Draws are not enough

The good news after the Glovers 1-1 draw at Hartlepool on the weekend is that we're now unbeaten in the last 3 games. The bad news is that in every single one of those 3 games we have been unable to go on and win the game after first taking the lead, and that's something that must be a concern to Glovers boss Terry Skiverton as we enter the busy Christmas period.

It was a familiar tale in the north-east on Saturday. Sam Williams put the Glovers in front with a very welcome goal after 20-odd minutes, his first strike since September and only his second of the season. We couldn't hang on however and in icy and snowy conditions Hartlepool equalised through a somewhat scuffed (judging by the BBC highlights) Andy Monkhouse effort. Both teams had chances to win the game thereafter but the consensus seems to have been that the draw was a fair result. The club handed out free away shirts to all 85 away fans at the game as a thank-you for making the effort to go such a long way in such difficult travelling conditions - a great gesture and one doubtless appreciated by the away support at the match.

The weekend's results saw the Glovers slip down to 17th in a very tight table on 25 points, 5 away from the relegation zone. Yeovil have the somewhat unusual record of having drawn more games than anyone else in the division - 10 in all, 5 home and 5 away. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that if just a couple of those drawn matches had been won then we would be relatively comfortably ensconced in mid-table on 29 points; and if say half of those drawn games had yielded 3 points instead of 1 then we could even be right up there challenging for the play-offs at this moment.... But of course if my auntie had balls then she'd be my uncle as the saying goes and we are where we are precisely because we haven't been able to hold onto leads and haven't won enough games because of that.

Next up are strugglers Wycombe on Boxing Day, and if ever there's a team that we really have to win against then Wycombe are them. They've been stuck in the relegation zone all season more or less, but just lately have started to put a few results together since former Aldershot manager Gary Waddock replaced the sacked Peter Taylor. The bookies make the Glovers evens favourite for the home win, the draw is 12/5, and a Wycombe win 11/4. Given the stats above I perhaps ought to be betting on the draw for the rest of the season and would doubtless have been a couple of hundred quid better off If I'd been doing that right from the start. As it is my fiver's going on the home win. Running total: -£9.50p.

Today's the day we're supposed to be informed as to what the situation is regarding those players out of contract at the end of the month. Terrell Forbes, Jean-Paul Kalala, Andy Lindegaard and George O'Callaghan are the players concerned; plus there's uncertainty about the status of loan keeper Alex McCarthy, following the sacking of former Reading manager Brendan Rodgers 5 days ago. It had been assumed that McCarthy's loan at Huish Park was to be extended for the rest of the season, but any new incoming manager at Reading may now have something different to say about that. As for the above-mentioned four, the rumour-mill says that Forbes is already signed up for the rest of the season, Kalala will sign up, O'Callaghan will leave and Lindegaard no-one knows, or cares, given that he's barely featured except on the bench. Finally there's still a faint possibility that we haven't seen the last of former loanee Shaun MacDonald, who has now returned to Swansea, though I doubt we'll hear any more on his situation until after the Christmas period now.

Will the rumour-mill be right? I certainly hope that it will be regarding Forbes and Kalala, both have proved themselves as key members of the first team and we would miss them very badly if either were to leave. Lindegaard and O'Callaghan's possible absence I'm rather more relaxed about. Lindegaard has barely made any impression on the first team since his return and while he may be a useful utility player to have on the bench covering several positions at once, to my mind anyone not pushing for a place in the first team is a luxury we cannot afford. Similarly O'Callaghan has never really justified his place in the first eleven, flattering to deceive on too many occasions and proving rather lightweight in the rough and tough world of League One. Having said that, I wouldn't want either player to leave if the board were to refuse Skivo the means to replace them, so it's all going to come down to money, or the lack of it in the end.

Just read: Polity Agent and Line War by Neal Asher. The final two books in the Cormac series, set in Asher's Polity universe. Superb space opera, every bit as good as anything produced by Banks, Hamilton, or anyone else writing in the genre. Thoroughly recommended.