L1: Yeovil Town 3 Tranmere Rovers 1

That's better. The Glovers bounced back from last week's mauling in the Midlands with a well-deserved 3-1 win over Tranmere Rovers. Terry Skiverton's men blew the visitors away with 3 first half goals without reply. The Glovers went off the boil somewhat in the second half, contenting themselves with containing Tranmere and playing on the break. The visitors scored a consolation penalty in the final minute, but that was the only blemish on an encouraging overall display from the home side.

Yeovil's domination of the first half was as complete as it was surprising. The team lined up in a 4-4-1-1 formation, Gavin Williams playing behind Dean Bowditch up front, Andy Williams returning from injury on the right and Sean MacDonald taking up his usual central midfield role. The excellent Bowditch opened the scoring on 7 minutes, a fluffed goalkick rebounding to the striker who made no mistake with a well-placed shot from around 35 yards to beat the scrabbling keeper. The Glovers doubled their advantage 4 minutes later, Andy Williams supplying the cross which allowed left-winger Andy Welsh to score in the far corner with a well-placed header. Paul Huntington made it 3-0 on 27 minutes, prodding home after a scramble in the box following an Andy Williams free-kick. Modesty forbids me from gloating about the fiver I had on Huntington to score at anytime at 12/1! Three goals by half-time then and it could have been more. Gavin Williams forced the Rovers keeper into several saves and was denied what appeared to be an obvious penalty after being tripped in the box, and Andy Williams headed straight at Collister in the visitors goal when it looked easier to score. But all in all a fine first 45 minutes for the Glovers, with Super Gav and Bowditch looking like they'd played together all their lives and the team as a whole playing with pace, energy and purpose, keeping the ball on the floor in the main and running the visitors ragged.

It was perhaps asking too much for the Glovers to dominate the second half as much as they did the first, and the visitors saw more of the ball after the break. Even then, any Yeovil alarms were largely self-inflicted with Adam Virgo and John Sullivan getting in each other's way on one occasion and almost letting in Arnaud Mendy. JP Kalala was unlucky with a thunderbolt from 20 yards which scraped the bar and substitute Luke Freeman screwed his shot narrowly wide when one-on-one with keeper Collister. Adam Virgo thought he'd made it 4-0 with a far-post header late in the game, but the referee disagreed, penalising the big defender for climbing on his opponent, a poor decision from where I was sitting. Tranmere got their consolation in the final minute, Nathan Smith pulling back Lucas Akin to give away a penalty, which Ian Thomas-Moore converted.

The Glovers lined up as follows:

1. John Sullivan: 6/10 - Competent display. Didn't have much to do until later in the second half but coped well enough with the few shots Rovers managed on target. Maybe some concerns over a lack of communication with his defenders at times.

2. Craig Alcock: 7/10 - Very good first half, got forward well to support Andy Williams on the right and always available for the pass. Quieter second half, came close to scoring with a header from a corner.

5. Paul Huntington: 8/10 - Probably his most convincing defensive display so far in his short YTFC career. On top of that he's been threatening to score for a few games now and was in the right place at the right time.

19. Adam Virgo: 8/10 - Same comments as above, but was unlucky inasmuch his goal was disallowed. Needs to listen to his goalkeeper a bit more, especially when Mr Sullivan is shouting "my ball!" Some of his long passes to the wings were works of art.

6. Nathan Smith: 7/10 - That's more like it. Solid defensively and made some barnstorming runs forward with the ball in the first half in particular. Quieter second half and I've marked him down a point for giving away an unnecessary penalty.

7. Andrew Williams: 8/10 - Not heard his name mentioned much in regard to yesterday's game but I thought he was excellent. A constant threat on the right in the first half in particular, provided the assist for Welsh's goal and linked up well with his fullback, the midfield and his forwards. We've missed him these last few games.

25. Shaun MacDonald: 8/10 - You don't know what you've lost 'til it's gone, as the song goes, but we knew exactly what we were missing when the Ginger Ninja went back to South Wales. Graft, application, hard-tackling, accurate passing but above all else bags of skill. Swansea must have some absolutely fantastic midfield players if this fella is surplus to requirements. Ah well, their loss is our gain.

21. Jean-Paul Kalala: 7/10 - Battling. Bustling. Bristling. Belligerent. Business as usual, in other words. Unlucky with one effort in the second half that skimmed the bar.

11. Andy Welsh: 7/10 - Marked him up a point for the way he took his goal - a well-placed header (of all things) away from the keeper into the far corner of the net. Slightly quiet match otherwise.

24. Gavin Williams: 7/10 - His mere presence gave everyone else a lift, crowd and players alike. Linked up well with Bowditch and always made himself available for the pass. Always appeared to have plenty of time and space come to that and popped up all over the pitch. Faded a bit as the match wore on but he hasn't got his match legs yet. Much, much, much more to come.

10. Dean Bowditch: 8/10 - Lead the line with great verve and energy. Excellent finish for his goal and looked to be thoroughly enjoying himself all afternoon.

Subs:
8. Luke Ayling (90 mins for Dean Bowditch): n/a - Not on long enough to affect the game.

18. Luke Freeman (84 mins for Andrew Williams): 5/10 - Barely on long enough to affect the game, but had one golden opportunity when one-on-one with the Tranmere keeper, which he fluffed. Might find chances to impress are hard to come by, in the next few weeks at least.

20. Owain Tudur-Jones (90 mins for Andy Welsh): n/a - Not on long enough to affect the game.

Crisis? What crisis? Play like this every game and my pre-season prediction of a 9th-place finish might not sound as daft as it did this time last week. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, again. Tranmere were ravaged by injuries and in the first half at least were as accommodating to their hosts as any away team could ever be. Having said that you can only beat what's put in front of you, and beat them we did, convincingly. What was most pleasing was the almost complete absence of the vaguely-aimed long-ball up front. Passes were to feet, or into space for players to run onto and possession wasn't just frittered away. Not that was to the taste of some in the crowd. I felt sorry for Andy Williams in particular at one point in the first half when instead of whacking a long-ball forward to no-one in particular he elected to pass back to Craig Alcock and keep possession instead. 'Get it bloody FORWARD Williams' came one stentorian bellow from behind me, followed by other shouts of displeasure, including, I swear, 'bloody rubbish Yeovil!' The beautiful game still has some way to go before it filters down into certain parts of South Somerset.

Still, at least the long-ball fans turned up. Yesterday's crowd was a miserly 3,364, the second-worse attendance at Huish Park since we joined the Football League. And that's with the return of Super Gav and Shaun MacDonald figured in. If that doesn't give the Board some serious concern and pause for thought, then nothing will.

Just read: Transition by Iain Banks: For me, Banks is one of those authors who could make a shopping list gripping. Love his books, particularly his science-fiction, which he releases under the name 'Iain M Banks'. This one's without the 'M', but don't be fooled, it's as science-fiction as they come. Infinite parallel worlds and multiple story-lines with diverse characters all of which come together in a thrilling and satisfying finish. Highly recommended.