Yeovil Town made it seven league games without a win when they lost by three goals to two against Cambridge United this afternoon.
An awful first 35 minutes saw the Glovers go three goals down to a Dean Gaffney double and a third from Luke Berry. Ryan Bird pulled a goal back on the half time whistle but despite adding a second through Josh Sheehan, the equaliser wouldn’t come and Yeovil remain rooted in 23rd spot, above only Dagenham & Redbridge.
After Tuesday night’s late, late defeat to Mansfield, Yeovil boss Paul Sturrock made two changes to his starting eleven. Striker George Thomas, brought in this morning from Coventry City on a months loan went straight into the starting line up at the expense of Shaun Jeffers. The other change saw Alex Lacey come into the back four for Stephen Arthurworrey who missed out with a knee injury.
The Glovers worst nightmare arrived only two minutes forty seconds into the match. The influential Harrison Dunk played a long ball in from the left flank at was headed back across goal for Rory Gaffney to lash home past a helpless Artur Krysiak.
Thomas on his debut showed some nice touches early on but the play passed him by a lot as Cambridge remained on the offensive in a one sided first half. Jeff Hughes, formerly of Bristol Rovers, cottoned on to a clearance but his shot from 25 yards took two bounces before reaching Krysiak in the Yeovil goal.
On 25 minutes, the U’s doubled their lead, again from a cross followed by a header. This time. Ryan Donaldson swung in a corner and after a bout of head tennis, the ball fell again to Gaffney who fired home his second of the afternoon.
To their credit though, Yeovil almost replied four minutes later, Ryan Bird taking advantage of a mix up between two United defenders to thump a shot against the base of the post. Jakub Sokolik then glanced a Ryan Dickson corner inches over.
The respite was temporary though as Cambridge scored a third on 34 minutes. Dunk put a ball across from the left flank and Luke Berry smashed home from outside the box to make it 3-0.
With two minutes of the first half remaining, Yeovil grabbed a lifeline. Sokolik played a glorious diagonal ball through to Bird and the striker controlled before finishing with aplomb into the corner for his sixth goal of the campaign.
The second half started with Yeovil much brighter and for the first fifteen minutes, it was all Yeovil. Dickson tested visiting keeper Sam Beasant with a rasping shot that was parried back to Dickson but he couldn’t control his follow up. Connor Roberts then set up Harry Cornick but the on loan Bournemouth attacker’s shot was turned round the post by Beasant. From the corner, a header was cleared away by Dunk off the line before Thomas’s header was brilliantly tipped over for another flag kick by the keeper.
After Marc Laird had volleyed way over, Yeovil’s comeback took another step forward with twelve minutes remaining. Dickson swung in a corner, Sokolik flicked on and Josh Sheehan, unmarked at the back stick, sidefooted carefully home to make it 2-3.
Try as they might, the vital third goal would not come and to be fair, the home side had few real chances late on to score. Jordan Slew for Cambridge wasted a golden chance with five minutes to go, delaying his shot and ending up being tackled, Liam Hughes shanking his follow up shot well wide.