Fading Latics pay the price

ATHLETIC forward Lewis Alessandra tries to get away from Yeovil’s Andy Welsh.

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Yeovil 1, Athletic 1
FROM the sublime to the ridiculous, this hot-and-cold performance epitomised Athletic’s mixed season.

In the first half, a terrific team goal on the counter-attack finished expertly by Chris Taylor gave the visitors to Huish Park — who also had two very early penalty claims rejected — a deserved lead.

Confident, assured and calm in dominating possession, Paul Dickov’s men were so efficient that Yeovil failed to muster a single shot at goal in the opening 45 minutes.

A sixth npower League One away win appeared more probable than merely possible.

Whether it was something in the half-time tea which upset Athletic is impossible to know. But, sad to say, the stomach for the fight was lost after the interval.

Even when reduced to 10 men via Luke Ayling’s rash pair of tackles on his big ex-Arsenal mate Cedric Evina, Yeovil took control of proceedings and constantly turned their opponents on their heels defensively with some rustic, direct football.

By the time Andy Welsh equalised after cutting inside from the right wing, capitalising on an error in control by young centre-back James Tarkowski, the Glovers had already hit a post.

It wasn’t much of a surprise, coming against an Athletic side who all-but shrank from view.

Referee Trevor Kettle will have better games and it could be argued that Ayling should have gotten his marching orders much sooner. His first reckless lunge at Evina half-an-hour in was as dangerous as it was unnecessary.

At the same time, the way Athletic played with the advantage of an extra man does not suggest that an earlier bath for Ayling would have made any difference to the final score.

Direct and with a manager in Terry Skiveton who made a number of changes to his formation throughout, Yeovil grew in stature after discovering that Athletic’s Achilees heel — a long, straight punt over the top — was their required route to gaining a foothold in proceedings.

And despite Athletic’s early domination, in the final analysis a draw that keeps both sides’ heads above the relegation parapet was a fair outcome.

Athletic boss Paul Dickov made three changes to the line-up which drew 0-0 with Charlton, one enforced by injury.

Out went crocked Reuben Hazell and Ritchie Jones was dropped completely, with Tarkowski and Jason Lowe selected as like-for-like replacements; Lewis Alessandra was preferred to Aidan White

in one of the wide positions after scoring twice in the week for the reserves, on the opposite side Taylor who was captain for the day.

The visitors could have been awarded at least one penalty in the opening exchanges.

Oumare Tounkara’s neat turn in the area saw him fall to the floor under contact and though there was no appeal from the big striker, Athletic were more vocal seconds later when Evina went slaloming through on the left only to go to ground under a very robust challenge from a Glovers defender.

As the trumpeter in the home end tried to rouse his side with a rendition of ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, it was Athletic who were ruling the waves at Huish Park with a very confident start which produced a peach of a goal after 17 minutes.

Paul Huntington gave the ball away in an attacking position and Dean Furman set Taylor away down centre-field.

On halfway, he fed the ball right to Reuben Reid and as the ball was slid back to Taylor on the edge of the area, he clinically and emphatically stroked a right foot shot across home ‘keeper Stephen Henderson for the game’s opener.

Jean-Yves Mvoto was impressive early on in diffusing a handful of attempted through balls and with Alessandra holding the ball well to buy his team time on the left wing, things looked rosy in Athletic’s garden. The one black spot for Athletic was their set-piece deliveries, which too often were poor.

Ayling was fortunate to remain on the field just after the half-hour. Evina controlled the ball on the touchline and surely didn’t expect his old friend — the pair came through the Arsenal academy together — to come steaming in at him, off the ground and shin-high.

A number of Athletic players, Dean Furman leading the way, reacted angrily to what they saw as a dangerous challenge. Referee Trevor Kettle felt a caution was sufficient punishment for the right-back.

Stroking the ball around confidently to starve Yeovil of possession, Athletic entered the half-time break well in control — apparently — of the contest.

Only 16 seconds into the second period, Athletic ’keeper Dean Brill was forced into making a fine low stop to deny Jonathan Obika after he was set away by one of a succession of long early deliveries down the left side of Athletic’s defence.

Tounkara was harshly booked as the visitors struggled to keep up with the pace of the newly-up-tempo Glovers and just before the hour, Mvoto deflected wide a shot from the increasingly influential Obika as he again troubled Tarkowski for pace.

Prior to Ayling’s second booking for a slightly late tackle on Evina, defender Max Ehmer left Brill rooted to the spot with a header which bounced off the inside of the far post before Tarkowski guided the ball back to his relieved number one.

And even with 10 men, Yeovil remained in the ascendancy as Athletic failed to move the ball around with any ease.

Oli Johnson was penalised for handball after streaking away down the middle from a suspiciously offside-looking position and Bowditch crumpled under a challenge from Mvoto in the box.

The pressure was building and the leveller came as little surprise.

The tricky, spindly former Stockport wide man Welsh turned inside Evina to leave the left-back on the seat of his pants. Though Brill got a hand to his left-footed effort, it dribbled agonisingly over the line to earn Yeovil a share of the spoils.