Taunton CS v Yeovil and Sherborne B

The first weekend in November saw a visit from Yeovil and Sherborne Bs as Taunton CS looked to capitalise on the wins in the two preceding weeks. With a number of players available for selection the home side were able to a full squad of 14 having only had the bare 11 the week before.

The game started with the away side having the majority of the possession in the opening few minutes however Taunton soon began to find some sort of rhythm and were able to create a number of attacking plays putting some pressure on the Yeovil defence. It was notable that Taunton were finding space in the middle of the pitch and were endeavouring to utilise this however the away team were quick to close players down breaking up the Taunton attacking threat. With just over 10 minutes gone Taunton won a short corner and Simon Jones launched a drag flick from the top of the area which the keeper managed to get a glove to but only succeed in diverting the ball onto his own defenders head which resulted in a penalty flick being awarded. Simon Jones calmly put the ball in the goal and the home side were ahead.

Having secured the lead Taunton looked comfortable and threatened to increase their advantage. Toron Everett within seconds of coming on the pitch found the ball played to him in the middle of the D and obliged by hitting the back board for his second game of the season. The Taunton defence stood firm in the face of a number of Yeovil attacks although there were one or two moments which almost resulted in mix ups. Having broken down one of these attacks Jason Harris took the ball out to the 25 yard line where a Yeovil attacker chopped his stick in an extremely rash challenge and with not resulting whistle from the umpire Jason thought he would initially take matters into his own hands thought soon remembered his manners and backed off, although what was amusing was a Yeovil attacker, a third of the size of Jason sprinting in to push him in the chest to defend his little mate. Unfortunately the umpires decided that the teams were there to play hockey rather than Ultimate Fighting and duly awarded both players green cards.

With a 2-0 lead at half time Taunton’s half time team talked focused on the fact that they were in danger of being outmuscled on the 50/50 balls by a much smaller team. With that thought the second half got underway and it was not long before Taunton were reduced to 10 men as Toron Everett received a yellow card for raising his stick over his head. As per the week before Taunton adapted quickly to account for the man disadvantage although matters were almost upset further when skipper, Ali Johnston, knocked the ball away on (no after) the whistle resulting in a green card. Things went from bad to worse for the Taunton skipper as a few moments later he allowed himself to be beaten for pace (yes, hard to believe) and as the Yeovil forward cut in front of him managed to tangle his legs with those of the trailing Taunton captain resulting in the Yeovil forward sprawling on the turf with no players between him and Miles Cave in the Taunton goal. The umpire concluded that the a penalty flick and a second green card for Ali Johnston was appropriate and the flick resulted in Miles Cave swotting the ball back to the penalty taker unconcerned and thus preserving his clean sheet.

With the game moving into the last quarter there was still time for Taunton to grab another goal with Lee Slade taking a good chance with the correct side of the stick on this occasion. There was also time for another card, this time for Yeovil, as an opposition player refused to retreat five and allow Ali Johnston to take a quick hit. This resulted in the same Yeovil attacker who wanted to take on Jason Harris, sprinting into push the Taunton skipper in the chest (must be something to do with the youth of today). The card was duly shown to the Yeovil midfield as this was the second offence and ensured that Yeovil finished the game with 10 players.

Taunton ran out comfortable 3-0 winners despite a scrappy second half of the game and will have to maintain the performance of their first half to ensure they step up to the challenge of taking on Yeovil and Sherborne A next week. Ben Caile was deservedly awarded Man of the Match for a solid display at centre back winning countless tackles while Ali Johnston was aptly awarded D.O.D for his two green cards.

Team was as follows;

Miles Cave (GK), Jason Harris, Harry Elsmore, Ben Caile, Ali Johnston (c), Simon Jones (1), Jim Smith, Ben Witt, Jesse Mooney, Lee Slade (1), Mark Sawyer, Toron Everett (1), James Coles, Fin Porter