Albion need more quality

There was pride, endeavour, passion and good old-fashioned hard graft.

Given all that Albion have been through since Boxing Day, the words siege mentality' probably fit the bill when describing their approach to this tough trip to Huish Park.

But they will need to supplement those commendable attributes with some cool-headed quality on the ball if they are to move back up the table.

Dean Wilkins admitted as much as he summed up the final kick in the teeth of four trying days.

Quality is needed from the existing players, of course. Just as they showed around the time Alex Revell marked his comeback with a 19th-minute opener superbly created by Nicky Forster.

And some creativity from any January signings would not come amiss. Including another playmaker given that George O'Callaghan's stint as a Seagull appears to be over.

The afternoon sunshine had turned to heavy rain by the time Wilkins faced the media after the game.

Just like the way the bright dawn provided by Revell was washed away by strikes from Gary Dempsey and Zoltan Stieber in an eight-minute period either side of half-time.

Neither the Scot nor the Hungarian had scored for the Glovers before.

Wilkins made it clear contract talk was off the agenda, though O'Callaghan has confirmed he is not coming back.

So what does the Albion boss expect of the players he does have under his command in a bid to arrest a slide of three defeats from four games?

Answer: Use their heads as well as their heart.

A soft, spongey pitch and fired-up Yeovil side meant this would always be a rugged battle against a team Albion have now lost four out of four.

The visitors certainly got stuck in.

But Wilkins wants more than that.

He said: "The biggest challenge for us as staff is to get these young men to keep a calmness "They will go out there with real determination, I have no question about that.

"We just need to make sure we are channelling those efforts the right way.

"The period of the game where we had the courage and the calmness to play our style of football was the period in which we went a goal up.

"But we just tried to keep that in the players' minds in the second half.

"Then we went 2-1 down and that made it very difficult.

"There was plenty of endeavour but at times maybe the decision making was not as good as the players have done of late."

Wilkins' use of the word courage was significant.

There are some bruisers in League One but not every team has the bravery to try and pass the ball in a division full of by muscle and hustle.

Albion have tried to play some nice stuff this season.

It has not always come off but the intention is usually there. Wilkins, though, felt they went away from that at Huish Park.

They occasionally showed glimpses in the first half once they had survived a late scare when James Walker got behind them but shot wide.

There was certainly a clever football brain in action when Forster got away from Yeovil centre-back Scott Guyett, who passed a fitness test on his damaged calf.

Some strikers would have blazed at goal or crossed hurriedly in that situation. Forster, though, took his time, had a look at what was going on around him and laid the ball back for Revell to turn home his third of the season.

Albion sat deep and soaked up enthusiastic but unimaginative pressure for long periods until, with half-time beckoning, Marcus Stewart rivalled Forster for vision and patience.

Like Forster, he was in a potential shooting position. Like Forster, he surveyed the runners around him and took his time.

Then he rolled a pass into the path of Dempsey, who was bursting into the area from midfield and whose first-time rght-foot finish gave Kuipers no chance.

Kuipers had produced two very good takes of high balls before that which made the manner of the decisive second Yeovil goal so disappointing.

This time he came a long way for an outswinging left-wing cross, failed to get to it and helped cause the confusion from which the ball looped back towards Stieber, who guided a well-controlled finish into the unguarded net.

There were chances at both ends after that. Doug Loft, on for Tommy Fraser as part of a double substitution after an hour, went closest, making room for a crisp left-footed 20-yarder which big Steve Mildenhall palmed away at full stretch.

Loft was involved in most of what was good about Albion in a hectic last quarter.

Jake Robinson was also commended by the boss for the energy shown after coming on as the other half of that double switch, in place of David Martot.

Wilkins gave the Frenchman one final start of his loan spell, which expires tonight.

Martot can be a peripheral figure at times but he is a disciplined footballer who knows how to pass to team mates.

He ran his socks off on Saturday. They all did.

But they will need all that and more, including reinforcements, as they work their way out of these testing times.

Yeovil (4-4-2): Mildenhall; Peltier, Forbes, Guyett, Jones; Warne (sub Williams 72), Dempsey, Rose, Stieber (sub Bircham 86); Stewart (sub Owusu 72), Walker. Unused subs: Barry, Alcock.

Yeovil goals: Dempsey 42, Stieber 50.

Yellow cards: Mildenhall 79, Prlteier 90, Williams 90.

Albion: Kuipers, Whing, El-Abd, Lynch, Rents (sub Elder 88); Martot (sub Robinson 60), Hammond, Fraser (sub Loft 60), Cox; Forster, Revell. Unused subs: Butters, Reid.

Albion goal: Revell 19 Yellow cards: Lynch 27, Whing 62, Hammond 90.

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