Preview: Yeovil Town v Hartlpool United

By Albatross
January 6 2006

According to Autoroute this is Hartlepool United's longest trip of the season - our first visit to Yeovil Town. The Glovers took the points at the Vic earlier in the season and will be aiming to complete the double over an out of form Pools side.

It took Yeovil a while to get going following last season's promotion: in fact, their first win of the season came in their seventh game, which just happened to be at Victoria Park. That result heralded a recovery; six wins and two draws from nine games lifted them up the table. Since then their form has been pretty variable, but their last game saw them secure a 1-0 victory at Doncaster. Recent home form has seen them win just one of their last five.

Currently Yeovil are in the lower part of mid-table, despite changing managers back in September when Gary Johnson left to take over Bristol City. New manager Steven Thompson has relied on Phil Jevons and Matt Harrold to score the goals - Jevons has nine and Harrold six, with the rest of the goals shared out fairly equitably around the rest of the team.

There doesn't seem to be much in the way of new injury worries for the Glovers; Kevin Amankwaah is a doubt, but that seems to be about it. For Pools, we still have the likes of Hugh Robertson, Adam Boyd (apparently subject of a bid from Luton), and Joel Porter out of action - although he may be back in training I'd be surprised if Joel is back in contention until February - but Matty Robson seems to have come through the midweek reserve team fixture well enough to be considered for the squad although I feel that starting him at this point would be asking a little too much.

Scott's options up front have of course been increased by the arrival of James Walker, and I wouldn't be surprised if the youngster starts alongside Eifion Williams up front after having a few days training with the rest of the side. That would allow Llewellyn to be moved to the left wing. When Pools signed Llewellyn, the comment from a lot of Wrexham fans seemed to be that he was constantly a player in search of a position, and I'm beginning to see what they meant - he's got the ability, but he doesn't seem to quite fit properly as a striker or a wide player. Pools could do with him making one or other of those positions his own.

So can Pools take something out of this game? Possibly, but given we don't seem capable of scoring more than one goal in a game it means the defence and midfield will have to be pretty solid. Sadly, I'm not convinced that we can be solid enough - a number of Glovers players have bagged two or three goals this season, so goal threats are not limited to the front two. Leaning on the optimistic side then, I'll go for a 1-1 draw with Eifion getting on the scoresheet again.