Nottingham Forest 2/2/14

After Derby in midweek, who just had too much class for us, I travelled back up the M1 on Sunday for the Forest game. Forest hadn't lost in 12 games, so my confidence wasn't exactly running high. We'd sold Ed Upson in the week, and signed only one player in the transfer window - a Man United youth player. Ish Miller wasn't allowed to play, as part of his loan agreement with Forest, so all in all it wasn't looking like it was going to be a promising afternoon.

We arrived at about 1 o'clock and headed to The Trent Navigation pub. It's the other side of the water to the City Ground, and so was a little quieter than the closer pubs. We'd been there before and it had a great atmosphere so felt a return was in order. We sat outside with our drinks - thankfully there was a patio heater - and were soon joined by some Forest fans - lovely chaps who were full of nothing but pessimism regarding the possible result later that afternoon. We headed round to the ground and were in by about 2 o'clock, greeted by signs saying "unreserved seating". 'Hooray, we can sit where we want' we thought, but no. We had been given the tiniest part of the stand, with the back two rows blocked off, so trying to get all the mainstay standers together was difficult. We managed to get a spot right at the back, and were allowed to stand the whole game, in spite of there being a steward immediately to our left.

The City Ground is impressive, and full of wonderful memories as I'm sure every Yeovil fan knows. We were sat just to the left of where we were on that fateful night. Could we recreate that atmosphere and incredible result?

The answer to that is a firm no. But the final scoreline of 3-1 to Forest does not in any way reflect the game. For the first 10-15 minutes, it was all Forest. We could barely get hold of the ball and the marking was none existent. They then scored, after around 15 minutes, as Stech came out to collect and their forward just slotted through his legs. I think Byron Webster probably got the last touch, but it was going in anyway. We felt like we were in for an afternoon of more punishment, but the goal seemed to spur us on however, and the next 20 minutes were all Yeovil. We were playing some lovely football at times, with Hayter and Moore working well again and a couple of shots from Ralls and Hayter just wide and at the keeper respectively. On 25 minutes, big Kieffer rose like the cliched salmon above everyone else (unusually for him, normally he gets shorter when he jumps) and headed home to make it 1-1. Game on then, and we were looking lively. Both sides had their fair share of possession but I'd say overall, the first half was pretty even, if not slightly tipped towards Yeovil. That was until on 38 minutes, when Forest scored again, a rare blunder from Stech who should have dealt with the first shot better, only parried into the path Cox who made it 2-1. The goal was massively against the run of play of the previous 5 or 10 minutes and there was no way we deserved to be behind going into half time.

After the break, we looked defensively poor but bright going forwards. Ditto for Forest in some respects, with several shots for them early on in the second half, one hitting the post and the other well saved by Stech at the post. But when we ran at them, on the deck, they looked panicked. Which is of course why we took Hayter off, and put Byron Webster up front to play long ball. Hmmm. The new lad Lawrence, who'd been brought on just before half time, seemed lively and well up for it, and very eager to impress. He closed everything down and didn't give up on anything, chasing down passes he thought he could intercept. He seemed a little naive though, as a kid is likely to be in his first Championship game. Lundstram was the opposite - he didn't seem to want to run for anything, particularly in the second half, and consistently gave the ball away. Not long before full time we had a free kick on the edge of the area that, for some reason, Lawrence took and absolutely skied over the bar. That was the chance -  that was the draw right there. But into injury time and Forest made it 3-1 in a goal mouth scramble to make the result look like a comfortable one.

A word about McAllister - he is absolutely past it. Every tackle is either late, or he goes down in a heap injured. He's at least a yard off the pace, and undisciplined. And this is our captain!! There is no way he should still be getting picked, I would rather have Lanzoni play out of position at the back than McAllister. At least Lanzoni does the simple things, and doesn't constantly pass back to the opposition. Webster should be the captain, without a doubt.

My man of the match was Luke Ayling who dealt well with their wingers forward runs and attacked at every opportunity. He never gives up and you'll always get 110% from Luke.

The next match is Leeds at home, and we don't have an away game now until March the 2nd - at Reading -which seems a lifetime away. Until then, then...

Derby Away 28/1/14

After a very successful trip to Birmingham and a not-so-successful but heartening performance at Southampton in the FA Cup (so I'm told, I wasn't there because if the ticket 'fiasco'...) we travelled up to Derby for a Tuesday night game at the iPro AKA Pride Park. Having never been to Pride Park before, I definitely wanted to do this one, and took a half day from work. We arrived at Pride Park just after 6pm, after driving around for a good 10 minutes trying to find somewhere to park. Pride Park is an industrial and office park as well as having a retail bit and the stadium, yet they do NOT want you to park there. There were the usual £10 and £5 car parks but I'm tight and refuse the pay that to literally leave my car somewhere. So we found a housing estate on Pacific Way which seemed to be well used by other football fans and made the short walk up to the stadium.


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.

Birmingham City 18/1/14

After the abysmal showing at Huddersfield, I wasn't sure why, but I felt pretty good about the Birmingham game. We'd beaten Leyton Orient in the cup 4-0 at home, and had lost to Burnley 2-1 in the league. Birmingham hadn't won at home in a good few games, so I was optimistic. A relatively "local" game for me, I didn't leave the house until 10am, and made it just before 12 o'clock. Easy enough to find, and all around St Andrews there was ample free on-street parking. We wandered down into the city centre and found The White Swan for a quick drink and a cheese and onion cob (roll , for you Southerners and bap for the Northerners!) before taking a leisurely stroll back to the ground. The stewards were very well organised, with load of them prepared for checking our bags and directing us to our turnstiles. We were actually given a ticket in spite of paying on the day which I'm always grateful for - I like to keep my tickets on a corkboard at home as a memento of the trip.

On entering the ground it was very clear it was an ex-Premier League ground. A large concourse area with big screen TV's and very swish food outlets. We were allowed to sit wherever we wanted with no bother from the stewards and stood for the whole game.

On to the game, and initially the starting line up made me groan. Kieffer Moore starting? The new left back starting who hadn't played a competitive game since September? We heard before the game that Hoskins had recently undergone surgery and was going to be out for a few weeks. It didn't fill me with confidence. But how wrong I was!

Early pressure and possession from Birmingham made it feel like more of the Huddersfield-same, but it soon became an end-to-end affair. On 12 minutes, Hayter slotted home his first of the day from a pretty much gifted chance, to send the Yeovil faithful into uproar. Quickly after, the Brum keeper had to make a brilliant double save to keep us out. Kieffer Moore could have done better, but he certainly atoned himself in the remainder of the game. He was drawing defenders away from Hayter to give him space to  move and create, and in the 19th minute Hayter drived it home again, sending us into complete elation!

The new left back - Bakayogo from Leicester - got injured towards half time, off the ball, with what looked like him turning awkwardly and his knee giving way. He was subbed off which was a real shame because up to that point, he looked solid and confident and certainly not like a player who hadn't had any game time since September. His replacement, McAllister, also went down with an injury when it looked like he had pulled his back, and fell to the ground again off the ball. He too had to be substituted, replaced by Lanzoni.

Even with two enforced changes however, we looked to be in control in spite of the possession stats (only 33% to Yeovil). We were playing some lovely passing football at times with class build up and several good shots on target. Birmingham, for all their nice approach play and skill, had no end product and poor finishing.  Just before half time, Moore was brought down for a definite penalty, which on the radio they said could even have been a red card but the referee bottled it. The referee had a poor game, yet again we never seem to get the rub of the green from officials. Birmingham were very "professional" -  making the most of every challenge and diving at every opportunity. And they have the audacity to call us the cheats after the cup game!? There were no real moments when I felt like they were certain to score, but that may have been down to buoyant confidence :) Stech however did make some class saves, and I would say he was a contender for man of the match.

But for a change it's difficult to pick a man of the match because everyone played so well and not because we're picking from a bad lot. Initially Grant was on the fringes but came into it especially into the second half. Hayter was class and I felt he worked very well with Moore. Ayling made some fantastic challenges at key moments to stem their forward charge. Webster cleared pretty much everything lofted up to him and again made some class last-ditch tackles. Edwards and Ralls worked hard - seriously I cannot single out a fault today. Perhaps I am still on cloud nine or perhaps its the several beers!!

I was unable to get tickets for Southampton in the cup so unless more are released, my next game is the night match against Derby on Tuesday the 28th, bring it on!

Huddersfield Away 29/12/13

Having missed Barnsley due to finances (bloody Christmas...) and Bournemouth due to family Christmas party obligations (and eating wayyyy too much food), my latest Yeovil away trip was to Huddersfield after the epic win at Watford.

I drove up to my dad's in Leicestershire and he drove the rest of the way. We made it to Huddersfield at around 1pm, and headed just around the corner from our free on street parking space to Ricky's pub. Turns out it's a strip club by night, but it was decent enough by day! After a swift pint of cider we headed around to the Galpharm John Smith's Stadium and paid on the gate (very old school). £23 quid for us and yet £26 quid for them. Worth it, as it turns out...

Selfie at the John Smith's stadium

We were woeful. Embarrassing. Abysmal. Whichever your adjective of choice. 

We scored first, arguably against the run of play, in the 14th minute with a decent finish from Miller at close range from a corner after a lot of pinging around in the box. And.... then it fell apart. 3-1 down before half time from a free header and tap ins. We conceded two in the second half, decent strikes from range the pair of them but I was barely watching at this point. 

The game was immaterial by the end as the calls for Gary Johnson's head from some fans and the fact Gary had been missing for large parts of the second half overshadowed discussion.

I recorded my thoughts on the long old poke home, apologies for sound quality and ranting but it was much easier than writing everything down!

Huddersfield Away Soundcloud Clip

My next game is Birmingham away on the 18th of January, let's hope I have better things to discuss!

Watford - 30/11/13

Having not made a game since Middlesbrough due to being on holiday for Leeds and unable to get the day off for Doncaster, I was really looking forward to the game at Middlesbrough. Recent results didn't fill me with much optimism, but the chance to see a ground I'd never been to against a side Yeovil had never played before was a good one.

I set off at 10:30 with this being a "home" game for me - barely an hour down the road on the M25 for me from Aldershot. The main thing I noticed coming in to Watford was that there wasn't a single road sign for Vicarage Road, I ended up on the road purely by chance as I drove around. A friend told me that due to a lack of parking, they didn't want to encourage people to drive to the stadium. I worked my way back from the ground finding some free street parking around a half mile away, and there were lots of signs for pedestrians for me to follow to find my way easily back.

Having initially got into football as a young teenager following Chelsea obsessively from my armchair, I was really excited at the prospect of playing against a Gianfranco Zola side. I wanted to get to the stadium really early to bolster my chances of meeting him. As it happens, the Watford players and management all arrive at the same time, by coach, around 1:20pm. I thought this was a nice touch - they all arrive together, and all leave together, which I think really shows unity. Having waited over an hour... I was extremely excited to be able to have my photo with Zola and found myself reverting to that young teenager again!

Me and Gianfranco Zola! I have never looked so pale...

We grabbed a (very lovely) bacon cheeseburger from a van next to the ground (we were pushed for time... don't judge!) and entered the ground. The ground... well. Ramshackle barely covers it for the most part! They only have 3 stands at the moment as one has been demolished to build a whole new one, and the building site does leave a little to be desired...

The rest of the stadium seemed a little run down but the stands themselves were fairly decent, especially the home ends.

I was feeling strangely optimistic come kick off - no idea why. Perhaps the new signings we'd made in midweek - two strikers and a midfielder. We've seriously been lacking strike power this season and had been crying out for new some blood in that regard so I was looking forward to getting a good look at them at Watford. More on them later.

The game itself... well let's start from the beginning. In the first five minutes, we seemed a little panicked at the back at Watford repeatedly ran at us. We managed to get into our stride quickly however, with a great last ditch tackle from Davis in the box and some great clearances from Duffy. Watford then had a shot at the near post which pinged around the box and finally hit Davis on the back (which he seemed to know little about) which was then hurridly collected by Dunn. While Watford had a lot of space in our half, lots of chances and a few decent shots on goal, there were no efforts where I genuinely thought "this is going in". We meanwhile were playing some lovely passing football on the deck, with a few chances here and there but no killer breakthrough. And then it came, in the one minute of added time, when Byron Webster rose like the cliched salmon to head in corner. Absolute elation from the amazing travelling Yeovil support. 945 of us were going absolutely mental as we were trying to remember how one actually celebrates a goal!

Going in to half time a goal ahead is always a dodgy position to be in, especially when you're Yeovil. In the past we've always come out a different side in the second half, and it's hard to really pinpoint why - sitting back, complacency? Who knows. But at Watford, that wasn't the case. we came out stronger, faster, better. For all their possession, corners and flair, Watford's finishing was absolutely woeful and the onslaught from Yeovil going forward was relentless. We soaked up the pressure with relative ease, with Byron Webster and Duffy absolutely class. We made it 2-0 on 53 minutes when -  shockingly -  A STRIKER SCORED!!!! Brand new signing Ishmael Miller, on loan from Forest, headed in from a few yards out. It was well taken as it looked like he was going to miss by a mile. Absolute mayhem in the away end as people fell from rows above onto the fans below them and down onto the terrace between the seats! How was this happening? We weren't only winning 2-0, but deservedly so, and we were playing really WELL. Watford threw everything at us, with corner after corner after corner. They had more possession, sure, but we were always going forward whenever we got hold of the ball and in my opinion, always looked dangerous. And right at the death, after the board went up for injury time, Joe Edwards slotted home a really decent finish to make it 3-0 and to cement what had been a brilliant performance, pretty much from start to finish.

Thew new players -  Morgan ran his socks off and while he didn't get on the end of anything, he looked lively. Miller really put himself about and bothered the Watford defence at all times and his finish was well taken, cooly and calmly. Great to see him get on the score sheet early and hopefully bolster his confidence. And Lundstram in midfield was absolutely class  - where he gets his energy from I don't know but he closed everything down and ensured everything was kept tight in midfield.

Overall performances were fantastic. There was the usual slicing from Ayling and the usual giving-the-ball-away from Upson but generally, we were class. And I don't just mean that as a Yeovil fan - we were objectively a million times better than we have been for months, we looked confident and assured. My man of the match was Lundstram -  I think he will be a serious asset for us during his loan.

I picked up a few cans of cider (sorry, purists!) on the way home and celebrated a wonderful day all round, and an epic victory for the Town! Onwards an upwards, with my next game at Barnsley. This is a real winnable game, with us now off the bottom of the Championship and Barnsley taking our place.

Enjoy your weekend Yeovil fans.... I know I will!

Middlesbrough 5/10/13

With only a week between away games, it was a rare novelty that I had a football trip two weekends in a row. As I had spent the last one at my parents instead of travelling all in one day, I decided I'd do just that for Middlesbrough. I wanted to be able to have a Saturday night at home, in my own bed, and have the whole day Sunday rather than football taking up my whole weekend. Unfortunately housework doesn't do itself... ;) so the plan was settled - I would drive up and back to Middlesbrough all in one day.

I left the house around 7am, and with a stop at Tibshelf services halfway up the M1, I made it to Middlesbrough at around 12. I found some free on street parking just a short walk from the ground, and an even shorter walk from Doctor Browns - the away fans pub as recommended by Boro fans. After meeting up with my dad and a swift half of cider in the pub (can't be too careful when driving!) we headed on down to The Riverside.

Another very impressive stadium - it's quite clearly a a Premier League ground in the wrong division. We bought our tickets and were told we had to sit in our seats... guffaw :)

Being on the side of the pitch we couldn't get our customary top left of goal seats, but it was a pretty decent view from where we were!

The travelling contingent was much smaller this weekend -  probably due to Bolton away, Leicester at home on the Tuesday (another defeat...) and having been to the Riverside before in the cup fairly recently. There's something different about visiting a ground in the League though - we were finally on the same level, or so it seemed...

A bright start for Yeovil with the goal coming on just 4 minutes from Liam Davis. It was a beautiful strike too - as he sprinted past the defender to slot it home from outside the box. Absolute jubilation from the 236 Yeovil fans who had to be impressed by our early showing. But all too quickly, it fell apart. On just 8 minutes, Grant Leadbitter slotted home a well taken shot from a corner that we just didn't deal with. And that became the recurring theme. End to end didn't even begin to cover it, with both sides having chances and running at two poor defences. But it was Middlesbrough who capitalised and after scoring their penalty on 20 odd minutes - a definite penalty we couldn't argue with - they completely took over. It was embarrassing, to say the least. Middlesbrough absolutely cut us to ribbons with our defence stationary. It was quite clear, to me at least, that the issues were in midfield. Middlesbrough just has so much room, and we were chasing shadows to coin a popular cliche.

Our substitutions, in light of where the obvious problems were, were baffling. Andy Williams was taken off after half an hour and quite rightly so - he was absolutely dire. But he was replaced by Hoskins -  a little dink against massive midfielders and defenders -  a poor choice. And at the start of the second half, an ineffective Paddy Madden was replaced by.... KIEFFER MOORE. A completely untried forward from Dorchester. All the while we were still completely wide open in the midfield.

We did finally bring on Dawson with around 10 minutes to go. This should have been at least half an hour earlier, half time or even before. I don't know what Foley and Dawson have to do to get in this side. I really don't.

I go over all this in the video anyway so give it a watch if you like! Thought it would make a nice change. Sorry its poor quality though, it's clear that driving and making videos doesn't mix with all the road noise. If I do a video again I'll make sure I'm stationary first! Bear in mind this is also very raw after an embarrassing and gutting defeat so I am not exactly complimentary...

A very bad photo of me at The Riverside

The trip home wasn't too bad -  I stopped on the way to pick up some cider as I had a feeling it was going to be necessary to try and forget the absolutely dire performance. I made it home just before 10, after over 9 hours driving in one day and costing me around 100 pounds including petrol and the £27 ticket price. Just not good enough...

Bolton 28/9/13

Having not been to a game for what seemed like an eternity, the away trip up to Bolton finally came around. Since my last game away at Burnley in August, we'd played seven games - at home to Derby, Birmingham in the cup, Reading and QPR, and away at Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich. A draw and five losses (we lost on penalties to Brum). Ouch.

The prospect of Bolton Wanderers, who were on their own bad run of form, was therefore a promising one. I'd booked train tickets up to Horwich Parkway - the station right next to the ground - and arrived at 12;15. I met up with a couple of Yeovil fans on the train from Manchester. We all seemed cautiously optimistic...

I met up with my dad at the station and we headed to The Beehive - the pub recommended by Wanderers fans for the away contingent. It's becoming a recurring theme that Championship clubs do NOT like away fans in the pubs close to the ground. Fair enough - but we're only Yeovil! Our "firm" quota is pretty small, if not none-existent with very few arrests since joining The Football League. But I guess they have to have the same rules for all fans. The Beehive was only a 15 minute walk, and was full of Yeovil fans so it was worth seeking out. It also had amazing food - we got two meals for a tenner and they were absolutely beautiful. After meeting up with our usual crew we headed on down to the Reebok.

In The Beehive

A very impressive stadium and a little daunting to say the least. We bought our tickets and were told we had to sit in our allocated seats, and remain seated for the whole game. But we're Yeovil - we do what we want :) we picked our customary top left of goal seats, and of course, stayed standing. The stewards seemed to have no problem with it, at least!

It was my first viewing of the absolutely massive Little Old Yeovil flag - it's probably been aired at home games but I'd never seen it before. I also had the honour of holding one of the corners as we held it aloft over our heads during the warm up and before kick off.

Little Old Yeovil flag

It may be an impressive stadium but it sure was quiet. The Wanderers fans were almost silent, for large parts of the game. Perhaps they haven't had a lot to cheer about in recent months :)

The game itself was a largely uneventful and flat affair, particularly in the first half. Bolton hit the post early on, which was a big let off for us, and we were losing possession far too easily in the midfield. Bolton had probably the best of the chances, but possession was pretty much equal over all and it was hard to think of any events of real note in the first half. 

In the second half Yeovil had a bit more of a rush about them, but Bolton came out the brighter, putting pressure on us and forcing some good saves from Hennessey. But it was Yeovil who were the fortunate, with a gifted goal from Bolton keeper Bogdan. A shot from Ed Upson, which was a pea-roller from about 20 yards out, went under the keeper's legs as he bent to collect it. It was a delayed reaction from Yeovil fans, who had all turned to each other in dismay at the effort from Upson, and took a few split seconds to realise what had actually happened. Complete elation as everyone hugged and jumped around, and we were looking good for the win with just 10 minutes left to play. 

All we had to do was keep it tight, all we had to do was see the game out. But Yeovil Town cannot do that. We have to make things difficult for ourselves. With just four minutes to go in added time we gave away a free kick which we defended poorly, and allowed BWFC to head home the equaliser. As it turns out, the cross was way over the touchline and the goal shouldn't have stood - but it was only in replays that this became apparent. Bolton had a chance to nick the win in the dying seconds, with a header that was thankfully straight at Yeovil keeper Hennessey. 

It shows how far we've come that we were disappointed with a point away at Bolton, and I don't like to continually blame the officials, but we should have come away with three points from that game, and it was gutting to have given it away in the dying embers in the game.