May 2021 (Page 19)

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Chris Dagnall has said he is enjoying playing in the deeper role he has filled for the past couple of matches.

The 35-year-old, who has scored more than 100 Football League goals in a career as a striker, played in a deeper position in the 2-0 win at Wealdstone having starred there in midweek against Solihull Moors.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Tom Seymour, he said: “I think I have forced it on to the gaffer by doing it in training and he’s stuck me in there in the week and again today. I enjoy it in there, I like running about and kicking people, and we’ve had two wins so hopefully he keeps me there. I have always wanted to play deeper, I have done it a few times in the past when I have played at Crewe and Barnsley. It is not something I have purposely done due to age, I just play there because I enjoy it there. I can run around more, kick more people and get involved in the game more.”

Dagnall described the past week as “one of the toughest of my career” after the team attended the funeral of captain Lee Collins during the week.

He added: “It’s been really tough, so fair play to the lads for coming out here, especially the younger lads, we came out here and ran ourselves in to the ground. We wanted to come out here and get three points for Lee and try to move on. We are always there for each other and all the lads know if they never anyone to speak with one of us is there. We are all in this together, there’s no easy answers, we just have to keep working hard together.”

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Darren Sarll dedicated the Glovers’ 2-0 victory at Wealdstone to Lee Collins‘ daughter, Amelia. First half goals from Tom Knowles and Joe Quigley were enough for the Glovers, who climbed to 13th in the table.

Speaking to the BBC, Sarll said: “We had Lee’s funeral on Wednesday and his ten-year-old daughter, Amelia, had quite the effect on us all and her little pep talk on a bad day was quite inspiring really, and that was for little Amelia – a wonderful, wonderful little girl. She beat me in one touch against the wall in the rain and I wasn’t even trying to lose, that’s how good a little player she is, so that was for her.”

He also praised his players after what was, understandably, another difficult week for a club in mourning.

“The players were magnificent. A credit to their football club, a credit to their families, a credit to Lee. Very ambassadorial really, in a way. We had forty minutes [of] training yesterday. It was, kind of, only an hour [of] preparation because we were still fatigued from the day’s events. They’re incredibly draining as everyone would know. I had the privilege and honour of speaking and I felt completely wiped out come Thursday and Friday.“

On the performance, he added: “I thought we had quite a few of those types of performances last year. Grounded and humble in the performance, worked very hard. (Our) shape was good and we saw the game out very well. Their young goalkeeper’s had a brilliant day in fairness to him, otherwise I thought it should have been more, but yeah it was good. If you’re going to win leagues, twenty-five percent of your wins are like those games today. Last year I thought we had quite a few of those, we haven’t had nearly enough this year.”

Read the match report here

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Another trip to the seaside is confirmed for Yeovil Town next season following the relegation of Southend United to the National League.

The Shrimpers’ fate was sealed despite winning 2-1 at Barrow today because they needed either Colchester United or Scunthorpe United to lose to stand a chance of staying up.

Our last visit to Roots Hall came at the start of our season in the Championship when a Kevin Dawson strike was the difference in Capital One Cup tie.

Before that you have to go back to April 2010 when a goalless draw in Essex in League One, with the fixture at Huish Park settled by a single Dean Bowditch strike in November 2009.

Those with slightly longer memories will recall Southend being where a late Phil Jevons’ strike all but clinched promotion from League Two with a 1-0 win back in 2005.

Last weekend, Grimsby Town were confirmed as the other side to drop out of the League – that will be a somewhat chillier stroll down the prom, I bet.

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A clean sheet, two nicely-taken goals and a second half to forget is not a bad summary of Yeovil Town’s first trip to Wealdstone in many supporters’ memories.

But, given the background to the past few weeks at Huish Park with the passing of captain Lee Collins, many would agree that a fourth win from the last six is a great result for Darren Sarll’s men.

It moved the Glovers up to the top of the bottom half in 13th place in the National League and this is how it played out…..

FIRST HALF

The Glovers’ starting XI was unchanged from the 3-0 home win over Solihull Moors on Tuesday night, with the only changed coming on the bench where Alex Bradley returned from injury to replace Rhys Murphy, and young keeper Max Evans took the place of Matt Worthington.

It did not take long to figure out why Wealdstone have conceded six and seven in their previous two home games with Billy Sass-Davies heading just wide before Joe Quigley had good chance blocked.

In the 14th minute, a Charlie Lee cross found Chris Dagnall who laid it back to Tom KNOWLES who hammered home a crisp strike to open the scoring.

Quigley had a good chance six minutes later when a quick throw from Knowles found him in the box, he showed a good first touch but put the ball wide with his second.

The in-form striker made amends on 23 minutes when, after a number of shots rained in from the Glovers, the ball landed to QUIGLEY in the box and he coolly slotted in his fourth in two games.

One disappointing thing in the first half was a yellow card for Lee who talked himself in to the book after ex-Glovers’ loanee Connor Smith shoved Tom Knowles in the back.

We’ve spoken on the podcast about the frustration of players getting booked for dissent, and it could have cost Lee shortly after when he put in a feisty tackle. That said, Smith proved himself to be a bit of a plum – to put it politely.

One peculiar thing which those tuning in to the live stream will have noticed, was the number of people who appeared to be inside the ground; perhaps it was the camera angle but it certainly seemed busy on the near side.

When the half-time whistle blew, the biggest disappointment was that it was only 2-0 to the Glovers.

Half time: Wealdstone 0 Yeovil Town 2

SECOND HALF

The start of the second half belonged to Wealdstone’s teenage keeper Jake Askew who pulled off two great saves to deny Sass-Davies‘ header and Lee‘s shot from successive Dickinson corners.

Just before those saves, there were three penalty appeals – two for Yeovil and one for the Wealdstone – none of which given surprisingly considering the referee was not afraid to get his cards out with four bookings apiece.

Quigley had a shot cleared off the line shortly after but, despite their chances, there was not a huge amount of quality on show with the hosts seemingly bringing Yeovil down to their level.

Wealdstone’s finishing proved to be as poor as their defending with Charlie Hughes putting a free header over – albeit the linesman’s flag was up, not that he knew that.

That said, it was the hosts who had the better of possession but could not punish some shaky defending from Yeovil.

Sarll responded by bringing on Emmanuel Sonupe and Reuben Reid to try and push on for more goals in the closing stages.

Sonupe had a great run forward, only to run in to a blind alley, and Neufville had a moment of indecisiveness in the box which saw another opportunity peter out.

Possibly the highlight of the second half was seeing Alex Bradley come on for his first appearance since the middle of March, and in true Yeovil Town versatile fashion the full-back slotted in to midfield.

That said, a second successive clean sheet, a couple of decent goals, a hard-fought second half if lacking in quality will keep us all happy.

Full time: Wealdstone 0 Yeovil Town 2 (Knowles, Quigley)

WEALDSTONE: Askew, Phillips, Olowu, Okimo (c), Wishart, Charles, Smith, Dyer, Green, Mendy, Lewis.
Subs not used: Shelvey, Hughes, Parish, Lo-Everton, Gondoh.
Bookings: Smith, Charles, Phillips, Wishart.

YEOVIL TOWN: A. Smith, Dickinson (c), Kelly, Sass-Davies, Skendi, J.Smith, Lee, Knowles, Neufville, Quigley, Dagnall.
Subs not used: Evans, Sonupe, Hunt, Bradley, Reid.
Bookings: Lee, Quigley, Skendi, Kelly.

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Yeovil Town have named an unchanged side for this afternoon’s National League match at Wealdstone. Rhys Murphy is the only absentee with injury ruling him out. Alex Bradley is back on the bench alongside young keeper Max Evans.

1. Adam Smith; 3. Carl Dickinson, 35. Billy Sass-Davies, 18. Albi Skendi, 14. Michael Kelly; 10. Jimmy Smith, 22. Charlie Lee, 21. Tom Knowles, 24. Josh Neufville, 34. Chris Dagnall; 19. Joe Quigley

Subs: 27. Alex Bradley, 31. Max Evans (GK) 25. Emmanuel Sonupe, 26. Max Hunt, 33. Reuben Reid