A 6.30 start for the trip to Somerset – though that was far from the earliest in the branch. Still it meant we were in a nice country pub on the edge of Yeovil by 10.30 with time for beer and bacon sarnies before heading off for the game. The landlord even offered to drive our minibus to the ground and drop as off to save us the bother of parking and come back and pick us up later.

A sunny day, which was a good job on the open terrace and there seemed to be plenty of room in both ours and the Yeovil ends, no chance of a record attendance this year.

Becchio was upfront for Enoch, otherwise same team as usual.

Virtually straight from kick-off Marques knocked a ball forward into space, Becchio got there first and looked like he scuffed his shot across the face of goal, but it trickled into the far corner and we were one up before most people had woken up. We started reasonably well and Beckford also shot across the face of the goal early on but this one went wide. However, this soon petered out and most of the first half was pretty dull, Yeovil were no better with only one soft header into Casper’s arms to show for it and we looked largely in control without really threatening to score. A fractious game as well, Schofield limped off for them after jumping in a bit on Sheehan and Snodgrass got booked for diving and Becchio for retaliation.

Second half it was all change, suddenly we had no possession and Yeovil were getting it forward to Owosu and causing some problems. However, a goal still seemed unlikely until from another ball pumped forward, the ref gave a penalty for god knows what. A couple more bookings for dissent, before Casper saved Owusu’s penalty but then couldn’t find the ball and Owusu put the rebound in. We actually got worse for the next ten minutes and could easily have gone behind, in about 30 minutes in the second half our only opportunity came from a long range shot from Snodgrass that was straight at the keeper who spilled it and was relieved to watch it trickle past the post.

Macca made a couple of changes, taking off both wide players and bringing on Showomni and Douglas, unlikely as it seemed this actually improved the situation and we began to hold onto possession better and exert some pressure. Becchio shot at the keeper from outside the box, Beckford flashed one across the face of goal from a narrow angle and a promising opportunity was denied when another ball appeared on the pitch, when we were in possession close to goal.

Still it would be wrong to pretend we were the better team and the closest to a winner there was, game from a cross from our right which Sheehan somehow headed to safety from underneath his own bar. A draw was just about deserved if only because Yeovil weren’t great either but a desperately disappointing performance.

Scores

Casper 7 – Not a lot to do, saved a penalty (sort of).

Richardson 5 – Very poor with distribution. Not sure the new respect thing is helping him, with Beckford and Becchio engaged in a running argument with the ref, he was constantly made to run 50 yards forward to listen to them being told off.

Sheehan 7 – Solid enough, extra mark for great clearing header.

Rui / Huntingdon 6 – I think they are both good enough individually but not gelling as a pair.

Snodgrass 5 – Anonymous

Prutton 6 – Tried hard but little impact

Howson 6 – Tidy with ball but looks like he is trying to do too much and was lucky to get away with a couple of lunging tackles.

Robinson 4 – I know he’s never going to be Usian Bolt but does look like he could lose a few pounds.

Becchio 7 -  Looks good at times but needs to be in box more. Gives away too many free-kicks.

Beckford 6 – Another one of those looks dangerous but ultimately petulant performances.

Subs

Douglas 6 – Seemed to steady the ship

Showumni 5 – Only bloke I know who appears to get shorter when he jumps.

Delph 7 – Added a bit of much needed life.

Ref was shocking, Leeds fans were quiet.

A worrying moment afterwards when the bloke with the minibus failed to turn up and we wondered whether he was really the landlord or had we just given our keys to a random bloke in the pub, but we found him round the corner as the police had blocked the road off. A long way home in bank holiday traffic jams. Hello Highways Agency – can you built a dual carriageway through Stonehenge – its rubbish anyway.