The Glovers recorded their first away win in 220 days after a hard-fought 3-2 victory against Weston-super-Mare. Motivated by the support of 850 travelling fans, the Glovers got off to a flying start.
Within 3 minutes, Jordan Young dispossessed a ball coming out of the Weston defence before finding Frank Nouble, whose shot brushed the side netting. Moments later, Jordan Young once again created a chance; this time, a cross from the left was fired into the box, but James Morton headed it clear.
Luke Purnell was called into action for the first time on 9 minutes when a free kick dropped to the feet of Morgan Williams, whose goal-bound effort was scrambled off the line. On 15 minutes, the deadlock was broken. Jordan Young was taken down 20 yards from goal. The winger took responsibility for the free kick and whipped his effort in off the left post, leaving Luke Purnell rooted.
Straight after the goal, the Glovers came hunting for a second immediately. Matt Worthington won possession back and found Josh Owers in the box, whose shot, through a crowd of bodies, was deflected wide for a corner. The resulting corner from Jordan Young found the head of Jamie Sendles-White, who nodded in his first goal of the season, with the Glovers leading 2-0 after 18 minutes.
The momentum turned after the second goal, with efforts from Kieran Thomas and Lloyd Humphries failing to find the back of the net. On 37 minutes, Reuben Reid’s low-driven shot was deflected and looked to be heading in, but was somehow kept out by the outstretched boot of Joe Day. However, moments later, Weston found themselves back in the game. The ball was cleared out to the feet of James Morton, whose deflected effort found the top corner.
The end of the half saw Weston putting increased pressure on the backline, but the Glovers’ defence stood firm, maintaining their lead going into the break. At half-time, Jamie Sendles-White was replaced by Zac Bell due to concerns surrounding his Achilles.
Weston started strong again when Jordan Bastin laid the ball off to Jason Pope, but his long-range effort was curling away from goal. The Glovers then extended their lead on 55 minutes. A deep cross from Jordan Young found the head of Josh Staunton, who flicked the ball back across to Frank Nouble, who headed in Yeovil’s third.
Weston almost struck back immediately. Former Forest Green man, Dayle Grubb, struck a free kick that was just wide of the post, brushing the side netting. The Glovers then made attacking changes, with Jordan Stevens replacing Rhys Murphy on 65 minutes before Jordan Maguire-Drew replaced Jordan Young on 71 minutes.
The fresh legs reignited the energy in the Glovers’ front line. Jordan Stevens broke through the defence on the right and tried to square across to Frank Nouble, but a vital touch from James Morton took it away from him. Moments later, Jordan Maguire-Drew came close to getting on the scoresheet as a cross from Frank Nouble was nicked off Maguire-Drew as he was about to pull the trigger.
With just over 10 minutes left on the clock, a string of corners from Weston was scrambled clear by the Glovers. The last of which came out to the feet of Lloyd Humphries, who fired high and wide.
As the game approached stoppage time, there was a small delay due to a medical incident in the stands. During this time, Weston manager Scott Bartlett encroached on the pitch to speak to the referee, resulting in him being shown his marching orders.
Three minutes into the eight additional minutes shown, Matt Worthington had a chance to put the game beyond reach as he fired agonisingly wide from a Zac Bell cross. Deep into stoppage time, Weston got a goal back. Jamie Soule got on the end of a free kick and, with a tidy header, put it beyond Joe Day.
This created a grandstand finish as the additional time went beyond the allocated eight minutes due to stoppages. The pressure increased on the Glovers’ defence as Weston threw everything and the kitchen sink at getting an equaliser, but the Glovers stood firm to record their first victory on the road.
