Game Twenty Nine - Yeovil Town home

11th November

So this was it then. The game in hand that could send us back to the top of league and possibly be the difference between a good start to the season and a great start. Such are the fine lines in football that we could have finished the game with Yeovil in any position from 1st to 5th and whilst the points difference between the teams is minimal, psycologically so much rides on each position that it was important to take the opportunity and head the table going into the next round of fixtures.

Having had the day off work to attend college in Nottingham (note to all - accountancy college isn't a great way to spend a day!), I made my longer than normal journey into the city and found myself around the place ridiculously early.... but that was ok as I was only there to collect the tickets for the Scunthorpe match in a few weeks. A bit of banter in the ticket office (being called "Sir" could well catch on I'm sure) and then I was off into town in search of food.

A quick bite to eat and then back to the stadium to get out of the cold winds and into the 1884 bar just to kill time waiting for my old man to arrive in from work. Didn't spend much time in there though and so decided to head up towards the station to meet the Cators and Dexter who hadn't been seen since the Huddersfield game over a month ago. Unacceptable!! Some how I got roped into being a pack horse and carrying her bag all the way to the ground - how that quite happened I'm not sure?!

Left them at the respective turnstiles and headed up to my normal spot in the East Stand where the old man was already there ready for a fun filled night of League One action.... and for once, it actually was! Right from the off we seemed to have adopted a passing mentality and stroked the ball around beautifully at times with Yeovil left chasing shadows. It's been years since I've been able to watch a Leicester side pass a team off the park but in all honesty what good is the quality football if you don't use it effectively in the final third of the pitch?

Chances came and went. Fryatt knocking it just wide from a Howard flick on, Oakley blasting it straight at the keeper after a great build up involving about 20 passes, and Oakley again just lifting the ball over the bar after a wonder pass from King left the defence for dead. Whilst this was all good, we were still conscious that we were level and Yeovil had a couple of efforts of little note that made us a little less comfortable than we had been.

It wasn't long though before we finally took the lead midway through the first half and it was a goal that was so familiar to us all after the Dickov and Deane promotion show. A long ball was flicked on by Howard and Dyer dummied the defender and lashed the ball home with his left foot to put us (theoretically) top of the league.

We continued to push after the goal but couldn't force a second despite other chances and good football in which we dominated possession and hardly let them even enter our half of the pitch, leaving Henderson looking a lonely figure.

The half time whistle sounded to a standing ovation and I headed off down to meet up with Katy and check out her random scarf that she wanted to show off to me... of course it didn't have a patch on the Ivory Coast or Leicester / Inter Milan wonder but it was a valiant effort none the less! Random chit chat and visit from Roy the Hullfox and it was soon time for the second half action.

And what a disappointing second half it turned out to be after the joys of the first. Nothing much happened apart from a few longer range efforts, one of which, a Fryatt free kick, just scraped the post on it's way wide. Yeovil seemed to grow in confidence from the fact that they were somehow not dead and buried and turned the pressure on in the last five minutes and you could almost see the script of a late equaliser ruining a professional performance.

But for once it was not to be and we held out to claim all three points and climb back up to the top of league one much to the joy and relief of those still in the stadium at the end.

So another game down and one step closer to an instant return to the Championship. A couple of away games to follow now with a trip to Swindon before a top of the table clash with promotion rivals Scunthorpe. Whether we are still top at the end of this tricky patch is yet to be seen but if we are then we should be in a prime position coming up to the christmas period which could determine how this season ends. In a season of firsts, could the final league position reflect what is becomming the theme? Fingers crossed!

Apologies for the shorter blog and if it appears different to normal - the website is playing up again and it's taking longer than normal to do anything on it!