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Yeovil midfielder and Club Captain Steve Stott gives his view of things from the inside.
24th March 1998 |
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Yeovil 2, Stalybridge 0 (14/3/1998)
After the Kettering draw of two weeks we seem to have gained in confidence as a team and now have an excellent team spirit in the camp. I think this has played a big part in the performances over the last couple of weeks.
Form seems to be coming back for the team even though it is a bit patchy. When we did manage to string a few passes together against Stalybridge Celtic I don't think they could live with us, but we will have to do it on a more consistent basis against better sides. No disrespect to Stalybridge, but they are obviously struggling at the moment.
One thing that disappointed me in the game, although I was rightly booked for my reaction to the incident, I thought the tackle that preceded the scuffle was a dangerous two-footed lung that could have caused serious injury. Referees unfortunately seem to be more interested in punishing threats to their authority than serious foul play.
Telford 1, Yeovil 4 (17/3/1998)
The Telford game wasn't pretty, but we were very pleased in the dressing room at half time. Telford had come flying out of the traps for the first half hour and certainly looked the more likely to score, but we dug in and battled well to stay on equal terms. There was a time not so long ago when, away from home, we may not have dealt with this sort of onslaught so well and it is team spirit that gets you through spells like that. We even started to come into the game ourselves towards the end of the half so we were confident of getting something from the game at half time.
Brian Gray's well taken goal early in the second half just seemed to spark us into action scoring four times and playing some outstanding football on the break. Ben Smith's two goals capped another outstanding performance. We will have to make sure that we bar any scouts from the games the way he is going at the moment!
Northwich 2, Yeovil 1 (21/3/1998)
After the game against Northwich Vics. I thought it summed the game up when one of their directors came up to me and said things like, "I thought you deserved something from today's game", "It could have been six each if it hadn't been for the keepers" and "It was nice to see a side come here and play some football for a change".
I don't think anybody was too down-hearted because I think we tried hard and played quite well. We can certainly take heart for the amount of chances we created away from home. One interesting thing happened in the bar after the game; one of the Northwich supporters produced a newspaper cutting from a game that we both played in. Tranmere Rovers Reserves against Chorley Reserves in the Lancashire League in 1982, sixteen years ago! I'm sure he had the best intentions, but it didn't cheer me up much!
Steve Stott
24th March 1998 |
