In-form Glovers do it the right Way
YEOVIL boss Darren Way saluted his “four-midable” Glovers as they downed Notts County to maintain their remarkable run of form.
The Glovers made it four wins on the spin with a victory earned by Francois Zoko’s second-half header.
The win means Yeovil are now 11 points clear of the drop zone and have lost just one of their last ten games in what has been a remarkable charge out of relegation danger.
It could have been a more handsome victory too had Leroy Lita – a former Notts County loanee – not missed a penalty which was saved by the brilliant Scott Loach.
Loach produced a stunning display against the Glovers but Way was just happy to get the win.
“Notts County are a big club and have players with experience and quality,” he said.
“But such is our confidence that we feel we can beat these teams now and that makes me proud as manager.
“I have to say I thought their goalkeeper was fantastic.
“He made a terrific save from the penalty and it could have been a bigger score than it was.
“As for the penalty, Leroy has taken it and sometimes you miss and sometimes you score.
“It’s important that you don’t make a big deal of it.We have kept the run going and that’s all we can do.”
Defeat left Notts without a win in six games and this was their fifth defeat in that sequence as their season continues to tailspin.
Heavy investment in the summer led to predictions of a return to League One, but it has failed to materialise.
They should have equalised after Zoko’s header when Adam Campbell picked out Jon Stead, but all he could do was nod over from six yards.
It was a crucial miss, but manager Jamie Fullarton did not make any excuses as to why his team failed to get back into the game as they slipped further down the League Two table.
“I am bitterly disappointed with any defeat, but on reflection we didn’t deserve to get anything out of the game,” he said.
“In both boxes we fell short and we were fortunate that Scott Loach was in such good form.
“His form meant that we were fortunate to come away with a 1-0 defeat.
“Football is laced with irony and while Zoko scored against us – his old club – I am more concerned about what we do.
“We have to take on board what we are trying to do and get better.
“Otherwise we will be continually up against it and we don’t want that.”
WARREN Feeney believes his Newport County side’s excellent performance at Fratton Park was the result of a golfing day during the week.
Scott Boden’s 15th goal of the campaign was sandwiched by efforts from Darren Jones and Dean Morgan.
The Portsmouth fans turned on their side despite still being in the hunt for promotion, as they saw few efforts on goal and Gary Roberts dismissed for a second yellow card.
Feeney said:“Thank you to the club for golf. It’s all about wrapping the boys up in cotton wool now and not really training them.
“You’ve got to do a little bit of light work here and there with the position we are in, but it’s about getting the boys together.
“I’m big into work ethic, you could say team bonding, but I am keen to get the players together. I hate leaving players out but it’s got to be done.
“We had a good day on Thursday, but what worried me more was there may have been some better golfers than footballers,” the Northern Irishman joked.
He continued:“If you look at our front four or five, they are full of legs.Whenever we go the ball, we hit them on the counter attack.
“I told my lads to let them have the ball. To me football is a simple game. You get good players, play to your strengths and keep it simple.”
Jones put the Exiles in front with 11 minutes of the first half to play. The defender stood strong as Liverpool loanee keeper Ryan Fulton jumped into him, allowing the Newport man to head into an empty net.
Roberts was sent packing just before the hour mark, receiving his second booking for diving on the edge of the box after picking up his first yellow card just six minutes earlier. Boden doubled the away side’s lead in the 69th minute, meeting the marauding Medy Elito’s left-footed cross to head beyond Fulton.
And second-half substitute Morgan confirmed the win with three minutes left on the clock. He tapped in at the back post from Mark Byrne’s cross from the right.
Portsmouth boss Paul Cook admitted that his side let the Fratton Park crowd down having not lost in their last four games.
He said:“We have let our supporters down so badly it’s untrue.
“But I think they’re getting used to it now. We’ve promised so much but delivered so little.
“Credit to Newport, they were better than us. They were hungrier and didn’t come to park the bus in any shape or form.
“I think we thought we’d just turn up and win comfortably because we are on a roll and everything will be alright. Football doesn’t work like that.
“There’s no excuses from us. We were beaten by a better team. That’s where we are as a team, we’re consistently inconsistent.
“Unfortunately it’s like snakes and ladders and we just fell right back down to the ladder again.
“The biggest disappointment is we showed signs of being able to do it last week.”