Yeovil Town v Scunthorpe United

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Football League One

Yeovil Town :
Wagenaar, Alcock, Skiverton (sent off 34), Forbes, Smith, Downes, Roberts, Schofield, Welsh (Jones 80), Tomlin (Brown 36), Warne (McCollin 76)
Subs not used:
Murtagh, Irish

Scunthorpe United :
Murphy, Wright, Pearce, Mirfin, Williams, Thompson, Togwell, McCann, Woolford (Hurst 66), Hayes (May 74), Hooper (Sparrow 88)
Subs not used:
Lillis, Crosby

OPPOSITION VIEW

FROM THE YEOVIL EXPRESS

YEOVIL Town endured a disappointing return to playing action in their first game of 2009 at Huish Park.

The Glovers went down 2-1 to Scunthorpe United and dropped a place to 19th in the Coca-Cola League One table and just two points above the relegation zone.

Yeovil boss Russell Slade, so short on numbers, had to put out a side patched-up with many suffering from injury niggles. If he had a larger squad at his disposal then some of those players who had played last night would not have been included in the starting X1.

It was ironic, therefore, that one of his summer transfer targets Sam Togwell who, despite having lengthy discussions with the Glovers, decided to move from Barnsley to the Iron instead of heading for South Somerset, broke the deadlock in the 25th minute.

Yeovil's cause was not helped when captain Terry Skiverton was sent- off on the half-hour mark for an alleged elbow offence on Andy Wright.

Scunthorpe then doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time when Gary Hooper netted.

To Yeovil's credit they came out battling in the second-half but, despite all of their huff and puff, Scunthorpe never really looked in trouble.

But the Glovers did get something for their efforts when Andre McCollin, who had come on as a 77th minute substitute for Paul Warne, got a goal back in added time.

The attendance at Huish Park was 3,275...a new all-time low for the Glovers as a Football League club.

It was the lowest attendance at Huish Park for a league fixture since Yeovil joined the Football League in the 2002-03 season.

The last time Yeovil saw a 'home' crowd less than the 3,275 who were there last night was back on September 21, 2001, when 2,126 saw the Glovers notch up a 3-0 victory over Halifax Town in the Nationwide Conference with the goals coming from Gavin Williams and two Nick Crittenden penalties.

But it would be unfair to count that fixture as it was played at Dorchester Town's Avenue Stadium with Huish Park out-of-bounds due to having a new pitch laid - which the then Yeovil boss Gary Johnson described as one of his best ever signings.

The lowest league gate at Huish Park before last night's fixture with the Irons was on April 27, 2001, when Yeovil beat Dover Athletic 2-0 in the Conference with goals coming from Carl Alford and Adam Stansfield.

The attendance was just 2,852...but it looks as if the club is heading back towards that sort of figure.

Why? The debate has been raging, but surely club bosses will be looking at ways of rectifying this worrying trend.