Thanks to David Croxford, of the London Branch, for this view from the terrace from the Yeovil game.

To find out what the London Branch can do for you, click HERE.

A disappointing result as United succumbed to the now standard defeat at Huish Park in front of a depleted crowd.

As the home fans chanted derisively, "one-nil and you still can't win".

The substantial London Branch attendance anticipated at the start of the season had been reduced to a mere four requesting tickets, with one of them a no show after sleeping in and missing his train and two others, being traditionalists, refusing to turn up for a one o'clock kick off.

Even a rare appearance by our President, Dave Nicholson, resplendent in his haute coutre footballware, failed to persuade the membership to forgo the minor game televised from Wembley for the drizzle of Somerset.

Carlisle had the better of a fast moving first half, but neither side made any serious goal-scoring chances. The lively Simon Hackney terrorised the Yeovil defence, including one burst into the penalty area where he nutmegged his marker. It was appropriate that it was he who put the Blues ahead shortly after the interval when he volleyed home Kevin Gall's cross following good work by Raven.

The goal came seconds after I had taken a call from Ray, wondering why we were not in the appointed watering hole. After negotiating his late entrance to the ground, I turned to see a ball bobbling about in front of goal with three Carlisle defenders shepherding it into the net for a Yeovil equaliser. This signalled a ten minute spell of dominance by the home side, which included what proved to be the winner when a free kick two yards outside the penalty area - awarded against Peter Murphy despite his voluble protests - was struck home with the crouching Westwood flailing at air.

The kick, chipped over the wall to the 'keepers left, was apparently not on the tactics sheet and surprised the Yeovil manager as well as Westwood. And things could have been worse if the referee had spotted Zigor's blind side shirt pulling which would have produced a penalty instead of the corner conceded by Westwood's fine parry.

In the first half, Carlisle's fluid play seemed to end with underweghted final balls; in the second, a succession of dangerous crosses lacked the final touch for a tap in. Lumsdon kept his feet better than most on the slippy surface (heavy drizzle before the game ended after about 20 minutes) but, despite appearing confident and controlled, lacked influence. MBW gave another assured performance but Graham was rather off the pace and it was no surprise when he was replaced by Carlton. Kevin Gall got through a tremendous amount of work and made our goal, but his own shooting was rather dismal and he did not make a strong case for keeping out Joe Garner, who was suspended for this game. Apart from that 10 minute period, the defence was solid.

A win would have put United top of the league and the visitors deserved at least a draw, as the Yeovil fans freely admitted to us in the Airport Tavern as we watched the England game. A cross-town trip dumped El Presidente at Yeovil Junction, a railway station in the middle of nowhere, where he had almost two hours to rue our defeat whilst waiting for his train home to France. Our members will be glad to hear that his short term memory problem is not as bad as feared; unfortunately, he insists he is now the Emperor Napoleon and his gite is called the Palace of Versailles!