Yeovil Town 1 Bristol Rovers 2
By Darren Stobbs
Leaving The Mem at 10:50am on a Supporter’s Club minibus, driven by fellow away travel organiser Martin Hudd, we made good time to Yeovil, arriving at 12:25pm and paying £3 to park at the ground.
It’s the first time that the Supporters Club has run transport to a friendly match, and it was well supported.
Having been to Yeovil Town on several occasions in the past, we walked to The Arrow Pub on the estate near the ground and found a decent number of Rovers fans already there.
We decided to sit outside in the decent Somerset weather, but it wouldn’t be long before the local army of wasps appeared. There’s been something about wasps so far this pre-season! And, on this occasion, one nosedived straight into my pint of beer.
Martin cleverly hooked it out with a key and then we were entertained with a drunken wasp going around in circles on the ground, wondering what had happened to him!
The local Tesco Express become the place to go for food to take to the ground and was a probably a good decision to stock up, as many were saying how slow the food service it was inside the ground.
A makeshift bar was available to Rovers fans, who hadn’t strolled to The Arrow, outside the away end.
As we entered the ground, I was pleasantly surprised at the number of fans who had already taken their places.
Prior to kick off Marcus Stewart made a speech about his career at both Rovers and Yeovil Town and told his audience a little bit about MND and that was followed by a one minute silence, impeccably observed, as we remembered the schoolboy who had died in a coach crash near Minehead in the days leading up to the game.
The first half saw a lot of mis placed passes and scrappy play and Rovers failed to gain any momentum in the match. Yeovil’s movement, on and off the ball, was better than ours and they created a number of chances.
We went behind following a corner which appeared to come off the back of Brad Young’s hand and into the back of the net for an own goal.
In the second half Rovers looked a much better side and Kofi Shaw scored an excellent goal when, from just inside the 18 yard box, he smashed a shot into the top corner.
Shaw then turned provider, as he made his way down the left and crossed into the box where Luke Thomas, waiting at the back post, volleyed what turned out to be the winning goal.
It turned out to be a decent workout for The Gas and I also thought the stewarding and general organisation of the whole day was a credit to Yeovil Town.
We arrived back in Bristol at 6:45pm after a relatively quick getaway from Huish Park.
My Man of the Match was Kofi Shaw, a real threat in all of Rovers attacking play.
Attendance: 2,236 with an excellent away following of 511 from Rovers.
