Match report: Scunthorpe United 1, Yeovil Town 0

COCA-COLA LEAGUE TWO

SCUNTHORPE UNITED 1, YEOVIL TOWN 0

STEVE SOWDEN REPORTS FROM GLANFORD PARK

ONCE again big decisions by the match officials cost Yeovil Town dear as their bad run of results continued at Glanford Park.

Yeovil's top scorer Phil Jevons had one goal harshly ruled out in the first-half because he was adjudged to have been offside by the referee's assistant.

And then came the killer blow in the 78th minute. Scunthorpe were given a debatable corner by former Premiership referee Paul Danson. Experienced Peter Beagrie sent the ball over and the impressive Andy Butler powered home a header despite Lee Johnson clearing off the line. But the match assistant signalled the ball had crossed the line and Mr Danson awarded the goal.

And a very disappointed Yeovil boss Gary Johnson said: "It's just not going for us at the moment.

"Jevo is 100 per cent sure he wasn't offside, while Lee has said the ball didn't go over the line for their goal. That was one of those times when you need an electronic eye - an eye in the sky.

"It was a major decision and we just aren't getting the luck at the moment."

But Johnson believes the tide will turn Yeovil's way soon - and it needs to do so with the Glovers having slipped to eighth in the table.

"We have got to move on," he said. "We are playing well, but Scunthorpe are a good side and I'm sure they will say the same about us. There were two good footballing teams out there today and I hope we will be there or thereabouts with them come the end.

"We now need to keep working hard, keep going and believe in ourselves."

Although Johnson has been concerned about the goals Yeovil have been conceding in recent weeks, he was frustrated at how his side not been clinical enough at the other end.

"Even though it was a decent performance we have got to take our chances and we have got to stop them scoring theirs," he said. "We need to finish off our moves."

Yeovil started like an express train in a bid to banish the painful memories of the kamikaze mid-week 2-2 draw at Bristol Rovers from the memory.

Right from the off Yeovil mounted good attacking play and Paul Terry nearly beat Scunthorpe keeper Paul Musselwhite with an audacious lob from inside the box.

And then an excellent passing move between Lee Johnson and Phil Jevons saw the manager son's close range shot blocked.

But Andy Butler gave Yeovil a sign of things to come down when he sent a header narrowly over Chris Weale's bar. Scunthorpe have improved on last term and Yeovil had to work well to keep the likes of Steve Torpey, Cleveland Taylor, Paul Hayes and Beagrie in check.

Yeovil continued to play their passing game and Andrejs Stolcers was narrowly ruled offside on one raid, while Darren Way should have perhaps done better with a shot.

That was closely followed by Jevons having his 'goal' controversially chalked off and then Gavin Williams was denied by Musselwhite when he shot on the turn.

Defender Colin Miles had already received treatment by that stage with Yeovil having had to regroup their defensive line-up before the game had begun when Roy O'Brien was ruled out through injury.

Andy Lindegaard came into the right-back berth - which may have already been in Johnson's pre-match thoughts before O'Brien's misfortune as local lad Lindegaard had dealt effectively with Beagrie last season.

But as the first-half wore on Scunthorpe began to get to grips with Yeovil's fast-flowing attacking play with Butler and skipper Andy Crosby excellent at the heart of their defence.

The heavens opened at the start of the second period and Musselwhite had to be alert to tip a Williams effort over the bar after the Welshman had waltzed into a good position after receiving the ball from Jevons.

Scunthorpe began to get the upper hand with Weale doing well to palm a Richard Kell shot away and then Beagrie fired wide.

A flurry of subs followed with Adrian Caceres coming on for Stolcers and Miles making way for big Aussie defender Scott Guyett who was making his opening competitive first-team debut for the Glovers following his summer move to Huish Park.

But it was then that Scunthorpe struck through Butler and seconds later Kell nearly added a second when his shot crashed against the bar.

There soon followed an awful moment when Guyett went down writhing in agony and there was a feeling that it was bad news for the defender who had been beset by injury problems. But Guyett, thankfully, got to his feet to continue only to see Jevons blaze over from close range as Yeovil went in search of an equaliser.

Yeovil played their last throw of the dice when Bartosz Tarachulski came on in place of Paul Terry.

The Glovers, who deserved something for their efforts, were nearly rewarded right at the death when Williams broke the offside trap only to put his shot wide when he was probably looking for a flag to have been raised.

Johnson was not happy with the referee and claimed the official was inconsistent in his decision-making. The Yeovil boss was also unhappy at how many times they were adjudged to have fouled when having got into the Scunthorpe box.

"Every time the ball went into the penalty area there was a foul given against us," he said. "But when you get 18 players in the penalty area somebody is always going to bump into somebody."

The defeat saw Yeovil drop to eighth in the league. They are just six points behind leaders Scunthorpe, but only ten ahead of those at the bottom of the table.

This campaign is still very much in its infancy, but already you get the impression that things are going to be very tight come May.

But Yeovil need to start turning things around now if they are to be involved in the promotion shake-up.