Football / FA Cup: Wallace true to Yeovil's Cup tradition
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A FORMER policeman precipitated a jubilant pitch invasion at Huish Park last night. Andy Wallace, who left the Met to become an accountant, ensured that Fulham became Yeovil's 17th League victim when he settled this FA Cup first-round tie in injury time.
Fulham are placed 31 rungs higher up the ladder than the GM Vauxhall Conference club, but, when Yeovil are playing, the Cup has little respect for rank. 'There's nothing to choose between the Conference and the Second or Third divisions,' Steve Rutter, whose side now meet Bromsgrove, said. 'The reason we do so well is that League sides are scared of our reputation. I saw Don Mackay (the Fulham manager) before the draw and he said that he hoped he didn't get us.'
Mackay's fears proved well founded. Yeovil, in front of their Somerset support who have grown to expect Cup success, had the best chances in the first half but both came to nothing. Paul Wilson fluffed the first and as he shaped to address the second he fell under Terry Angus's challenge.
Ara Bedrossian and Sean Farrell went close for a positive Fulham side and a replay appeared on the cards until Wallace intervened. Playing a quick one-two, with Richard Cooper, he engineered a path through the middle of Fulham's defence before coolly placing his shot past Jim Stannard to inspire a mass exodus from the terraces when the whistle blew 30 seconds later.
'I've taken a lot of stick from the mistakes I've made in big matches,' the midfielder, who lists his hobbies as horse-riding and fashion, said. 'Hopefully this will silence my critics.' Whether it will increase criticism of Mackay remains to be seen although the Fulham chairman, Jimmy Hill, said: 'Don is not under any pressure. It's only people in the press.'
Yeovil Town (4-3-3): Coles; Coates, Sherwood, Bye, Ferns; Leonard, Wallace, Harrower (Cooper, 66); Sanderson, Wilson, Spencer. Substitutes not used: McPherson, Bush (gk).
Fulham (4-4-2): Stannard; Jupp, Eckhardt, Angus, Thomas; Ferney, Bedrossian, Brazil, Hails; Farrell, Baah. Substitutes not used: Tierling, Kelly, Harrison (gk).
Referee: C Wilkes (Gloucester).
FA Cup draw, page 38
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