It may only be 50 miles or so from Bristol but Yeovil is one of those places that seems a lot further away. Maybe it's the fact that the Mendips are in between, maybe it's just that Yeovil is somewhat off the beaten track; whatever, it doesn't feel like the sort of place you should be going for league football (but then neither does Irthlingborough - for Rushden and Diamonds - or Boston for that matter).

Given the fact that it isn't that far to Yeovil you'd expect it to be pretty easy to get there. Wrong. If you don't want to drive then the extremely infrequent trains take between one and a half and two and a half hours, are almost certainly two-carriage jobs and will inevitably be full to the rafters on Saturday. Once you get there you'll find stations in the middle of nowhere; let's hope a lot of taxi drivers are working when they arrive.

As for the club…the arrogance of some fans over the summer, their claim to be the biggest local club in Division Three and their insistence that they would be easily promoted jarred a few Bristolian nerves and earned them the title of "Green Sheedheads" in some quarters. In reality Yeovil have averaged around 5800 supporters, some distance behind Rovers in yet another poor season for the Gas, and while they remain in a play-off position it is their counterparts from last year's Conference, Doncaster Rovers, who are currently top of the league. Fair play to them though, they have shown Rovers a thing or two about how to play in this division - that much is certain - and even if Kevin Gall hasn't set the world alight after his initial burst there are quite a few Gasheads who wish he hadn't left in the first place.

So what of the Yeovil Town fans? Well, they may have had a few mouthy cyber-supporters but in reality, when Yeovil visited the Mem and when they were on TV against Liverpool, they seemed to have a lot of those squidgy jester hats on show. You suspect they'd all join in with Mexican Waves too. A friend of ours says that if he were ever to become Prime Minister then he'd outlaw both the wearing of jester hats and Mexican Waves and if gasheads.com were MPs we'd definitely be voting in favour of such legislation.

Entry into the Football League also saw Yeovil's distinctive green shirts transform into Celticesque hoops. Cynical marketing? Quite possibly (although it should be said that the kit was chosen by the now customary fans vote) and by all accounts it has gained them a few supporters in Glasgow already…

Recommended Boozers

A bit tough this, not having had a league fixture in Yeovil before. The bars at the ground will be open to home fans only according to the club so it will be a case of trying to find somewhere either nearby or in town. If you come in to Yeovil Penn Mill Station (the direct trains from Bristol call there) then CAMRA's "Good Beer Guide" lists a pub called "Great Western" next door and the Ciderspace website lists some pubs for those travelling by road.

Incidentally, if you find any good pubs in Yeovil then let us know at comment@gasheads.com as, you never know, we may be going there again next season.

Upsetting the locals

They've probably heard every yokel joke going a million times (as we have) but for a slightly different angle it may be worth bringing up a rural pastime that's been in the news recently: dogging. Ever since Stan Collymore's participation in both 'dogging' and 'piking' (those who watch 'doggers') became tabloid news, media interest in the activities has increased. The subject made it to the front pages of local weekly "The Sunday Independent" which reported that "a host of dedicated websites" have identified "top dogging venues" in Somerset. Not only that, but one of the sites was none other than Cartgate services on the A303 just outside Yeovil. Altogether now: "Town full of doggers, you're just a town full of doggers"

Websites

The Ciderspace site mentioned above gives excellent directions and general information about Yeovil and YTFC while the Official YTFC Site is one of the few that hasn't gone down the FLPTV route (i.e. it doesn't look the same as everyone else's.)