L1: Yeovil 3 Norwich City 3

I'm still gutted 24 hours later. The Glovers were within seconds of a famous win over giants (in comparison with ourselves) Norwich City when in the final minute of injury-time Darel Russell's speculative shot took a touch off teammate Gary Doherty to squirm its way past Glovers keeper Alex McCarthy and into the net. Ah, football. From elation to utter dejection in less than a minute.

Still, let's be positive. I think most Glovers fans would have settled for a point beforehand against a team who beat us 4-0 back in August and with all the resources average crowds of over 20,000 can provide. The Glovers began the match with the same team and diamond formation that worked well against MK Dons last week, and took the game to the visitors, pressing them back. We went 1-0 up on 21 minutes, Dean Bowditch helping on a bullet header by Steven Caulker from a corner - a corner that I thought should never have been awarded by the way, but it's about time we had an official's error work in our favour. 1-0 at half-time and so far so good, in a half punctuated by Norwich's constant petty sniping at the ref and his assistants.

The visitors should have gone down to 10 men just after the break, left back Adam Drury sliding in late on Gavin Tomlin and leaving his studs in the Yeovil player's chest. As we've seen too often lately however it always seems to be the opposition that gets the benefit of any doubt no matter who the referee, and Drury escaped with a yellow card. The visitors equalised on 60 minutes, Grant Holt's sheer physicality proving too much for Nathan Smith and providing Chris Martin with a tap-in for the equaliser. The Glovers could and from my vantage point should have had a penalty almost from the re-start, Bowditch seemingly being bowled over in the box by Gary Doherty, but of course the official disagreed. Two minutes later and Doherty was in action at the other end, nodding home a free-kick with the Glovers defence AWOL and keeper McCarthy in no-mans-land to give Norwich a somewhat fortunate lead. Back in August perhaps heads would have dropped, but Yeovil are made of sterner stuff these days. The excellent Shaun MacDonald made it 2-2 with a shot from the edge of the box on 67 minutes and the match see-sawed back and forth, chances being made and missed at both ends. An enthralling match reached it's climax in injury time. Substitute Jon Obika headed in at the near post in front of an exultant home terrace to put the Glovers 3-2 up before the Canaries last-gasp Doherty reply. 3-3 the final score and terrific entertainment for all those privileged to be present.

Yeovil team (4-4-2 diamond):

1. Alex McCarthy: 6/10 - Marked him down a point for Norwich's second goal, when he came, hesitated, got lost and ended up out of position. Usual solid display otherwise.

2. Craig Alcock: 8/10 - Good going forward, sound defensively, all-round excellent.

5. Steven Caulker: 6/10 - What a footballer this lad is. Directly involved in our first goal, and one run in the second half saw him dribbling through what seemed like half the Norwich side before he lost control when on the verge of pulling the trigger. But, primarily he's a defender, and we are conceding too many headed goals from set-pieces and crosses for which he is partly responsible.

6. Terrell Forbes: 5/10 - The same criticism as for Caulker - we're conceding too many headed goals from set-pieces and crosses for which he is partly responsible.

28. Nathan Smith: 6/10 - Getting closer to the Nathan Smith we remember from early last season but not quite there yet. One or two promising forward runs which came to nothing, and defensively was responsible for letting in Grant Holt to provide the cross for Norwich's first goal. I hope Skivo perseveres with him, he needs games to get back to his best - and at his best he'd be a huge asset to us.

21. JP Kalala: 8/10 - Fine, battling performance at the base of the diamond. Didn't give the highly-rated Wesley Hoolahan a sniff all afternoon.

25. Shaun MacDonald: 8/10 - Possibly his last appearance in a Yeovil shirt at Huish Park and one of his best. All-action box-to-box display culminating in a well-deserved goal. Would love to see him return after Christmas but the chances are that a club with money will snap him up. Super player, reminds me of Chris Cohen. I wouldn't like to say who is better.

13. Ryan Mason: 8/10 - Began the match on the right of the diamond and ended at the tip. Equally effective in both positions. Always seems to have time on the ball and is stronger than his appearance suggests. Excellent.

10. Gavin Tomlin: 8/10 - Started the game at the tip of the diamond and caused the Norwich defence plenty of problems from there. Less effective when swapped with Mason after the break and after being shaken up by Drury's studs in his chest, but never stopped running and making himself available.

14. Dean Bowditch: 8/10 - Has that rare knack of always being in the right place at the right time. Scored one, probably should have scored another when one-on-one with the Norwich keeper and in my view should have been awarded a penalty. Let's hope he can keep fit for the rest of the season.

9. Sam Williams: 7/10 - Just like last time against Norwich, battered from pillar to post by an aggressive defence but kept bouncing back. You'll never meet a more whole-hearted player, my on-going worry about him is that as a striker he ought to be scoring more than he does.

Substitute:
26. Jonathan Obika (81 mins for Dean Bowditch): 8/10 - Didn't have long on the pitch, but long enough to score what we all thought was our winner with a brave header.

What a game! The first half didn't have the non-stop goalmouth action we enjoyed after the break, but in it's way was just as satisfying inasmuch that we took a deserved lead and looked very comfortable holding that lead against what was obviously a very decent side. The second half was encouraging for the way we bounced back against adversity and didn't let our heads drop as perhaps we have in the past. And let's not sell ourselves short - Norwich looked to be every bit as good as their form suggests they should be and were as physically imposing and cynical as any team I've seen at Huish Park. Yet we stood toe-to-toe with them and refused to be intimidated or bullied despite some weak refeering, which was very encouraging to see. And one of the best things on the day was the return of something called an atmosphere at Huish Park. Even the Cowlin Stand began singing at one point, something I haven't heard for a couple of season's now. It was all very reminiscent of past years, dare I say it almost Johnson-esque. It was bitterly disappointing of course not to have won the game, but as has been said previously we won't be judged this season by our results against the likes of Norwich. Any points we can get from the biggest clubs in this division are a bonus, and we thoroughly deserved the 1 we gained yesterday. With a little luck we could so easily have had all 3 on offer.

The only disapppointing aspect of the day was the size of the crowd - or the lack of it. A total of 4,964, with around 1,000 making the trip from East Anglia. This team deserves better support than it's currently getting. If you missed the game, you missed a cracker. A Christmas cracker, no less.