L1: Yeovil 1 Charlton 1

A tale of two halves in which the weather was the ultimate winner - that's the verdict on yesterday's entertaining 1-1 draw at Huish Park. The Glovers played with the elements in the first half and dominated early proceedings, assisted by Sam Sodje's dismissal on 30 minutes for a professional foul on Ryan Mason. The home side went into a deserved 1-0 half-time lead following Jon Obika's strike 2 minutes before the interval. We thought the wind and rain had been bad enough in the first half but if anything it got even worse after the break and now the boot was on the other foot. Charlton used the conditions intelligently - dare I say it with rather more goal threat than Yeovil showed when they had the wind and rain in their favour - and bombarded the Glovers goal with shots and crosses from all angles before another Sodje - Akpo this time - equalised with an unstoppable 25-yard effort. The Londoners put the Glovers goal under siege for the rest of the game but a combination of superb goalkeeping and heroic defending kept the Addicks at bay. Another thoroughly entertaining afternoon at Huish Park and a good point for both sides in the end in dreadful conditions.

Line up and merit marks as per usual:

(4-4-1-1)

1. Alex McCarthy: 9/10 - Unquestionably the Glovers man of the match for his second half performance alone. Made any number of vital saves and blocks in the face of a howling gale and driving rain. Outstanding.

2. Craig Alcock: 8/10 - Committed and gritty performance exemplified by his brave charge-down of a Charlton shot right at the end. Excellent.

4. Stefan Stam: 7/10 - Strong in the air in particular. Sometimes you just wish he'd HOOF the ball clear rather than always looking for the clever pass, but that's a relatively minor criticism.

5. Steven Caulker: 7/10 - Another first-class display, particularly during that backs-to-the-wall second half.

23. Danny Hutchins: 7/10 - Danny's back! Ran out of steam towards the end and was rightly subbed, but the promise he showed at the end of last season is back.

16. Scott Murray: 6/10 - Not a bad performance by any means but one would have hoped for a little more goal threat from our most experienced player in the first half particularly. Faded right out of it after the break and was rightly subbed.

25. Shaun MacDonald: 6/10 - Not one of Shaun's stand-out best performances. Never stopped running but somehow didn't see as much of the ball as usual.

21. Jean-Paul Kalala: 7/10 - Usual all-action game. I remember being lukewarm concerning his return at the time, but in fact he's turned out to be one of our most important permanent players.

11. Andy Welsh: 5/10 - As the least physically-imposing player in the squad Andy was always likely to struggle in yesterday's conditions. Never really came to terms with the wind from his set-pieces. Disappointing.

13. Ryan Mason: 8/10 - As the second least physically-imposing player in the squad Ryan was always likely to struggle in yesterday's conditions - except class will out. Ran the game in the first half, caused the visitors to go down to ten men and provided the pass for our goal. My only criticism would be that he should have taken the opportunity to shoot on goal more during the first half - Sodje showed after the break what might have been if Ryan had given himself the chance more often rather than trying to find that killer ball all the time. A wonderful player to watch however and one can only guess where he might be in a few years time. Spurs first team? At the very least, I would say.

26. Jonathan Obika: 7/10 - I said a couple of weeks ago that Obika needs to start upping his game and I'm pleased to say that he did that yesterday. Has a good understanding with Mason and took his goal clinically.

Subs:
6. Terrell Forbes (69 mins for Scott Murray): 6/10 - Came on as an emergency extra-defensive midfielder - and did okay in an unfamiliar role.

14. Dean Bowditch (60 mins for Andy Welsh): 5/10 - Bowditch is a goalscorer and if he's going to play he must surely play as a striker. As it was he barely saw the ball stuck out on the left. Skivo must in my opinion find a way to accomodate Mason, Obika and Bowditch in the team, without exiling any of them on the wing.

28. Nathan Smith (85 mins approx for Danny Hutchins): N/A - Not on long enough to make a real impresson, but nice to see him back at last.

The result leaves the Glovers down one place in the table from last week in 13th position and on 22 points. The biggest talking point of the weekend was the crowd, or the lack of it, with around 3,600 home fans making the effort on what admittedly was a foul day. I'm afraid that I can't see things improving in the short-term at least, regardless of the attractiveness or otherwise of the football on display.

The board and their apologists would like you to believe that crowds are down because of the effect of what they call the 'Slade years'. They would have you think that the previous manager's pragmatic tactics and way of playing football is solely responsible for the decline in home crowds over the last few years, but of course that is simplistic rubbish. The club has squandered the feelgood factor that saw us averaging just over 6,000 a few years ago and with the board's lack of forward planning, their seeming complete indifference to the needs and desires of the ordinary supporter, and their almost total lack of communication with the ordinary supporter I'm honestly surprised that home crowds haven't dropped even lower than they already are. The supporters bar is an embarrassing disgrace, the tea bars are worse, and the match-day experience at Huish Park generally dismal, the football on show apart. Floating supporters are positively discouraged with a £2 surcharge on matchday admission. You can't buy a ticket at the turnstiles anymore even if you're willing to pay the surcharge, but have to go all the way around to the ticket office and brave the queues there. The club should be making it as easy as possible to go to Huish Park, but instead seem to delight in putting petty obstacles in the way of fans. I could go on (and on), but it's a rant I've made too many times before already and no-one at the club is listening. One suspects that crowds will have to slip to pre-Conference levels before anyone will.