Without doubt he�d whipped the crowd into a frenzy, and as always the large travelling contingent from Yeovil responded, if his ploy was to intimidate, he was wasting his time on this hardy bunch, �we are the famous, the famous Yeovil� they cried, That Huish roar requested by the manager had indeed found its way up to Humberside! The KC stadium is a fantastic football arena, the sort of venue usually reserved for sporadic cup forays, Reading and Bolton spring to mind, but this time Yeovil were there on merit, playing in front of what must be the one of the biggest attendances, 14,367, home or away to watch the Glovers in a league game.

In truth, the stadium was worthy of a higher standard, would two of the tops teams show the kind of performance to suggest they were of that calibre too? Most certainly, this was one of those enthralling nil-nil�s, with both sides contributing to an excellent, pulsating game of football.

The one shock for Yeovil was that Darren Way was forced to miss the game through an injury apparently picked up on the training ground. Paul Terry, living up to his utility man tag filled in, with Hugo Rodrigues being drafted back in to the centre of defence, allowing new dad Adam Lockwood to move to his more familiar right back spot.

The game started lively, Terry hit a long range effort over the bar after 4 minutes, before Marc Joseph got slightly closer down the other end with an overhead kick from a corner, Chris Weale then gifted Ben Burgess a gilt edged chance when he skewed his clearance straight into the path of the big centre forward, who hit his shot wide and high when really he should have done better. Nick Crittenden couldn�t hit the target, again from distance, before big Hugo made a great tackle on a Hull forward to stop his advances. Crittenden then made a surging run down the left, his dangerous cross was flicked away at the far post for a corner which came to nothing. It was then Gavin Williams�s turn to try his luck, a mazy, rousing run finished in a shot just wide. Jason Price, the Hull right-winger was beginning to cause all sorts of problems down the Yeovil left, he did the hard bit, but again, like all before couldn�t direct his shot goal wards. It took nearly 30 minutes before the first real shot on target came, and it was a great effort from Jake Edwards who forced Paul Musselwhite into a good save, pushing the ball out for a corner.

The best chance of the half then fell to Hull, danger man Price again weaved his way down his right before sending in a wicked low ball across the face of goal but Burgess couldn�t get on the end of it to poke the ball home for a certain goal. Another chance fell to Stuart Elliott just before half time but he too, had left his shooting boots at home.

The second half started and with 2 minutes gone, Rodrigues was booked for deliberate handball, Weale saved with ease from the resultant free kick. Yeovil�s nearest chance of the game came 15 minutes into the second half, when Williams, the most inspirational Yeovil player on the day was hauled down, Johnson, bandaged from an earlier head wound, and a little out of sorts - he probably missed Darren Way - took the free kick and floated the ball into the box, Hugo Rodrigues rose and beat the keeper to the ball, but his header glanced the top of the bar and landed on top of, instead of inside the net. This was his last action of the day, injured with what seemed like a facial knock, he recovered only to fall inside his own box seconds later with a back injury which eventually forced him off, to be replaced by Gosling, forcing a reshuffle.

It was now Hull�s turn to attack and apply some pressure, two penalty appeals in as many minutes were turned down by the Ref, Mr Cain from Merseyside. Hull thought they had taken the lead on 71 minutes, Stuart Green sent a fine cross into the box, Price coming in at the far post couldn�t believe it when Chris Weale produced a stunning one handed reaction save to deny him scoring with his head. Colin Pluck then lived dangerously as he pulled back a Hull attacker on the edge of the box, thankfully the free kick was cleared. Another good chance on the edge of the box was volleyed wide by Hull, just before Kevin Gall, who had a quiet game by his standards, was released down the right, his speed appeared to take him away, but cynically he was hauled down by Marc Joseph who was booked, the free kick was sent too deep into the Hull box and the keeper claimed comfortably. Two corners followed in succession, the latter resulted in a powerful header by Skiverton but straight into Musselwhite�s gloves.

As the game opened up it looked like somebody was going to get the winner, Yeovil never draw games do they, but by now the team most likely to score looked like the Tigers. Chris Weale had other ideas, he produced a fantastic save near the end from an Ashbee shot that will have stung his hands as he parried for a corner. Weale, whose performances have come in for close scrutiny by some proved his critics wrong and saved the day for Yeovil with 3 cracking saves in this game. Strikers win games, but keepers save them and Weale showed today why he is quite rightly tipped to play at the highest level. He was without doubt Yeovil�s man of the match and without him, the scoreline could and would have been so much different.

Last chance of the match went to Hull - sub Ryan France was played in, this time he beat the Yeovil keeper but missed the target, thankfully to ensure Yeovil recorded their first ever draw in the football league.

On reflection, Yeovil gave Hull a good test, and are the only side to stop them from scoring at home this season, both sides had enough chances to win the game, but the clear cut ones went to the Tigers, they�ll be disappointed to only get the point. The away side proved they can handle the best the third division can throw at them, they�ll be delighted to come away with the draw, and surely now can firmly set their sights on consolidating their spot in a play off position in a third division that is beginning to sort the men from the boys.

Jeremy Gear

MOTM Vote Result:

Overall match rating: 8.2 / 10
Performance: 8
Entertainment: 8.4

42 votes received.

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