Match Report - Stratford Town v Yeovil Town

Yeovil Town's first pre-season friendly of the 2020-2021 season ended in defeat in Warwickshire as Stratford Town inflicted a 3-0 defeat on the Glovers. A goal from Joe Curtis sandwiched between a brace for Will Grocott ensured the win for Stratford but the scoreline didn't reflect the nature of the game.

Yeovil fielded a mixture of first team players and four un-named trialists in the starting line-up. Aston Villa loanee Jack Clarke took the field for the first time wearing a Town shirt - wearing the number 15 jersey.

The first half started off fairly evenly for both sides with some neat football being played on an excellent surface. Yeovil almost took the lead on 7 minutes after some good build up play allowed Town to press forward. The ball came into the box and fell to one of the trialists wearing the number 10 shirt however he blasted a shot over the bar from close range.

That was the only real chance of the first half as the rest of it was mostly played in the midfield. Some half chances came and went for both teams but the 0-0 score at half time was a fair reflection of play.

Half Time: Stratford Town 0-0 Yeovil Town

As was to be expected Yeovil made a number of substitutions during half time, among them was strikers Rhys Murphy and Courtney Duffus were brought on to see if they could have an influence on the game.

Stratford started the second half looking like the more lively team and they almost took the lead just minutes after the restart however the shot was just wide and five minutes after that another well taken shot was well saved.

Despite Stratford looking lively Yeovil also had their fair share of the play as well and almost took the lead after some great build up play by Jack Clarke allowed Courtney Duffus to get a shot away which was well saved and Rhys Murphy was there to tap the ball in however he was in an offside position.

The game burst into life on 67 minutes as Will Grocott found the bottom corner after he was able to find some space at the back post.

Just 5 minutes later Stratford doubled their lead as a tap in from close range from Joe Curtis doubled the home side's advantage.

Stratford were then awarded a penalty for handball on 76 minutes and Will Grocott stepped up an calmly converted to the keepers left.

Full Time: Stratford Town 3-0 Yeovil Town

Despite the 3-0 scoreline Yeovil did play well this afternoon. Jack Clarke looked very lively today as did some of the trialists and it was encouraging to see that the team didn't look out of breath or unfit even after such a lengthy time without playing games.

Yeovil's pre-season continues on Friday evening with a short trip to Frome Town where they will be hoping for a more positive scoreline.