Christophe Berra’s 40th minute goal has seen Town into a 1-0 lead at Yeovil at half-time.

Mick McCarthy handed Sylvan Ebanks-Blake his full league debut for Town in place of Paul Taylor in the Blues’ first ever game at Huish Park.

Luke Hyam, Paul Anderson and Stephen Hunt returned in midfield with Taylor, Paul Green and Jay Tabb amongst the subs and the injured Frank Nouble not travelling. Carlos Edwards and Teddy Bishop made the trip but were left out of the 18.

The home side won an early corner and after the ball was cleared, Tom Lawrence struck a powerful shot just past Dean Gerken’s left post.

On nine James Hayter hit an effort over from the edge of the box having been found by Lawrence, then Ishmael Miller saw a strike blocked with the home side on top in the opening stages.

Hunt crossed too close to Yeovil keeper Marek Stech, a one-time trialist, in the 13th minute with Ebanks-Blake lurking behind him. But the Glovers were still on top, skipper Jamie McAllister hitting a low shot through to Gerken two minutes later.

The Blues created their first significant chance of the game in the 20th minute when Anderson burst through the middle and found Daryl Murphy to his left but the Irishman sliced well wide much to the home fans’ amusement.

Just before the half hour, Cole Skuse smashed a half-volley well wide with the Blues starting to make some headway, albeit unconvincingly. On 35 Hyam was booked for a foul on Duane Holmes.

Anderson found Ebanks-Blake at the far post with a left-wing cross a minute later but the Town striker was unable to get in a header under pressure. The ball fell to Hunt, who shot wide.

The Blues were getting on top and in the 38th minute the lively Anderson played the ball into Murphy’s feet, he laid it back to Ebanks-Blake and his strike was blocked by Byron Webster.

Murphy headed the second of several successive Town corners wide but the pressure was building and from the fourth flagkick, the Blues went in front.

Hunt sent the ball over from the left and Tommy Smith’s header looked to be going beyond the far post until his central defensive partner Christophe Berra slammed it into the roof of the net for his fourth goal of the season.

Anderson shot well wide from distance soon after the goal but neither side looked like scoring again in the closing minutes of the first half.

Town came more into the game as the period wore on and their first real spell of pressure led to Berra’s goal. Yeovil had started brightly, creating a number of early opportunities but faded as the Blues imposed themselves in the latter stages.

Yeovil: Stech, Ayling, Webster, Duffy, McAllister (c), Lawrence, Edwards, Palazuelos, Holmes, Miller, Hayter. Unused: Dunn, Twumasi, Lanzoni, Dawson, Moore, Morgan, Hoskins.

Town: Gerken, Chambers (c), Cresswell, Berra, Smith, Skuse, Hyam, Anderson, Hunt, Ebanks-Blake, Murphy. Unused: Loach, Mings, Green, Tabb, Richardson, Williams, Taylor. Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire).

Photo: Action Images

KiwiTractor added 20:50 - Mar 11 Come on lads, 1-0 up. Attack is the best form of defence!
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KiwiTractor added 21:40 - Mar 11 Yessssss, well done lads. Clean sheet too. Looking forward to the reports - how did we play?
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bluemagic74 added 21:46 - Mar 11 Didnt need reading doin so well as they have tonight but well done town we did what we needed 2 2 keep our season alive coyb
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warksonwater added 21:53 - Mar 11 Great win against a plucky, battling side unbeaten in five. After Saturday's disappointment, three points from two away doesn't look so bad.
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JWM added 21:55 - Mar 11 Hey we won now let the moaning begin!
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Gcon added 21:58 - Mar 11 Well done MM and the team, if only to keep the moaning 'fans' quiet for a while.
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Steelmonkey added 22:30 - Mar 11 Well done for the win, better still well done to all you guys that went. But still did not sound very convincing from listening to BBC Suffolk. Why is it that any sort of striker we have up front doesn't do the business - No support from midfield, no guile, and untill we have intelligent players in those position there's no point in hoping for a top six finish as we will be outplayed by any of the top ten teams that could reach the playoffs. Yoevil, have little to offer in this department, just the big punt forward which on a couple of ocassions still nearly caught us out. Williams came on and sounded promising, but he doesn't sound like a player who we could either afford or would be able to pry him from his parent club, even if he would like to extend his time here. SEB is still a long way off from being fit. Midfield has been an area where we have failed miserably in the past few seasons. We can't expect our defense to keep chipping in the goals to take up the slack from our midfield players, who have no idea about getting into goal scoring positions or taking the chances presented to them. As much as I would like to see us take three points on Saturday I think everyone will see what a gulf there is between us and a genuine top six finishing team. My support will never falter, my head and heart are heavy because we are just not good enough - YET. COYB's.

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gippeswyk added 00:54 - Mar 12 A great win and on paper we deserved it. Good to bounce back from a bad loss against Boro. Lets keep the momentum going and get a home win against Wigan to keep us in the hunt for a play-off place. Good that QPR and Notts Forest dropped points even tho reading won.
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