The wobble is beginning to get serious and after the joy of three points at Boston another lack lustre performance at Huish Park saw manager Gary Johnson scratching his head as to what to do next.

The performance at Boston had not been vintage but at least it had yielded the points but tonight at Huish Park the writing on the wall was there for all to see as early as the fifth minute.

To be fair to Gary Johnson he had stuck with the personal who had ground out the win at Boston with Stolcers and Tarachulski starting and Andy Lindegaard coming back after injury.

But when Oakes' outrageous lob from all of 40 yards beat a desperately retreating Chris Weale and went in off the post the dye was cast and the Yeovil players didn't seem to find anything to respond with.

Nobody could accuse them of lack of effort though and Tarachulski went close on 9 minutes and a Phil Jevons volley after 18 mins was only just wide of the post.

Although Yeovil were having plenty of the ball, when Notts County did push forward they looked dangerous and in the 24th. minute a fine move saw Glyn Hurst head home from close in.

Chris Weale was not having the best of nights and it nearly got worse when a poor clearance went straight to Hurst but he put his shot wide of an empty net.

Minutes later Oakes had another long range lob, seeing Weale off his line but the keeper was thankful to be able to put the ball away for only a corner.

Yeovil kept trying but nothing seemed to be coming off. The flicks, the nudges the short passes were just not reaching their men but Stolcers should have done better as half time approached but again Deeney saved from the Latvian.

It was pretty dire stuff and the players knew what to expect from the half time chat.

Half time: Yeovil Town 0 Notts County 2

Johnson made two changes bringing off Kevin Gall for Michael Rose and Bartosz Tarachulski for Marcus Richardson.
Andy Lindegaard nearly started the half brilliantly with the first Yeovil attack but his shot was saved by Deeney.

Phil Jevons had an overhead kick cleared off the line after ten minutes but when County attacked again quickly in the 57th. minute,   Stallard broke clear and with the keeper again off his line he was lobbed again and at 0-3 Yeovil had a mountain to climb.

Stallard was booked for his celebration to add insult to injury to the Notts County striker.

On the hour Paul Terry reacted to a challenge by Kelvin Wilson and got booked  and minutes later Johnson brought on

 

Marvin Brown for his first team debut fearing another yellow would see Terry off.

Yeovil kept pushing forward but nothing was coming off. Johnson had a shot over, Richardson found Jevons and Deeney finger tipped the shot over but at the other end Hurst shot over when clean through.

Brown nearly scored when he lobbed Deeney but the chance went wide but there was no mistaking the foul on Richardson which led to Jevons scoring from the spot.

 

Even the penalty though had drama about as referee Mark Warren decided the first effort wasn't right and Jevons had to then take the kick again,  but he scored just the same.

Sadly though it was too little too late and although a ball from Jevons  across the box only needed a touch nobody was around to get in on the cross in injury time.

So it's back to the drawing board for manager Johnson who all along has said it wasn't going to be easy. He was right but he usually manages to pull things around after a bad performance and I'm sure now won't be any different.

Full Time: Yeovil Town 1 Notts County 3

Tues.29th  March 2005, 7.45pm kick-off.

Conditions: Overcast with drizzle

Pitch: Wet but excellent as usual

Scorers: Oakes (5mins), Hurst (24 mins), Stallard (57 mins), Jevons (84 mins)

Attendance: 7,221

Referee: Mark Warren

Assistants: Wendy Toms, Andrew Turner

Bookings:

Yeovil: Tarachulski, Terry.

Notts County: Zadkovich, Wilson, Stallard, Ullathorne.

Yeovil Town : (4-4-2)
1. Chris Weale  4. Terry Skiverton 2. Adam Lockwood 16 Andy Lindegaard
7. Paul Terry 6. Darren Way 8. Lee Johnson  27.Andrejs Stolcers 11. Phil Jevons           18. Bartosz Tarachulski  9. Kevin Gall

Subs: 13. Steven Collis (GK) 10. Marcus Richardson (45 for Tarachulski)  26. David Woozley  28. Marvin Brown (70 for Paul Terry) 3. Michael Rose (45 for Gall)

Notts.County (4-4-2)
1.Saul Deeney  6.Stephan Oakes 7.Matthew Gill  8.Julien Baudet 10. Glynn Hurst 12. Chris Palmer 14. Paul Bolland 17. Robert Ullathorne 20. Kevin Wilson 25.Mark Stallard 29. Ruben Zadkovich

Subs: 21.Robert Elliot 11.Tony Scully 16.Steve Scoffham(88 for Stallard) 19.Emmet Friars 23.Shane McFaul (90 for Palmer)

Gary's post Match Comments - Notts County

Gary that was an incredibly disappointing result and an equally disappointing performance.

GJ: "Of course it was. It was a real bottom level performance today in quality and in mental toughness. There is a big job on for the rest of the week. We haven't got the whole week. We've got three or four days and I've got to find the formula that gets us wins between now and the end of the season.
"That's the biggest part of mine and Steve Thompson's seasons. We've got to find a formula, a pattern and a team that will get us through to the end of the season."

Credit must go to Notts County. They deserved their win tonight, didn't they?

GJ: "Of course they did. You have to hold your hand up sometimes and say that the opposition were better on the day. We have been better over the season and they are 20 points behind us. But certainly on the day they took their chances.
"We made all our mistakes and we lost goals when we made mistakes. But there is a clean sheet of paper now. We need to go back to the drawing board and bring them round and we've just got a few days to do it."

How did you see their goals. The first was a 50 yard wonder lob. Can you attach any blame to Chris Weale for that or was it just one of things that flies in the back of the net and you can't blame anyone?

GJ: "I think Chris Weale will be disappointed with himself. I think the navigation system in his head was a bit astray on the day. You shouldn't get beaten from that distance and there were a couple of other occasions. Chris Weale has been fantastic for us all season. "Today he has made two or three mistakes, but as the boys have said in there the opposition have still got to beat 10 other players before it gets to him. We didn't shut the ball down, we weren't winning our tackles and we weren't winning our headers. We looked a little bit like a boy scouts team against a top of the table men's team."

To add insult to injury he got lobbed again for the third and for the second Glynn Hurst was in acres of space inside your box to head home.

GJ: "Exactly. What more do you want me to add to that? You said it all!"

Before the game you talked about putting out eleven players that you felt you could trust. Did it hurt you more after the match that they'd let you down in the manner they did?

GJ: "I don't think they purposefully go out of their way to let anyone down. That's where the mental toughness thing comes in. You've got to take the pressure and you've got to be out there and you've got to perform. If you have got to go past people then you have got to make sure you go past people.
"If you have got to shoot then you've got to make sure you shoot. If you have to win a tackle you've got to make sure you win the tackle. All those things were not there, especially in the first half.
"Then we just had to play a percentage game and try and get the ball in their penalty area as often as we could, because our football wasn't getting us there. Even then we had a few chances but it would have been a travesty of justice if we had got anything out of that game today."

Six games to go, and Rushden is next. Obviously you've got some hard work to do on the training pitch. What are you thinking? What are you going to put the players through?

GJ: "We've got to pick a tactic, we've got to pick a shape and we've got to pick players that we think have got that mental toughness to get through to the end of the season and we've got to nick one or two results.
"We can't say it wasn't a disaster today because it was. I don't mind losing, but I don't like losing like we did today. We've had to break them down - which I've just done - and now I've got to build them up again.
"If you've not built your bricks right you have to knock them down and start again and that is what this week is all about."

Marvin Brown came on before the end and he was one of the few bright spots, if there were any. He was lively and caused a few problems when he got onto the pitch.

GJ: "We started getting the ball into the opposition penalty area and got the ball forward quickly and we showed a little bit more passion when we went 3-0 down, but that was too late. But Marvin did OK when he came on. He had a good chance when he lobbed the keeper and I thought he might have tucked that one in.
"We had a couple of other chances like Andrejs Stolcers in the first half where we could have come in at 2-1 where he should have scored. Marcus Richardson had a chance. We had a few chances, but generally we didn't deserve anything."

What was your reason for taking off Bartosz?

GJ: "There wasn't enough movement in him and he didn't create enough chances with his movement. Therefore we were a bit static when he played. If you look at their two centre forwards they were lively and they were getting across people, moving and causing the whole back four a problem.
"The big lad at their back was winning all of his headers and so Bartosz wasn't winning his percentage of headers. I just felt I needed to change him. I need to see it in their eyes and in their body language. Maybe he feels something different inside but I just felt that on the day I needed to make a change."

And Kevin Gall?

GJ: "Gally was the same. Gally was not getting in the game. To be fair at half time I could have taken 10 of them off. It was only Adam Lockwood who was doing OK. If I was allowed I would have made 10 substitions!
"The reason why I didn't make three substitutions is that you're always worried that you might take an injury early and then you are down to ten men. It could have been anyone but I just felt that Gally wasn't losing his man and wasn't showing his pace and ability and he wasn't being dangerous enough.
"Neither of them were being dangerous enough and they are two of my most dangerous players. They were the ones that took the brunt of it because I took them off, but I could have taken any of the others off, and everybody took a verbal bashing from me, except Locky."

It's the wrong time of the season to suddenly get two defeats at home.

GJ: "Yes, I've been in a few promotion situations, three with Cambridge and two with Watford and it's no different anywhere else. It's amazing the number of times that happens and you've just got to get through it.
"That's where my experience will come through I hope. There's not an awful lot you can do about it other than to hang in there, pick what you feel is the right team, pick a pattern and pick a shape for the last six games and away you go."

How important is it that you'll have Efe Sodje available and Arron Davies coming back?

GJ: "Very important because if I am going to make my ten changes I've got to have ten other people! Obviously all of the lads who didn't get a game will be uppermost in my thoughts."

You said about mental toughness being a problem. How do you help the lads?

GJ: "There is not a lot you can do. There is not an injection you can give someone of mental toughness. There is not coaching session or a run. It is just something that people out of experience grow to handle or not. What are they thinking just before they are about to cross the ball?
"Are they thinking, please God I hope I don't put this behind the goal? If so you know for sure it will go behind the goal. Or you think I am going to put this right in the danger area for us? There is a difference and one is a lack of mental toughness and that was our problem today.
"Whether it was a shot, a cross or a pass, we lacked it."

Can it be something that can be developed?

GJ: "Yes, I think it can. It definitely can. When you are a kid at school and you are playing in the playground there is no pressure. Kids can do anything at that point. Our boys on the training pitch doing five-a-sides look like Real Madrid and they are fantastic. "But it's producing that when it suddenly becomes a business and livelyhoods are at stake and you've got 7,500 people depending on them getting a result. You are looking for the players that can still play like they did when they were in the playground but do it under pressure.
"That's why the top players are the top players. Not because they have any more ability than the players out here but because they produce it more often in those big games."

Efe Sodje is a player that has been down these roads before.

GJ: "That's why I brought him in - Woozley as well. Richardson got the penalty there and got his head to a few more flicks when we were bombing the ball in there. It's hard in that rain when it skids off the floor and skids off your head. But that's why I brought the new lads in - because they give you that newness.
"They are not under the pressure that we have all been under in the last two or three years in getting Yeovil to where we are now. They are experienced and that is what I'm saying about the mental toughness. At this point those boys come in handy."

Sodje seems to have that big personality that can lift people.

GJ: "He has a big personality and he is very good in the dressing room. He won't be far away, that's for sure."