Unusually I have missed the last two games since the win at Rovers.
Last week I decided on missing the long trip to Leeds, considering that I have already been to Eland Road once, the length of the journey and not the best weather or time of year. I chose instead to watch my local team, Eastleigh, since Saints were also away at Orient, beat Worcester 4-1 at home in the Blue Square South. In the event that was probably a good decision given a disappointing 4-0 defeat to match the one last season.
Tomorrow I will also miss the much shorter trip to Oxford in the FA Cup. Not the sort of game that I would usually miss, but on this occassion my mother and brother wanted me to go to the theatre to celebrate my brother's birthday. After much internal debate I decided to agree. After all, should we win, or indeed draw, there will be another game to go to and should we lose I would no doubt enjoy the theatre and my family's company more than the humiliation of losing, yet again, to non league opposition.
Friday, 6 November 2009
Monday, 26 October 2009
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
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).
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).
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Sunday, 13 September 2009
Stockport at Home
Craig Alcott missed the game after being injured in last week's match. He was replaced at the back by Terrell Forbes moving out from centre back and Stefan Stam coming back into the team.
Gavin Tomlin replaced Sam Williams up front.
Nathan Smith was replaced by Andy Welsh on the left wing with Nathan Jones staying at left back. While JP Kalala made his first start of his new spell at the club in the middle of the field.
In the end a draw was possibly a fair result although not an encouraging one against an average side who are favourites to go down. The course of the game was set on its way early on when, after a decent effort by Andy Welsh went just over the bar a Stockport attack brought the first goal of a busy and generally entertaining afternoon.
Perhaps I was biased but I saw it completely differently to the referee. The incident started, after just 20 minutes of the game, with a through ball which I thought found a Stockport player offside. The linesman kept his flag down which to be fair to the referee was not his fault. The subsequent fould happened very quickly, as these things do, and could have gone either way. I would have said it was a dive but the ref thought otherwise. Having given a foul it was clearly a penalty but with a defender right next to the keeper, I felt it was harsh to adjudge him the last man and send him off. The referee disagreed however. The final surprise, for me at least, of the incident was that Skiverton then chose to substitute Welsh, surely one of our best attacking players. Having said that, I was not sure who I would have taken off.
Carl Baker, who earlier in the week had lost his brother to leukemia, took the kick and scored making it harder to begrudge Stockport their goal even if it made the referee more of a villein.
Gavin Tomlin did equalise within a fairly short space of time, only for Baker to score another relatively soft goal just before half time. It was Ryan Mason, playing rather strangely again out of position on the right wing, who created both goals. So maybe not such a bad decision to play him there! The second was a deep lying cross which found the head of Sam Williams, who had replaced a tiring Jon Obika, for a good goal and a creditable point under the circumstances.
Stockport had three ex Yeovil players, David Poole, Liam Bridcutt and Michael Rose in their starting eleven.
The attendance at only 3,500 was perhaps even more worrying than the result.
Gavin Tomlin replaced Sam Williams up front.
Nathan Smith was replaced by Andy Welsh on the left wing with Nathan Jones staying at left back. While JP Kalala made his first start of his new spell at the club in the middle of the field.
In the end a draw was possibly a fair result although not an encouraging one against an average side who are favourites to go down. The course of the game was set on its way early on when, after a decent effort by Andy Welsh went just over the bar a Stockport attack brought the first goal of a busy and generally entertaining afternoon.
Perhaps I was biased but I saw it completely differently to the referee. The incident started, after just 20 minutes of the game, with a through ball which I thought found a Stockport player offside. The linesman kept his flag down which to be fair to the referee was not his fault. The subsequent fould happened very quickly, as these things do, and could have gone either way. I would have said it was a dive but the ref thought otherwise. Having given a foul it was clearly a penalty but with a defender right next to the keeper, I felt it was harsh to adjudge him the last man and send him off. The referee disagreed however. The final surprise, for me at least, of the incident was that Skiverton then chose to substitute Welsh, surely one of our best attacking players. Having said that, I was not sure who I would have taken off.
Carl Baker, who earlier in the week had lost his brother to leukemia, took the kick and scored making it harder to begrudge Stockport their goal even if it made the referee more of a villein.
Gavin Tomlin did equalise within a fairly short space of time, only for Baker to score another relatively soft goal just before half time. It was Ryan Mason, playing rather strangely again out of position on the right wing, who created both goals. So maybe not such a bad decision to play him there! The second was a deep lying cross which found the head of Sam Williams, who had replaced a tiring Jon Obika, for a good goal and a creditable point under the circumstances.
Stockport had three ex Yeovil players, David Poole, Liam Bridcutt and Michael Rose in their starting eleven.
The attendance at only 3,500 was perhaps even more worrying than the result.
Saturday, 5 September 2009
Swindon at Home
Well before today I felt that the next four games represented four winnable ties. Swindon and Stockport at home, both teams I expect to struggle this year; my local team Southampton away, who have got off to a dreadful start; and Brentford at home a team newly promoted to League One. That is the first one lost, making the next one almost a must win game even at this stage of the season.
Friday, 4 September 2009
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