11th August 2018

Building on last weekend’s 2-0 win over local rivals Bristol Rovers, Archie Sturdy’s first goal of the season was enough for Town to add to their points tally. 

Missing Tai Fleming, Declan Rose and Neville Nzembela to injury as well as Tom Hayes (suspended) and Gabriel Rogers (with the first-team), the reshuffled youngsters started in confident fashion. 

With both sides enjoying early spells of possession, the green and whites fell behind inside the opening 10 minutes. 

Goalkeeper Tommy Scott was caught in possession inside his own box allowing a Cherries youngster to convert into an empty net. 

After scoring their fortuitous opener the visitors failed to gather any momentum and it was the Glovers who took control. 

The lively Harry Houghton fired over the bar following a well-worked short corner, shortly followed by captain Hong Wan suffering the same fate from 20 yards.

Remaining on the front foot the hosts pressed for an equaliser but couldn’t find the final ball. 

Nestor Shako posed a threat on the left wing but the Dorset outfit looked like they had done enough to take the lead into the break. 

With the referee poised to blow for half-time, a George Calverley free-kick only found its way to Sturdy who brilliantly dispatched an outside-of-the-boot curling effort into the top corner. 

Buoyed by their equaliser, Yeovil carried on where they left off after the restart and pinned themselves in Bournemouth’s half. 

Devon Arnold had a strike deflected a yard wide whilst Haughton dispatched a free-kick just over the bar with the Cherries keeper scrambling. 

As the rain began to fall in Somerset the hosts couldn’t make their dominance count and had to settle for an impressive point considering the number of absentees.

Yeovil Town Under-18s: Scott; Dix, John, Ojo, Calverley; Sturdy, Hong, Haughton, Clarke, Shako; Arnold.