Brentford at Home

On a beautifully sunny afternoon another game with an extra bit of personal interest in it for me. My boss being a Chelsea and a Brentford fan meant that today's results must have spoilt his weekend somewhat and this one at least certainly brightened mine. We looked the better side from the start I felt but I have certainly seen worse teams than Brentford so a win was very welcome.

Andy Welsh, got my vote for man of the match again. In fact he is rapidly turning into man of the season for me. His corner created the first goal, a powerful header from Craig Alcock. The second goal was scored by Welsh himself after being put through by Gavin Tomlin.

Brentford did have one hard shot that hit the post when I thought it was going in but apart from that our defence coped well, unlike some games this season. I would put that largely down to the strong presence of two defensive midfielders, both having good games, in JP Kalala and Shaun MacDonald.

Craig Davies was on the bench following his loan move yesterday whilst defender Stefan Stam was still absent with a knee injury. The game started tentatively. We looked a much more solid team with a new 4-2-2-1-1 formation, with Kalala and MacDonald in front of the back four and two wide midfielders and Mason pushing up to support Williams in attack.

In soaking up everything Brentford tried to throw at them early on, the back four were rarely pressurised and the Glovers were gradually able to build their game up. They got their opening goal from a set piece, with Andy Welsh's corner being headed home by Craig Alcock - ghosting in unmarked into the box for the second goal of his Yeovil career and his first since December 2008 at Swindon. The goal seemed to lift the Glovers significantly and they went on to dominate the half, with the additional man in midfield swamping Brentford's attempts to play the ball through, and with Andy Welsh guilty of missing a good opportunity just after the goal to double Yeovil's lead with Sam Williams' header having put him through. Just after the break though, Andy Welsh atoned for his earlier miss with a goal that started in unorthodox fashion. Welsh and Gavin Tomlin actually tackled each other for a loose ball, but Tomlin was the victor in that and as he broke forward, Welsh had spun off into space and Tomlin's pass was superb, putting the left-winger into a one-on-one situation - he netted past keeper Nikki Bull to double Yeovil's lead, and the relief at Huish Park was immense. Welsh whipped off his shirt and got booked for his celebration, but probably cared little with it being the first goal of his Yeovil Town career. With 15 minutes to go, Brentford almost found their way back into the game when Sam Wood thumped a shot against the foot of the post after a far post cross found him in space, with the shot leaving Alex McCarthy well beaten. But this was a rare chance for the Bees and they deserved little out of the game. In fact Craig Alcock could have grabbed another when his header late on struck the crossbar and on the whole it was a comfortable victory for the Glovers. The win lifts Yeovil up to 17th in the League One table, with Brighton, Wycombe Wanderers, Tranmere Rovers and Southampton now in the bottom four. The Glovers sit in a pack of five clubs on nine points going into tricky away games at Millwall and Oldham Athletic, and are only outside the relegation zone on goal difference. But at least the players have broken their unwanted run of games without a win, and can now look forward to those two matches with fresh belief in their fight to climb away from the bottom four. They snuffed Brentford out of the game almost entirely today, with Kalala and MacDonald shepherding the ball away from their back four whenever Brentford tried to break forward, and with League One matches often being about keeping a clean sheet, they were highly effective in doing that. Final Score: Yeovil Town 2 Brentford 0. Link: 2009-10 Latest League One Table. Scorers: Craig Alcock (1-0, 25 mins), Andy Welsh (2-0, 51 mins) Yeovil Town: (4-4-1-1) 1. Alex McCarthy 2. Craig Alcock 5. Steven Caulker 6. Terrell Forbes 3. Nathan Jones 10. Gavin Tomlin 25. Shaun MacDonald 21. JP Kalala 11. Andy Welsh 13. Ryan Mason 9. Sam Williams Substitutes: 15. Richard Martin (GK) 7. George O'Callaghan (90 mins for Jean-Paul Kalala) 8. Keiran Murtagh 16. Scott Murray 18. Andy Lindegaard 28. Nathan Smith (90 mins for Andy Welsh) 30. Craig Davies (77 mins for Sam Williams) Brentford: 21. Nikki Bull 23. James Wilson 5. Mark Phillips 6. Alan Bennett 16. Sam Wood 7. Sam Saunders 2. Kevin O'Connor 4. Marcus Bean 12. Cleveland Taylor 8. Steven Kabba 10. Charlie MacDonald Substitutes: 1. Lewis Price (GK) 11. Myles Weston (46 mins for Steven Kabba) 14. Danny Foster (71 mins for Sam Saunders) 24. Lewis Ferrell 22. Karleigh Osborne 27. Ryan Blake 32. Leon Legge (86 mins for Cleveland Taylor) Yeovil Bookings: Andy Welsh (52 mins, excessive celebration), Jean-Paul Kalala (84 mins, foul) Brentford Bookings: Marcus Bean (84 mins, retaliation), Danny Foster (85 mins, foul) Referee: Roger East (Wiltshire). Assistants: John Busby (Oxfordshire) and Adam Watts (Worcestershire). Fourth Official: Lee Swabey (Devon). Attendance: 4,249 (including approx 900 Brentford fans).