Yeovil Youth Team Match Report

This is rather amusing, the reporter seemed to think it was too much trouble to look at both sides of the team sheet. In the event of Yeovil being knocked out of the Youth Cup, I wonder what manner of excuses have already been prepared. "Swindon Scorer" got a hattrick.

Yeovil Town's Under 18s went down 3-1 against Swindon Town yesterday as part of the dress rehearsal for Tuesday night's FA Youth Cup match. The match saw a scratch side that was decimated by injury, illness and first team call-ups meaning that the starting line-up contained five Under-16s players, whilst the bench could only field three out of the allowable five. Robert Clowes and Rhys Baggridge were up in Leeds with the first team squad.

It was therefore to Yeovil's credit when they took the lead, with one of the Under-16 squad Max Harrington sending a 20 yard bullet shot into the top right hand corner to put the Glovers 1-0 up. Sadly that lead only lasted four minutes, when Swindon's No.4 levelled the scores, and shortly after that Steve Boore had to make a strong save to stop Swindon taking the lead.

At the other end, Lloyd Matthews put a good effort just wide of the post, and the striker was a constant thorn in Swindon's side throughout the half. It was therefore a blow when Lloyd was the latest player who had to pull out through illness at half time with Corrie Lewis taking his place.

Swindon had the lion's share of the second period, particularly after 55th and 70th minute strike had given them a two goal advantage. Before that, there had been some alarm bells as the Glovers had to clear a goalmouth scramble, and Steve Boore was put under pressure from a Swindon corner, but claimed a difficult ball in the box.

Once Swindon had the lead though, the game swung more their way, and Steve Boore had to make some superb saves to keep the scoreline down. Overall, Ciaran Levet had a composed game in the unfamiliar position of left-back, whilst his opposite number Danny Williams grew into his position after a slow start on the right full-back slot. With so many players out on the day, the Glovers could have easily chosen to postpone the match, but took the attitude that it would be better to give some of the younger players a chance to further their development by stepping up a level for the day. Hopefully Tuesday night's FA Youth Cup match will allow some of the more senior players to make their return at the County Ground.

Final Score: Swindon Town Under 18s 3 Yeovil Town Under 18s 1.

Scorers: Max Harrington (0-1, 30 mins), Swindon No.4 (1-1, 34 mins), Swindon Scorer (2-1, 55 mins), Swindon Scorer (3-1, 70 mins).

Yeovil Town Under 18s:
1. Steve Boore 2. Danny Williams 3. Steve Harris 4. Sam Ford 5. Ciaran Levet 6. Mitch Conning 7. Johnny Oliver 8. Danny Rosser 9. Max Harrington 10. Tyler Sheppard 11. Lloyd Matthews.

Substitutes: 12. Corrie Lewis (for Lloyd Matthews) 14. Adam Wakley (for Max Harrington) 15. Sam Lanahan (for Johnny Oliver).