17th October 2020

Ten-man Yeovil Town battled hard for a point against Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday afternoon as the Glovers drew 0-0 at Victoria Road.

After a positive first half performance, Luke Wilkinson was given his marching orders in the second half.

Despite being a man down, the Glovers held their own to earn a share of the spoils at Victoria Road.

After switching to a 3-5-2 against Halifax, Darren Sarll opted for more of the same with just two changes to the side which started in Yorkshire.

Adam Smith kept his place between the sticks after a strong start to the season, with Wilkinson, Lee Collins and Josh Staunton ahead of him.

The flanks saw starts for Dan Leadbitter and Gabby Rogers who earnt his first start of the season following a successful cameo against The Shaymen. Charlie Lee, Albi Skendi and Matt Warburton also began in the midfield.

After Courtney Duffus picked up a knock, Joe Quigley started his first game for the Glovers against his former side alongside Rhys Murphy.

The opening stages were an even contest, with chances falling to both sides within five minutes, Sam Deering fired wide with a first-time effort from the hosts but the better of the chances fell to Charlie Lee who had his effort saved by Elliot Justham from around 15-yards out.

As the half progressed, so did Yeovil as Sarll’s side began to apply significant pressure on the Daggers backline.

Murphy thought he had opened the scoring in the 32nd minute, after expertly beating the offside trap, his effort struck the post and agonisingly dropped the wrong side of the line for Dagenham to clear.

The Glovers were dealt a defensive blow as the half entered its closing stages, after captain Collins went down off the ball, he was replaced by Carl Dickinson in the 37th minute.

After being denied by the post, the crossbar denied Town in the 40th minute as Wilkinson hammered a trademark free-kick onto the bar from around 35-yards out.

The second half saw Yeovil begin at the same pace, with Lee firing an effort over the bar in the 46th minute.

The Glovers were dealt another defensive sucker punch in the 60th minute, with Wilkinson given his marching orders for a last-man foul on the pacey Darren McQueen.

Despite the man disadvantage, chances continued to fall for Town, with the always bright Rogers firing over in the 65th minute.

The red card did take the sting out of Yeovil’s continued waves of attacks, largely being limited to the counter attack. Leadbitter should have done better with Yeovil’s best chance on the break, failing to find Murphy as he bared down on goal.

With Skendi and Staunton forming a makeshift central defensive pairing, the ten-man Glovers held firm and secured the green and whites’ first clean sheet of the season.

 

 

Yeovil Town: A.Smith; Wilkinson, Staunton, Collins (Dickinson); Leadbitter, Rogers (Worthington), Lee, Skendi, Warburton; Murphy (J.Smith), Quigley

Subs not used: Burke, Clarke.

 

D&R: Justham; Johnson, Croll, Clark, Deering, Brundle, Balanta, Eleftheriou, McQueen, Brown, Adams.

Subs: Robinson, Saunders, Wright, Brissett.