Many times I've walked down Olympic Way towards the twin towers, to watch games involving other people's teams. For 30 years I've dreamt of doing the same with my own team. That dream is dead. In the Trophy's final year at the legendary old stadium, Yeovil limped out of the competition without too much of a whimper.

Things started brightly enough, and the home side created a few half-openings in the first ten minutes, but never again lived up to that start in this game. The fact that Kingstonian didn't really do much either (er, apart from score), makes the defeat no less palatable, and made the game a truly dull affair.

Ben Smith had a good shot on goal in the first minute, as a clearance from Glen Poole's cross found Smith on the edge of the box. He volleyed low and on-target, but without the pace to beat Farrelly.

Let's have a little quiz to lighten things up. In which Kingstonian match reports would you see the phrases "Gary Patterson used his forearm to whack a Yeovil player in the face", and "Jamie Pitman had to be stretchered off after a bad Kingstonian tackle"?

The answer to the quiz question, sadly, is "MOST OF THEM". Patterson got his usual yellow card for leading with his arm against the face of Warren Patmore (who made the most of it), while Geoff Pitcher put an end to Jamie Pitman's game with a dreadful tackle.

There was just one more spell in the game when Yeovil looked like they might score. Just before the half-hour mark Ben Smith might have done better with his lob after a duff clearance caught Farrelly off his line, and Adrian Foster put the ball across the face of the goal, electing to shoot rather than pick out the advancing Warren Patmore. Then Smith was in the action again bringing a comfortable save from Farrelly. The keeper wasn't really stretched by this Yeovil pressure, and indeed wasn't really pushed for the last hour of the match, apart from one decent Hayfield effort.

At the other end, Kingstonian didn't create any more, other than to score their 40th minute goal. They had just put Yeovil under pressure for the first time when Colin Luckett's cross found Dave Leworthy with too much space at the far post. He stooped to nod the ball past Pennock.

That was it. Nothing happened in the second half. Well, almost nothing. Matt Hayfield came on for Dean Chandler (not too soon), and fired in a great long range effort which Farrelly tipped over, and Adrian Foster should have done better when neatly put through by Warren Patmore, but there was little else to note.

This was a weak performance from Yeovil, resulting in defeat to an unimpressive Kingstonian side. Roll on the cricket season. Our football season is already over.

A terrace rumour was that someone from the board had said that Thommo would get the sack if Yeovil lost today. If true, that's far too harsh. The club need to give him more time. And they need to stop undermining him with nonsense like the David Webb affair.

Regarding team selection, the left central defender rôle is a problem. I think that Paul Steele would be a far better man for the job, and it's time to give him a run in the first team. Last season Colin Lippiatt avoided trying reserve players until the season was over, and when they finally came in the likes of Paul Steele and Anthony Tonkin impressed many. Yet this season they seem to be stuck in the reserves or on the bench again. One change that Steve Thompson made when he took over was to 'merge' the first team and reserve squads. I think it's time that this change was allowed to make a practical difference. Steele should start.

To look on the bright side, when Tisdale and Hayfield came on as subs the quality of the passing improved. Tisdale is class, and Hayfield is so versatile that their return should bring a big boost over the next few games.

There were also four Conference games today, see the results and updated table

Above: Ben Smith lauches a free-kick goalwards.

Above: Adrian Foster fires across the face of the goal.

Above: Terry Skiverton defends against Phil Wingfield