14th November 2015


Yeovil Town made it three games unbeaten this week with a point in a 2-2 draw against Stevenage this afternoon.

The Glovers twice took the lead through Harry Cornick and Shaun Jeffers but the visitors replied through Dean Wells and Tom Pett. Ryan Dickson struck the post just before the second equaliser; a goal then to make it 3-1 would surely have seen the Glovers hold on for only their second home win of the season. Instead, Paul Sturrock’s side remain in 23rd spot, gaining a point on York and Dagenham & Redbridge in the process. 

It was a blustery Huish Park that greeted the two teams at 2.55pm with a swirling wind and drizzle threatening all afternoon. Yeovil made just one change to the eleven that started against Gillingham on Tuesday night in the JPT, Ryan Bird coming in for Shaun Jeffers up front.

After the minute’s silence to remember the war fallen and the victims of the Paris terror attacks was impeccably observed, Yeovil almost made the dream start on three minutes. A long throw found Ryan Bird in space outside the box and his cheeky lob was only just kept out by Chris Day at the expense of a corner.

There were few chances in the first part of the opening period with Armand Gnanduillet and Steven Schumacher pulling shots wide as did Yeovil’s Ben Tozer, making his home debut. Stevenage increased the pressure on the home side, forcing several corners with Gnanduillet seeing his shot deflected for a corner and Chris Whelpdale’s header not testing Chris Weale.

As the half came to a close, the hosts began to threaten more with Connor Ogilvie heading a Matt Dolan header off the line and Bird firing way over. Late on, Dean Parrett caught Omar Sowunmi with a late challenge which earned him a yellow card and ended Sowunmi’s game early, Shaun Jeffers coming on at half time.

The second half exploded into life with three goals in the first twelve minutes. The first goal, on 51 minutes, was the pick of the match; Harry Cornick picking the ball up in midfield and cutting inside before rifling home from 25 yards.

The lead was to only last three minutes though as a corner swung in from the right found Dean Wells beyond the back post to fire home via the aid of a deflection.

But as quickly as Stevenage had levelled, they were behind again on 57 minutes. Matt Dolan swung in a corner and Jeffers met it with a perfect flick header to put Yeovil 2-1 up.

The game took on an end to end feel about it with chances at either end. Whelpdale went close with a header that dropped a foot wide while both Bird and Jeffers saw chances missed by equally narrowly wide.

Ryan Dickson came on for the injured Matt Dolan with eight minutes left and he almost produced the killer third goal. Harry Cornick’s sixty yard run was halted by a cynical challenge by Ogilvie, the defender earning a yellow card. From the free kick, Wes Fogden rolled the ball to Dickson whose left foot thunderbolt struck e base of the post and rolled away to safety.

Within a minute, insult was added to injury when Stevenage equalised. A controversial free kick was awarded wide on the right flank and Ogilvie’s inswinging delivery was met by Tom Pett’s back header into the net past the stretching Weale.

Schumacher was involved late on, getting a yellow card for a crude challenge in midfield then forcing Weale into the save of the match to deny him a goal from a free kick. In the sixth minute of stoppage time, another Schumacher effort sailed harmlessly over and the points were shared, probably a fair result, but Yeovil could so easily be celebrating a third successive win tonight.