Yeovil became the first side to 'do the double' over the seagulls this season, when they inflicted the Albion's second defeat in a week and bought to an end their recent improvement in front of the home supporters.
To be fair, the seagulls played reasonably well and the score line was perhaps a little harsh - it was by no means Blackpool-esque - but the solidarity of the side was weak and the defending was poor. The loss of Dean Hammond, through illness, ripped the spine out of the side and his marauding box - to - box midfield leadership was sorely missed. Richard Carpenter was asked to play in the Hammond role, but lacks the engine to get from one end of the pitch to the other. To be fair however Chippy wasn't assisted by his fellow midfielders, Fraser and El-Abd both having indifferent performances.
Fraser started the game brightly but when it came to crucial moments in the opposition penalty area he seemed to freeze and often made the wrong decision as to whether pass or shoot. To be fair to Tommy though he has performed very well in his debut season and has racked up a lot of appearances and is perhaps ready for a break - and to be replaced by the more natural wide player Alistair John who needs to be given a fair crack of the whip. El-Abd, as always, put in some thunderous tackles but was shown up by his lack of passing ability and attacking instincts, like when instead of shooting from the edge of the area, he chose to pass only for it to be intercepted and a counter-attack by the visitors ensued.
Dean Cox returned to the first team and exhibited his usual high level of performance but he seemed to run out of ideas when Yeovil's gigantic goalkeeper kept on catching everything that was in his area. Alex Revell exhibited some good aerial play and won a lot of headers but his fellow attackers didn't get near his knock-downs so play was continually broken up around him. He also suffered from a lack of decent service and seemed a bit frustrated at the long-ball tactic the Albion frequently used and which rarely worked. Jakey Robinson had a quiet afternoon and apart from one dangerous run in the first half and a five minute spell after Gatting's strike, he was largely anonymous. In fact Gatting looked very lively (well as lively as he can for someone so slow!) and took his goal well and generally held the ball up well at a difficult part of the match. He still doesn't look ready to start a match but is steadily improving.
Wayne Henderson had a good game and can count himself unlucky to have conceded three goals. He made two or three excellent saves to deny almost certain goals and his kicking and throwing was decent. He still needs to command his area more however, as proven when Morris hit the post after a mix up between the centre of defence and himself.
And so to the defence, well Rents and Whing where both fairly solid but where unable to offer any attacking threat due to the extra work they had to do helping out Butters and Hinshelwood. It later emerged that Hinshelwood was suffering from 'discomfort' in his troublesome right knee and this probably covered why he seemed so off the pace. Butters seemed to struggle against the pace and movement of the two opposition strikers and often he was shown up for a lack of pace and mobility. With these two playing with a lack of pace the defence where very deep which sucked in the midfield as may explain why the long-ball game wasn't effective.
Credit where it's due to Yeovil however, their football was fluent, and in their front pairing of Morris and Best they have combination of skilled back to goal hold-up play and lightning pace will cause a lot of sides at this level a problem. In their goalkeeper Mildenhall, they have a real asset who as the Albion realised, can pluck most crosses out of the air with relative ease. It was only when Revell switched to right-wing and was able to get to the byline that we had much success - in fact that's when Gatting scored.
I think this is probably a game that we can sweep under the carpet and say it was probably down the youthfulness of the side, perhaps a more experienced Albion XI would have taken at least a point but that I largely inconsequential and as long as the seagulls learn from their mistakes then I am sure not to many fans will hold it against them. Expect Yeovil to be up there when it all concludes and probably, unfortunately, above us.
By RHYS TURRELLLabels: League One, Rhys Turrell, Yeovil
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