New Lawn Monday, July 29th, 2013   1st Team Friendly Attendance: 657         Forest Green Rovers 3-5 Yeovil Town
2013 /14

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Forest Green Rovers 3 vs Yeovil Town 5 Date: 29/07/2013 7:45 pm Attendance: 657 Venue: The New Lawn Championship Yeovil overpower Rovers There were goals aplenty in Forest Green’s final home pre-season run out ahead of Hyde’s visit on the first day of the season in August as Championship side Yeovil romped to victory, writes Richard Joyce. The Glovers quality in front of goal helped deliver Gary Johnson’s side a confidence boosting result ahead of their league opener away at Millwall on Saturday although two late goals made the score line slightly more respectable for Rovers. It took just seven minutes for the visitors to find their opener, and after Danny Wright had applied a classy finish to equalise, Yeovil pressed on grabbing two further first half goals while they added an extra two in the second period as well. David Hockaday named a strong starting line-up against the last of Rovers Football League pre-season opposition with former Luton and Macclesfield Town striker Matthew Barnes-Homer on the bench. Matt Bulman continued in goal as Sam Russell’s dead leg, picked up against Cardiff, left him with a seat in the stands. Yeovil started brightly and profited from their start when Sam Hoskins gained possession and emphatically drove past Bulman to claim the first of the games eight goals. Joel Grant could have doubled his team’s lead minutes later but his classy attempt struck the post but it was a similarly stunning effort on goal that saw Rovers level twenty minutes in. Wright latched on to a forward ball and with Yeovil keeper Gareth Stewart bearing down on him, lifted a cool finish over the shot-stopper which brought the affair level. The Championship side would regain their lead just minutes later as a Rovers trialist featuring in the back line failed to clear and saw his header fly straight into the back of his own net. Bulman was kept busy all evening by some fierce Yeovil strikes and he pulled off two excellent stops to deny Hoskins and Chelsea loanee Billy Clifford from extending the Somerset sides lead. However they managed to find another goal before the break as Hoskins crossed for Michael Ngoo and the lengthy striker, on loan from Liverpool, directed a strong header into the back of the net. Bulman made one fine further stop to deny Grant near the end of the half but saw Ngoo nab his second of the evening early in the second period as his low strike deceived both keeper and defence and rolled non-dramatically in. Matty Taylor’s response saw him screw an effort wide, but the forward teamed up brilliantly with Wright on the hour mark to set the scorer of Rovers goal free, but his final effort was straight into the arms of Stewart. Ten minutes from the end and the visitors secured their fifth and final goal as a Rovers clearance cannoned off a Yeovil man and into the back of the net in what was yet another scrappy goal to concede. Andy Mangan’s introduction from the substitute’s bench late on added some late firepower, but it was Barnes-Homer, who came off the bench in place of the ill James Norwood in the first half, who notched the first of a very tame comeback for Rovers as he powered in. Mangan himself got in on the scoring act to bring the score line closer together late on when his dash on the right ended in a low bottom corner goal, however Rovers were by then confidently beaten by Yeovil who are all geared up for life in the Championship, starting on Saturday.