Ye'own goal proves enough for a travelling 3 points

Having had a weekend free of football thanks to a well worthy trip to Reading Festival over the bank holiday, understandably I was roused for the next Saturday to come. And with it; a "so-called" short trip West to Yeovil.

I'm not sure what it is about the prospect of a trip to Yeovil, but for the same fixture last season, I had to make the journey on crutches after some unfortunate footing saw me tear the ligaments in my right-ankle, off-the-ball, playing for Cunning Stunts in 6-a-side football (WE ARE TOP THE LEAGUE, SAY WE ARE TOP THE LEAGUE). Ironically, my opposite ankle was the size of a tennis ball after a 1-1 draw Thursday evening, following an obviously goal-bound block to secure our unbeaten start to the season (see link above). Fortunately, by the time Saturday came, the swelling and pain had reduced and my Yeovil visit wasn't to be impaired this season.

With that same feeling of fortune in my gut, it was around 9:30am that I watched Soccer:AM to learn of our opponents for the 2nd round of the illustrious Johnstone's Paint Trophy, or Football League Trophy as its called sponsor-free. I was a little disappointed with the fact that we have a 2nd mid-week journey to make to St. James Park, Exeter, in a matter of 2 weeks. However, you can't fault the tie itself. On paper its an ideal draw to play a team that's just been promoted to League 1, having struggled to only record 1 victory out of 6 league games and currently reside on the edge of the drop-zone. But as we've seen many a time in cup competitions - the tie is played out their on the park and not on paper.

At the slightly earlier time, we set off at 11:30am to make the nether 2 hour journey to Somerset. It was somewhat a breath of fresh air as myself and Gigat were joined by 2 footballing civilians in the form of manic female shoppers. In comparison to my quest to visit as many of England and Wales' footballing grounds as possible, it would seem that they've taken on the inaugural task of shopping in as many of England and Wales' towns and cities as possible. The presence of Mum and Laura kept the talk of football to a minimum which was a peculiar feeling, but they were more than welcome to join us.

It was again fortunate that we left earlier than usual (thanks to "the buzz", I couldn't wait any longer). The journey on the A303, which should have taken us around an hour and a half, actually took double that time. As traffic mounted and we came to a halt, my decision to find an alternative route was helped thanks to the weird talking Spire FM bloke who informed us that failing traffic lights had caused lengthy tailbacks on the A303. Armed with this information and aided with the knowledge that being in a traffic jam with 2 ladies itching to hit Marks and Spencers and the possibility of toilet breaks being needed, TomTom found me an alternative route that would add 40 minutes to the journey. Whether this was beneficiary or not one will possibly never know, but I think we all agreed that having the car in motion rather than being sat stationary was a much better idea. My own stress levels were heightened as a combination of traffic-lights and terrible drivers made the remainder of the journey quite unpleasant. (If everyone on the road was as good a driver as me, I'm sure the amount of accidents and journey times would be slashed!).

We finally dropped the girls at a bus stop, somewhere in Yeovil, left to their own devices of stopping random people for directions and using their female instincts to find the shops. The journey had taken 3 hours!! Stress-relief in the form of a can of strongbow was necked back as we made the final short leg to the stadium car park. This time I had to park with the other minions as a lack of crutches meant I couldn't use disabled parking this time round.

You may be thinking I'm putting more detail into the build-up to 3 o'clock than usual. This is intentional thanks to a rather boring 90 minutes where chances were few and far between, and the match-report aspect will only fill a minority of the blog. Ladies and Gentleman, hold your hats because here goes:

Wilson had kept faith with the starting eleven that I had yet to see who held on against a 10-man Southend a week previous to secure a 2-1 victory at the County Ground. This included the recent loan acquisitions following Wilson's raid on the Celtic locker room - Striker Ben Hutchinson and midfielder Simon Ferry. Deadline day loan signing Alex Revell, who arrived from cash-strapped Southend, having played against the Robins just two days previous, and donning the number 31 of the recently departed prolific Simon Cox, had to make do with a seat on the bench today against the Glovers.

Swindon fans were in good voice compared to the reserved home fans in our Stratton Bank-esq home for 90 minutes, time and time again this seems to be the case for home fans. And a modest 4,807 faithful supporters were awaiting referee Monty Panesar's whistle.

Yeovil started off the brighter looking of the two sides, as you'd expect from a side playing on home turf, though centre back Scott Cuthbert, who has been able to hold down a starting berth ahead of teenage prodigy Sean Morrison, was rewarding Wilson for his decision by looking solid and making some important sliding tackles and interceptions.

On the left-side, wing back Lescinel Jean-Francois was being repeatedly tormented by Andy Welsh, though his crosses were being thwarted thanks to the constant aerial prowess of captain Gordon Greer and Kevin Amankwaah; who was playing against his old side for the first time.

Around the half hour mark, Yeovil had a half-chance go begging as Ryan Mason, who is on-loan from Tottenham, fired a 20 yard free-kick into the head of Lucas' defensive wall which then deflected wide, and Yeovil were unable to force anything from the resulting corner.

It took all of 41 minutes for either side to force the issue, which eventually came in the form of a Terrell Forbes own goal. Billy Paynter met a diagonal ball from on-form Jon-Paul McGovern, directing the ball back into the 6 yard box. Forbes was forced to deal with the tenacious flick, but unluckily directed it past his own keeper, with a goal to his name any striker would be proud of.

The whistle for half time brought a rather unimpressive 45 minutes to a close. Both sets of supporters would have been expecting to see more from their lads, as Swindon's reluctance to keep hold of the ball was outclassed by Yeovil's own inability to keep hold of the ball and make anything of it on the rare occasions they could force an attack, certainly not a home performance to be proud of.

Shortly after the break, confusion broke out as Yeovil fans behind the dugout erupted at what appeared to be a "square up" between the two "guvnors", Wilson and Terry Skiverton. The fourth official brought it to the attention of Panesar look-alike J. Singh, who subsequently sent a bewildered looking Danny Wilson to the stands. The actual events of what happened between the two managers appears to have been overlooked by all media sources I've looked at, and all post-match interviews appear to have avoided the matter, however the fruckus happened during the stoppage of play as Lescinel Jean-Francois appeared to be in pain as he took his own boot and sock off, and I imagine words were exchanged between the managers as Skiverton wanted play to continue when Lescinel was obviously worried by a knock.
With the game remaining to be a quiet affair as Yeovil pushed forward and Swindon resorted to an unattractive long ball approach, Robins faithful found little else to compliment apart from the efforts of once again lone-striker Billy Paynter. The scouse chased everything and put defenders and goalkeeper under pressure at every opportunity and his efforts were appreciated with chants of "There's only one, Billy Paynter", who showed his appreciation with a cheek-to-cheek grin and a thumbs up for the travelling supporters.
He nearly sealed the victory by doubling the scoreline in the 90th minute, his shot one-on-one with keeper Alex McCarthy was denied with a good stop. Paynter had been put through on goal after a sublime ball over the top of the Yeovil back-line from 18 year old Lloyd Macklin. 5 minutes earlier he had a chance himself after just coming on and stretching his legs to use his amazing pace and outrunning the defence, his almost certain chance was put just wide under the pressure of numerous Yeovil shirts. The 18 year old has certainly looked impressive in his few substitute appearances hes made under Wilson this season and could well have a bright future ahead of him.

As 90 minutes plus 4 was brought to a close, Town fans remained in their stand to applaud the efforts of the players, and the boys in red responded with an applaud of their own for us that travelled down. Billy Paynter chants rang out once again as the 25 year old looked visibly worn from his efforts out there today, a true servant to the Swindon Town machine which is now beginning to look well-oiled.

The 3 points today meant Swindon continue their league run of 5 games unbeaten following their freak 5-0 defeat at Gillingham first game of the season. They've totalled up 11 points from 6 games, enough for them to currently occupy the last playoff position, 6th in League 1.