Young Glovers EPDP team suffer narrow loss at home to Bath City in penultimate home fixture in the South West Youth Counties League
After last weekend’s semi-final cup loss to newly crowned league champions Torquay United, Yeovil returned to Alvington for a home league match up with Bath City. The visitors emerged victorious with a first half penalty settling a closely fought contest to keep the Glovers in sixth position.
Head Coach Matt Percival was able to welcome Mason Alden back into the midfield and gave Edward Gould a start at full back in place of Josh Sutton.
The opening ten minutes of a tight affair saw contrasting styles from both teams, with Yeovil seeking to get the ball on the floor and quickly into the feet of striker Sam Hodges whilst the visitors were causing a threat down the wings, although struggling for accuracy with the tricky windy conditions.
Yeovil were indebted to a fine sliding block from skipper Jake Graziano in the 12th minute as Bath City adapted their game to shorter passes and began to threaten the home goal. The only goal of the game came shortly after when the striker was brought down in the box and Kelsey put away the penalty to make it 1-0.
At the midway point of the half, home keeper Rob Hollard made a fine finger tip save to keep the score down as the home side struggled to find their rhythm.
As the half drew to a close Graziano put in a great pass for winger Charlie Bateson to chase and nearly reach and both Bateson and Alden began to probe with some purposeful runs to give hope for the second half.
Yeovil made a bright start to the second period with right back Callum Deemer making a great driving run into the box to showcase his athleticism and the team’s desire to put in an improved display. Percival sent on subs Benjani Jr for Hodges up front and Joshua John for Alden on the right and the chances began to come for the home side. After a throw-in and flick on, Benjani Jr was gifted an early chance but couldn’t keep his header down. Soon after, Aidan Skiverton had a great opportunity to force an equaliser from a corner but saw his header sail just over from 10 yards out.
As we headed into the final ten minutes, John was unable to take a great pass from Bateson in his stride as he bore down on goal, and it felt the goal they probably deserved was going elude them. In the latter stages Sutton came on to replace Deemer at right back and Rio Mapletoft on the right for Alden but Bath City held on for the win to remain a place above Yeovil in the league.
The Young Glovers travel to Torquay United next week before finishing the season with a home fixture against New College Swindon on April 9th.
Team: 1 – Rob Hollard, 2 – Callum Deemer, 5 – Finlay Ridout, 6 – Aidan Skiverton, 7 – Mason Alden, 8 – Mason Hunter, 9 – Sam Hodges, 10 – Max Dyer, 11 – Charlie Bateson, 14 – Jake Graziano © and 18 – Edward Gould. Subs: 3 – Josh Sutton, 15 – Rio Mapletoft, 17 – Joshua John and 20 – Benjani Jr Mwaruwari
