By Jacob Jones
A strong defensive showing from Yeovil saw them pick up an important point against Wealdstone to maintain Mark Cooper’s unbeaten record at home.
Owen Bevan’s second-half red card made the job even more troublesome, but the Glovers held firm to pick up their 11th clean sheet of the season.
After picking up a first away win of the campaign, Mark Cooper opted for just two changes upon his return to Huish Park with one being enforced. Lawson D’Ath came in for Jamie Reckord who was serving a two-match suspension meanwhile, Edwin Agbaje would make a first start after signing on loan from Ipswich.
Wealdstone started positively and created the games first chance when the agile Brooklyn Ilunga evaded the Yeovil defence, before teeing up Tarryn Allarakhia, who fired over the bar.
Having been woken up by that early opportunity, the Glovers began to see more of the ball with Oluwabori causing problems down the left-hand side.
The opening opportunity for Yeovil fell to their technician; Jordan Maguire-Drew, who could only fire the ball over the bar after good work from Jordan Young.
In truth, it was a quiet first half in terms of goal-mouth action, settling into a pattern of Yeovil controlling the ball and the away side attempting to counter whenever possible.
On the 50-minute mark, the game turned though after Bevan lost control of the ball in midfield he lunged in on the Stones player and was correctly shown the red card.
With Yeovil now on the back foot, it was about making the limited chances that they would get count. Maguire-Drew had two opportunities to do just that but both finishes lacked accuracy and didn’t test Sam Howes in goal.
Wealdstone were now beginning to make more inroads and after a jinking run, Alex Dyer would see his goal-bound effort superbly tipped away by Grant Smith.
Due to the imbalance in defence, Mark Cooper turned to Ben Richards-Everton to fill the void left by Bevan at centre-back.
Ex-Torquay striker Corie Andrews was brilliantly denied by Josh Staunton who blocked the forward’s flick after a cross from the right-hand side.
As we entered the closing minutes, the Stones began to up the pressure significantly with Charlie Barker seeing his close-range effort tipped onto the post superbly by Smith.
Injury time arrived and Staunton who had been brilliant all game pulled off an extraordinary tackle to deny Andrews who looked like he was through one on one.
That was the last of the opportunities for the away side and Mark Cooper’s men picked up an impressive point after spending just under half the game with ten men.
Next up is another home game against strugglers Maidstone United.
Yeovil Town: Smith; Agbaje, Staunton, Bevan, Williams, Cooper (Wakefield), D’ath, Worthington, Maguire-Drew (Richards-Everton), Young (Fisher), Oluwabori
Bookings: Bevan (red), Agbaje
Subs not used: Johnson, Clarke
