Night matches always have that tangible atmosphere, I'm not sure what it is about them but something just feels really different. I felt quite confident about the game after recent performances and felt we could at least get something out of it if we held our own. We wandered round to the ticket office only to be told it was pay on the gate. We got to the gate, only to be told it was a barcode entry, and we needed to get a ticket. There was an away ticket sales booth, but there was no one there, and we had to wait 10 minutes for anyone to turn up - this was at 6:45 and counting down to less than an hour to kick off. The game was also being advertised as £26 around the stadium when we had all been told £23, but thankfully I managed to keep the extra 3 quid in my pocket. Piss ups and breweries...We did finally get into the stadium and what an impressive stadium it is! Even with the wonky roofs and only being a little more than half full. We picked a spot top left of goal (of course), not that there was much choice with the small section they had cordoned off for us. Fans slowly started to filter in and it seemed we may even hit the 200 mark. Singing began in earnest and didn't stop for pretty much the entirety of the game. Derby fans were extremely quiet, until the end, of course.
The game itself... well. You couldn't make this stuff up really, though this is Yeovil so nothing surprises me any more :) For the first 10/15 minutes we were chasing shadows and couldn't get hold of the ball. Derby were very "professional" as per Birmingham, making the very best of every foul and conning the ref into free kick after free kick. But once we matched their pace and managed to keep more possession, we really started to hold our own. The first goal however was entirely against the run of play, with a low Johnny Lundstram shot from a good 20 yards out beating the keeper. Just moments before that Derby had hit the post, and a rare slice from Stech not dealt with my Ayling almost gifted them another clear sight of goal. Our confidence was running high after that though and just 9 minutes later on 34 minutes, Ish Miller slotted home at the far post from what seemed to be an impossible angle with a really classy finish at the near post. 2-0 up in the first half and our heads were up, and all we really needed to do was keep it tight, and more of the same for the second half.
Of course, Derby weren't exactly going to sit back in the second half, they were going to come at us. For large parts of the second half they almost had 4 or 5 up front, pushing us back. But we let them - we sat so deep into our own half we were constantly inviting them to run at us and made it impossible for ourselves to break. Especially as we switched to only one up front. Any chance to break was closed down by Derby without even a whimper. We gave away far too many sloppy free kicks and just could not keep possession.
Their first goal came just after half time, and it seemed only inevitable before they equalised. It took until the 87th minute though, and we were seriously hanging on by this point. We were absolutely dead on our feet. I think the first 20 minutes where we were literally chasing everything and trying to match their pace completely shattered us. A free kick carelessly given away by Upson gifted them a chance in the dying seconds and they made it 3-2 in 90+5 minutes of added time. The fact there had only been 4 minutes of added time announced made it sting all the more - the whistle should have been blown long before. Stech wasn't at fault for any of the goals in my opinion, we just weren't closing down and seeing the game out like we should have. But we are Yeovil - we don't see games out. 2-0 is always a dangerous scoreline for us and we seem to have resorted to the Skivo tactic of putting as many men behind the ball as possible to protect a lead.
It was a long old trip back to Aldershot pretty much in silence as I was far too gutted to listen to any music or try to forget the game. On the way out of the stadium several Derby fans stopped us and said they were gutted for us and felt sorry for us - easy to say once you've beaten us in the last bloody minute. My man of the match was Ayling as he was always hassling them, going forward and tracking back, and always trying to create something. Special mentions for Miller and Lundstram too, for the goals. Moore was poor today and I don't think he knows how to jump. He seems to get shorter whenever he tries. I would have preferred to see Miller with Hayter today - Derby just had far too much class for us without.
Now we have Forest on Sunday, another trip back up to the Midlands. Seeing as we're a bit of a bogey team for Forest I like to think we'll get something out of it, but after Derby who knows. I think that will be a major psychological blow for the lads and could take some getting over.
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