September 2021 (Page 5)

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Yeovil Town chairman Scott Priestnall has said the club are discussing ways to mark the club’s 125th anniversary.

The milestone passed last season but restrictions around the COVID-19 pandemic meant it was unable to host events.

Speaking to BBC Radio Somerset, the chairman said: “We will try to do some things, there are discussions ongoing internally about what can and can’t be done.

Chairman Scott Priestnall, left, with manager Darren Sarll.

“Obviously although we are back playing in the stadium with supporters we are a bit hesitant to do anything than just play football games at the moment.

“Once the pandemic hopefully reduces over the next six to 12 months, we may look at doing something but at the moment we will just focus on the football side of things and try and commemorate it as much as we can.”

However, the chairman added that the club would be donating some of the children’s sizes of the kit designed for the anniversary to BBC Somerset’s ‘Kit Out The Nation’ campaign, which will give kit to young people in Somerset.

And, yes, that is all the interview was about…..

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Tickets can be bought in advance for Yeovil Town‘s Somerset Premier Cup first round tie with Bridgwater United at Huish Park on Wednesday (kick-off 7.45pm).

As you would expect, matchday prices have been dropped with tickets £5 for all age categories except under-16s which are £1.

All cup competitions are not covered by season tickets.

You can buy tickets online – here.

 

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Harry Kewell and Danny Searle have become the first National League managers to be relieved of their duties.

Barnet parted company with well-known diver Kewell after just seven matches after picking up just two matches in their opening seven matches, whilst Searle had lost five of his first seven matches including a defeat at home to Yeovil Town last month.

Kewell’s exit means Barnet are looking for their third permanent  manager in a little over a year having dispensed of Peter Beadle and Tim Flowers last season before diving in with Kewell in the summer.

Director of Football Dean Brennan, formerly in charge at Wealdstone, will take temporary charge and becomes the sixth person to take charge of the Bees in 2021. Paul Fairclough, Gary Anderson and Simon Bassey all had stints in caretaker charge.

Searle had spent two seasons in charge at Aldershot Town keeping them in the National League after the club had survived relegation due to Gateshead’s points deduction in May 2019.

If you were wondering why we are particularly gleeful about the demise of Kewell, read our interview with ex-Glovers’ defender Hugo Rodrigues – here.

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Yeovil Town were downed 2-0 by a very impressive Chesterfield at Huish Park on Saturday. In a new feature for the Gloverscast, here are our Five Conclusions from the National League encounter.

Luke Wilkinson.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The loss of Luke Wilkinson hit us hard. It’s never easy to lose your captain, but when your captain is your most experienced defender who is surrounded by younger players it’s a big blow. With Mark Little and Reuben Reid out until Christmas, Adi Yussuf is the next most senior player at 29 and still new to the group. We saw that lack of experience exposed for Chesterfield’s second goal after Kabongo Tshimanga capitalised on soft defending from Max Hunt and Wilkinson’s replacement, Morgan Williams. One long ball over the top should be handled comfortably but there was a real lack of conviction in the defending in that moment.  Speaking after the match, Darren Sarll said: “I think that is a hamstring tear, so we will have to dig deep in to the reserves or recruit.” 

Sonny Blu Lo-Everton really struggled to influence the game in the first half. Chesterfield’s back line, Gavin Gunning in particular, were powerful, imposing and dominant. The 19-year-old couldn’t find the pockets of space that $tockport County allowed and it was noticeable. His half time substitution suggest that the manager felt the same and his replacement Yussuf made more of an impact, although Chesterfield with Gunning-less in the second half.

Against Halifax and $tockport, Josh Staunton and Dale Gorman were impressive in containing their attacking players. They didn’t give Matt Warburton or John Rooney a chance to pull strings. Defensively, they are as safe as you can ask in the position and they had little chance to influence the goals that were conceded yesterday. During pre season I felt there was need for us to have centre midfielder who could break lines and make an impact further up the pitch and I felt yesterday was a good example of that. But for a speculative effort from distance by Staunton, the influence they have inside the opponents half isn’t creating clear cut chances. The absence of Lewis Simper is one we could do with an answer on, as a forward thinking midfielder he could have made a difference in the latter stages.

For all of our effort in the second half, it felt like Chesterfield were holding us at arms length. Our half time change of Yussuf for Lo-Everton made a difference but not game-changing. As a squad, we still seem short. Chasing the game at 2-0 and we didn’t feel that bringing on Alex Bradley would make a difference our other outfield option was Jack Robinson. If I’m Darren Sarll, I’m knocking on Scott Priestnall’s door (he was in attendance to see it unfold) and asking if I can have another option in midfield as well as another central defender.

Let’s not discount Chesterfield here. They are an expensively assembled side that fell in the quarter finals of the play offs last season. They’ve got Football League level players in their squad and have spend six-figures on a striker. That level of money in the National League is not uncommon this season with the likes of Wrexham and $tockport. They have Danny Rowe, Jack Clarke and Akwasi Asante to return from injury and if you listened to Friday’s Gloverscast, their fans are pining for seven substitutes. Right now, we are in a different league in terms of competing off the pitch.

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A brace from Benjani Junior helped Yeovil Town’s Under-18s side to a 6-1 win at Wimborne Town today.

The son of the former Manchester City and Portsmouth striker scored two with Finlay Skiverton, the son of Glovers’ assistant manager, Terry, Ollie Haste, Jake Graziano and “Borges” also on target.

The win moves the young Glovers up to fourth place in the South West Counties League after three matches.

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Yeovil Town manager Darren Sarll said he was disappointed with the body language shown by his players in the first half of today’s 2-0 home defeat against Chesterfield.

But, the boss said he was not ready to write off his team any more than he was ready to crown them champions after last weekend’s 3-0 win away at Stockport County.

Speaking to BBC Radio Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the match, Sarll said the second goal scored by ex-Glovers’ loanee Kabongo Tshimanga after 36 minutes was “a horror show.”

Darren Sarll
Yeovil Town manager Darren Sarll.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz,.

He said: “(Both goals) are down to lapses of concentration and we have paid for that, but I don’t think it is time we start rolling out the shotguns and blowing people’s heads off.

“We as a team did that and we as a team did what we did last week (beating Stockport County 3-0), and we as a team will take what we did this week.

“My biggest disappointment in the first half was the body language of some of the players, I don’t think they showed enough. Body language is always a reflection of what someone is thinking, so if they are thinking positively it reflects.

“Too many of our players looked uninterested and that is something for me to think about and that is the worst part of the day for me.”

Midfielder Josh Staunton added that the first half performance was “not acceptable” adding that the second goal was out of character for a defence which has kept clean sheets in its last two matches.

He said: “We can’t allow (mistakes like that) to creep in because one straight ball over the top should not be causing us problems like that.

“We came out in the second half much better in terms of intensity, shape and patience off the ball and they stopped playing through us.”

But, Staunton was also not willing to lose his head over a defeat any more than he was after last weekend’s victory.

He said: “Even with three (wins) on the bounce (in our previous three games) we have achieved nothing.

“One win does not make us the best in the league, and one loss does not make us the worst in the league, so it is important we find some middle ground.”

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Midfielder Josh Staunton was disappointed at the decision to disallow what would have been his first Yeovil Town goal today.

He thought he has put the Glovers ahead after 15 minutes of the 2-0 defeat to Chesterfield only for the goal to be disallowed for a foul on visiting keeper Scott Loach.

The decision came just moments before the Spireites broke down the other end and opened the scoring through an own goal by hosts’ stopper Grant Smith.

Josh Staunton.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Speaking after the match, Staunton said: “I thought the goalie just dropped it, to be fair, but they were saying he got hit from behind.

“Goalkeepers are often quite well protected and then they went up the other end and scored with an attack where it has hit the post and come of Granty (Smith) and gone in.

“So that swung the momentum massively in their favour and it just carried on that way in the first half.”

Asked about the decision, Yeovil manager Darren Sarll said the foul was “a bit soft.”

He said: “It is really difficult in real time, but I did not see arms (raised) I just saw Max Hunt trying to head the ball. It looked a bit soft but goalkeepers get looked after quite a lot these days.”

However, neither Sarll and Staunton had any complaints about the result and praised Chesterfield for their performance in both boxes.

The manager said: “Teams that win leagues have quality in the boxes and I thought Chesterfield were very good in the boxes today.

“I don’t know the numbers of chances compared to ours, but their defending at set plays was very strong and they have that strength of character and physique.”

Staunton added: “You win and lose games inside the boxes and today (Chesterfield) were better than us in both boxes.”

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Defender Luke Wilkinson is likely to be missing for “the next couple of weeks” after going off with a hamstring injury in the 2-0 defeat to Chesterfield today.

The centre-half was replaced by Morgan Williams after 28 minutes of the match despite not being one of the injury doubts ahead of the match.

Luke Wilkinson.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Manager Darren Sarll said: “I think that is a hamstring tear, so we will have to dig deep in to the reserves or recruit.

“I certainly do not think he will be available for the next couple of weeks.”

The 30-year-old was restricted to just 20 matches last season with injuries to his calf.

Speaking at the start of the season, he said that custom-made insoles in his boots and a regime of gym work had helped him overcome issues with the soleus muscles.