Match Report: Yeovil Town v. Huddersfield Town

By Alex O'Loughlin
January 31 2010

After another away defeat in mid-week, Yeovil looked to add to their impressive home record against play-off hopefuls Huddersfield.

With the arrival of Owain Tudor-Jones from Norwich on-loan, it meant one of the Glovers other five loanees would have to be dropped, with Jon Obika being the unfortunate player.

Former Yeovil player Lee Peltier returned to Huish Park for the first time and was met by some boo's from a small majority of Yeovil fans.

A crowd of 4,110 watched on as Yeovil started the brighter of the two sides, with Sam Williams closing down a Alex Smithies clearance and then a goal bound effort from Shaun MacDonald being diverted away from goal.

However, the first notable chance fell to the Terriers when Nathan Jones tackled debutante Nathan Eccleston only to divert the ball into the path of 17 goal striker Jordan Rhodes who some what unusually missed the ball completely.

The game was not one for the purists, with neither side playing very good football much to the annoyance of the onlooking fans.

With the ten minute mark approaching, Tudor-Jones looked to make himself an instant hero with a 35 yard shot which unfortunately sailed well over the bar.

Almost as poor as the quality of the football, were the officials, who looked set on ruining any chance of a flowing game.

As time went on the Glovers deteriorated and handed the gauntlet to Huddersfield who began to dominate.

Gary Roberts found space out wide and delivered a delicious ball across the box evading everyone except Nathan Eccleston whose shot slipped wide of the goal.

but the Liverpool loanee didn't have to wait long for a goal when Alex McCarthy and Steven Caulker bundled into each other resulting in the ball evading both of them and falling to Gary Roberts. His shot was saved superbly but the rebound was converted by the lively Eccleston. 0-1.

The Green and Whites heads seemed to drop after that and Huddersfield only increased their dominance, highlighted by an Anthony Kay drive which flashed just wide.

Approaching half time and again Tudor-Jones tried a speculative effort with the same result as previous.

However, as the half seemed to be petering out, Yeovil were handed a life line when Ryan Mason was fouled in the box by Neal Trotman after some neat play.

Despite scoring a penalty in mid week, Ryan Mason did not take the penalty with Dean Bowditch taking the ball. The striker stepped up and much to the disbelief of all watching blazed the ball into the stand with what could only be described as an awful penalty.

That summed up the half for Yeovil and when the half time whistle blew the Yeovil players were met by a harem of boo's. 

Half Time: Yeovil Town 0-1 Huddersfield Town 

With only moments of the second half gone and the Yorkshire team nearly doubled their lead when Gary Roberts' shot from distance nearly dipped in over Alex McCarthy.

Yeovil had previously only lost two games at home, but they didn't look like a side with confidence with a poor performance continuing in the second half.

Approaching the 60th minute and a rare chance fell Yeovil's way when a Craig Alcock cross was met by Ryan Mason who disappointingly headed wide.

The Glovers rallied after that and looked more likely to score but still lacked any sort of cutting edge.

Sam Williams turned his marker well before watching his shot rebound of Alex Smithies and out for a corner.

From the resulting corner Craig Alcock rose above his marker to head goal wards only again for Smithies to save well.

Continuing the attack Ryan Mason almost did a carbon copy of Sam Williams' chance with his shot again being saved.

Huddersfield looked comfortable and seemed to be some way off top gear and withdrew both Nathan Eccleston and Danny Drinkwater who were replaced by Lee Novak and James Berrett.

Yeovil soon after took off Dean Bowditch who had been some what anonymous all game and brought on Gavin Tomlin which was gratefully received by the Yeovil fans.

The game continued to only disappoint in terms of skill with Yeovil doing another substitution this time replacing Ryan Mason with Andy Welsh. Who again was met by jubilant cheers.

The two substitutes nearly worked a great goal when Tomlin's brilliant outside of the boot pass found Andy Welsh who unfortunately dragged his shot poorly wide.

The game eventually fizzled out and despite Huddersfield not really creating any chances, it felt as if they were simply doing what they had to. As the full time whistle blew the Yeovil fans expressed their anger with a series of boo's. Yeovil face Wycombe next week which could become make or break for the Glovers.