2nd February 2013
Yeovil Town made it five successive League One wins with a 3-0 victory over promotion chasing Brentford at a chilly Huish Park this afternoon.
Goals from Paddy Madden, an Ed Upson screamer and Dan Burn saw the Glovers home in a match where they struggled at times against a slick Bees side but then seemed to get a second wind and score when it mattered.
The result maintained Town’s seventh placed position but inched them ever closer to the top six and they lie out of the playoffs on goal difference only with the chance to move into the top six when they travel to Oldham Athletic on Tuesday evening.
Manager Gary Johnson named an unchanged line up again this afternoon meaning that midfield maestro Ed Upson lined up for his 100th Glovers match. His opposition, Brentford, came to Somerset as one of the best travellers in the division with only two defeats in fourteen games on the road.
And for the first twenty minutes they showed why with quick passing movement and usually attacking through the dangerous Clayton Donaldson, top scorer in League One. The big striker forced home keeper Marek Stech into a fantastic fourth minute tip over the crossbar when he volleyed first time from a defensive through ball.
The Bees then went closer still when Dan Burn cleared a shot off the line and on ten minutes, Donaldson fired just over the angle of post and crossbar when he beat Burn and cut inside.
Halfway through the first half, Stech produced his second top save when Harry Forrester and Donaldson combined to spring the offside trap but found the Czech in form, saving low. The keeper then saved again from Tom Adeyemi after the midfielder weaved a route into the penalty box.
On 33 minutes, Yeovil took the lead through who else but Paddy Madden. The Irishman seized on to a rebound pass from Kevin Dawson and fired home his seventh goal in four games with a cool finish into the corner. It brought the Yeovil striker up to fifteen for the season, just one behind his opposite number Donaldson.
Stech then had to earn his corn again saving from Bidwell then denying Adam Forshaw after Luke Ayling’s clearance had been blocked. Dawson’s ferocious shot was blocked by the legs of Simon Moore but Town then doubled their advantage five minutes from the break.
The ball fell to Ed Upson thirty yards out and the midfielder then let fly with an absolute screamer that flew into the top corner, a goal later described by Upson as the “best goal of his career”. It was a fine way to celebrate the milestone of reaching a century of games.
The half ended with both sides going close; Madden and Sam Foley both had shots blocked and former Glovers loanee Rob Kiernan pulled a shot wide of the near post.
The second half started scrappily with neither side really taking advantage over the other. James Hayter fired over after a lovely dummy of a McAllister ball in and Madden then pulled a shot wide of the post from a pass by sub Joe Edwards (on for Matt Dolan in the first half).
Edwards then volleyed over from 25 yards and Bees sub Sam Saunders also missed the target as the visitors looked desperately for a way back into a game that they hadn’t played badly in, just been out thought.
After Stech had saved yet again from a follow up shot after Jonathan Douglas’s shot had been blocked, Ayling curled a shot inches wide of the far post after great work by Dawson.
The third goal came with seven minutes remaining. McAllister floated a free kick in and Dan Burn met the delivery with a thumping volley that gave keeper Moore no chance at all.
Sub Kwesi Appiah had a late chance cleared off the line as Yeovil pressed for a fourth goal late on but the 3-0 win, allied with another clean sheet for keeper Stech, will give Town fans further hope that this season may yet turn out to be special.