Football Season Review

Yeovil started the campaign well after narrowly surviving the drop in Terry Skiverton's maiden season as manager. The Glovers stayed true to their attacking philosophy and were picking up the points early on, staying well clear of the drop zone. However, the Glovers started to struggle badly in mid October and didn't win a single game until the turn of the year. They were shipping in a lot of goals while not scoring many, and Skiverton admitted that it was a period in which he did a lot of soul searching as a manager and spoke with a lot of his more experienced colleagues, trying to figure out what he could do to improve his side's fortunes. Eventually, the former central defender opted to change his side approach, abandoning the all-attacking style and develop a more workmanlike approach, with the change working like a charm. The Glovers started the year of 2011 with five consecutive clean sheets, racking up 13 points from these five matches, which was enough to lift them out of the relegation zone, and they never looked back after this, continuing to collect points on a reasonably consistent basis, going on to finish the season outside of the top half only on goal difference. The change in fortunes coincided with the loan signing of keeper Stephen Henderson, who kept the Glovers alive on several occasions with some top drawer saves but, more importantly, looked to be a much better defence marshal than Josh Sullivan, who was the number one choice in the first half of the season. Skiverton also deserves respect for the way he managed to deal with the frequent injuries to his side, as key players, such as top scorer Dean Bowditch and central defender Paul Huntington, both spent significant time on the sidelines. However, the overall story of Yeovil's season saw the Glovers playing up their usual values, staying up with hard work, organisation and shrewd dealings in the loan market, and will enter the upcoming season looking survive in the same manner.

Player of the Season: Stephen Henderson