Latics embarrassed by Yeovil

Athletic 0, Yeovil 4

IMAGINE racing downstairs on Christmas morning as a young child, tearing off the wrapping paper of that toy that was at the top of your list.

You are hoping, praying and expecting Elsa from Frozen.

Instead, you get Ethel, a knock-off from a Chinese sweatshop.

Her dress is stained and her arms fall off when she’s taken out of the box.

Then she suddenly blows up, for no apparent reason.

That’s the sort of feeling of crushing disappointment Lee Johnson must have experienced here, on a freezing festive afternoon when the expectant build-up to a family affair failed miserably to match the reality for his appalling team.

MORALE-ERODING

Play-off chasing Athletic were geared up to claim three points from the the Glovers, who were second-bottom of Sky Bet League One before Saturday and heading into the game on the back of a morale-eroding 1-1 draw at minnows Accrington in the FA Cup.

But befuddled by a new formation and suddenly and unexpectedly appearing to lack the basic skills needed at this level, Athletic fell to pieces at the gentlest prod from the visitors.

A full, forensic examination of what exactly happened would probably take more time to conduct than the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war.

There were a few main threads to mark up when assessing the damage, though.

First, the formation. Last week against Doncaster, Johnson felt his full-backs didn’t offer enough going forward at either side of a midfield diamond.

Here, the switch to a 3-5-2 shape was intended to ensure that Brian Wilson and Joseph Mills had the freedom to attack.

The experiment was an unabashed failure. Abandoned after the first goal for Yeovil — a comedy of errors, with captain Liam Kelly’s pale imitation of a replacement Timothee Dieng first caught dawdling on the ball, before Daniel Johnson decided not to bother marking scorer Stephen Arthurworrey from a corner — it was perhaps enough to scramble the mind of Genseric Kusunga.

It’s hard to believe a defender of his clear ability and athleticism could perform so catastrophically badly. First he was caught ball-watching as a 50-yard pass went over his head allowing Simon Gillett to control and slam home past Paddy Kenny.

Twelve minutes later, it was 3-0 when Kusunga miscontrolled a simple clear-up job, allowing Sam Hoskins to race in behind him again and prod into the far corner.

Earlier, Danny Philliskirk might have done better than digging out a shot which passed a foot wide after a sudden bout of football from the home side.

And after Yeovil went a goal up and before their second, Jabo Ibehre may have doubled his goals tally to two for Athletic, only for a heavy touch allowing under-worked Yeovil goalkeeper Jed Steer to bravely gather at his feet.

Mike Jones also hit a shot which passed not too far wide from 20 yards out.

But there was a vast wasteland where Athletic’s midfield should have been and the plot was lost in a half characterised by rank ineptitude.

Did it get any better after the break? Not really.

Two substitutions were made, rescuing Kusunga and Dieng from further embarrassments, but without captain Kelly and top scorer Jonathan Forte to call on it was a shuffling of the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Carl Winchester and Domonic Poleon raced round the pitch and Athletic’s players at least stuck their chests out as if to prove they weren’t all sparrows.

But Yeovil were still the more composed side, easily snuffing out attacks while providing danger on the counter-attack.

Pulses were raised briefly when Seth Ofori-Twumasi was leniently judged to have committed a studs-up foul on Mills which was only worthy of a yellow card and Nathan Smith almost headed beyond his own goalkeeper.

An own goal was probably the best Athletic could have hoped for and Nathan Smith almost turned a header into his own goal.

But the real action was located mainly in Kenny’s penalty area. He made his one save of the day when palming aside a Foley shot and was then skipped around when ex-Athletic man Tom Eaves fluffed his lines in missing an open goal.

Eaves missed another golden chance, too, Gillett shot narrowly wide and only a Brian Wilson block prevented Joe Edwards’ attempt going in.

At the other end, a drive by Johnson which fizzed a foot over and a left-footed Brian Wilson daisy-cutter were all Athletic could really muster.

Kiefer Moore’s well-struck shot, after a goal kick was allowed to find its way to him, put the tin lid on an awful, thoroughly embarrassing afternoon for Athletic.