At last, that’s the Way to do it Yeovil!
YEOVIL moved off the bottom of the table thanks to their first win in 17 league games.
The Glovers had failed to record a victory since beating Crawley in September and hadn’t won at home since a 3-2 success over Luton in August. But a first-half penalty from Matt Dolan, awarded after Francois Zoko was tripped by Luke Summerfield, ended their dismal run.
It ensured a first league win for Darren Way, appointed manager on a permanent basis on Thursday.
And it lifted Yeovil off the bottom of the Football League, with York falling to 24th position after defeat.
Way said: “It feels good. I didn’t focus on the importance of the game and the positions of the two teams at the bottom of the table, I tried to look at the positives.
“I knew it was a must-win game, that’s what everyone was telling me, but my job was to make sure I got a performance from the players.
“Over the long term it is going to be performances that help us get out of the position we’re in and I was pleased with how we played. There was real pressure on the penalty that Matty took but he showed great composure and I was confident that he would score.”
York boss Jackie McNamara was incensed by the penalty decision that ultimately decided the game and also felt his side should have been awarded a spot-kick themselves when Kenny McEvoy was felled late on.
McNamara said: “There were some positives from the game and it was one we should have won, let alone drawn or lost.
“A lot of decisions went against us. I didn’t think they should have had a penalty.
“But we should have had a penalty late in the game. Kenny McEvoy was about to pull the trigger and his standing leg is taken away from him.
“The referee decided to book him for a dive instead and it’s disappointing because the decisions decided the game and gave Yeovil something to hold on to.”
Yeovil saw both Josh Sheehan and Zoko come close in the first half before taking the lead on 40 minutes through Dolan’s spot-kick.
York improved after the break and Bradley Fewster and Danny Galbraith both narrowly missed the target. Late on McEvoy broke clear and went down under the challenge of Jakub Sokolik, but instead of awarding a penalty, referee James Linington booked the winger for diving.
In stoppage-time Yeovil nearly doubled their advantage, but keeper Scott Flinders denied both Tahvon Campbell and Zoko.