HOW TO BEHAVE

The date, 24th August, 2004. The place, Huish Park, home of Yeovil Town FC, starting their second season as a League 2 club. The occasion was a visit from Championship side Plymouth Argyle for a League Cup first round match. And for a sport increasingly degraded by the antics of its 'top' clubs, a timely lesson in manners was about to occur.

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Being a local West Country derby, the match was keenly contested, and it was a surprise that after 25 minutes it remained goalless. It was not to do so for much longer, owing to a curious chain of events. The Plymouth goalkeeper, Luke McCormick, had been off the field receiving treatment, and had just come back on. Because of this injury Plymouth had booted the ball out of play. As is custom outside the Premiership, Yeovil opted to return the ball - and the problems began. Yeovil midfielder Lee Johnson lobbed the ball back to the returning goalie, who was not ready to receive it. The result was that the ball landed right in the back of the net, and an astonished Yeovil found themselves 1-0 up!

Okay, so these things happen - but what happened next surprised everyone. Yeovil kicked off and punted the ball to a Plymouth player - and then the Somerset side duly stood back and allowed him to walk through and score unopposed! A lesson from a former non-league club in how to behave that many in the Premiership could well learn. For the record, Yeovil's generosity was rewarded; they won the match 3-2. This was an all-too rare example of how the Beautiful Game can behave handsomely.

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