By Jacob Jones

Yeovil Town would rue a host of missed chances as Dorking Wanderers secured a place in the fourth round of the FA Trophy. 

A strong last 15 minutes should have seen the home team progress but it was not to be. 

For the tie, Mark Cooper opted for several changes with new signing Jordan Maguire-Drew coming in for a first start for the club. Elsewhere, Will Buse, Jamie Reckord, Morgan Williams and Matthew Worthington would come into the side. 

Yeovil settled the better of the two sides with Maguire-Drew having some nice early touches on debut. 

In a first half that lacked quality Chiori Johnson was a bright spark, always looking to get on the ball and be that attacking outlet.  

The first real chance of the game fell to Owen Bevan, who after a cross from Jamie Andrews would put his effort just wide. 

The game took a break just before half-time after Williams and Bevan clashed heads after going up for the ball, this resulted in Andrew Oluwabori coming on for the latter. 

The substitution disrupted the flow for Yeovil, who were finishing the half strongly prior to the injury. 

To start the second half, Maguire-Drew and Oluwabori switched wings and it almost immediately paid off with both players putting difficult efforts wide of the target. 

The game began to open up for both teams with a great clearance from Alex Fisher denying Dorking at one end before Worthington went close after a Reckord cross at the other. 

After that flurry of chances, the game settled into a familiar pattern of Yeovil controlling the possession whilst looking for openings. 

With 20 minutes to go, Mark Cooper rolled the dice and brought on Malachi Linton for Fisher. He was almost instantly rewarded with Linton pealing across the front of his defender before seeing his effort blocked for a corner.  

The following corner saw Josh Staunton get a header on target, but Dan Lincoln was equal to it. 

With the pressure on the Dorking goal rising, Maguire-Drew showed his quality. A beautifully weighted pass into the right channel found Linton who dragged his effort just wide of the target. 

Substitute; Charlie Wakefield then had a great opportunity. After finding himself in acres of space, he looked to pick out Linton only to see his cross blocked, the ball fell back to him, but his shot was once again blocked. 

As we hit 90 minutes, Yeovil thought they had finally found the winner after Staunton turned in Oluwabori’s cross. Unfortunately, the linesman had his flag up for offside. 

Yeovil couldn’t find any way through though and we would go to penalties. 

The shootout though did not go the way that Mark Cooper would have wanted after Jamie Andrews and Max Hunt, who had been brilliant all game saw their penalties saved. Dorking converted all four of their penalties and would take the shoot-out 4-1. 

A disappointing defeat for Yeovil who were the better team on the day but a lack of clinical finishing would cost them a place in the fourth round of the FA Trophy.  

Next up is an away trip to Torquay United on boxing day in the first part of the doubleheader. 

Yeovil Town: Buse; Williams, Hunt, Bevan (Oluwabori), Reckord, Staunton, Andrews, Worthington (Wakefield), Johnson, Maguire-Drew, Fisher (Linton) 

Subs not used: D’Ath, Britton