October 2021

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On the face of it, going away to a Solihull Moors side on a run of four consecutive wins and getting a 0-0 draw is a result that plenty sides in this division would take.

Plenty have tried and failed to do what a solid Yeovil Town defensive unit did and keep and clean sheet.

Here are five things Ben Barrett took away from a battling draw at Damson Park…..

It might be an odd place to start, but after some chat about the loans that have ended recently, some quotes regarding the Lewis Simper, Dion Pereira, Ben Seymour and Jordan Dyer deals have suggested that maybe our place as developers of talent for other clubs has been questioned.

But the loanees we have are very, very good for the club.

I can’t really comment on Sonny Blu Lo-Everton as his cameo was short and purely a fresh pair of legs to chase and chase.

Loan signing Dan Moss in action against King’s Lynn Town.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

But, the full-backs Dan Moss and Jack Robinson were two of the star players in the Midlands.

Both of them are clearly here to get used to ‘grown-up’ football and they will have learnt so much in that 90 minutes.

How to take a pummelling from the likes of Tyrone Williams and Adam Rooney, but picking themselves up  heading the next cross away and putting themselves right in harm’s way.

I gave Robinson my man of the match. When at left-back he links with Jordan Barnett and Charlie Wakefield well, but when called upon to slot inside next to Josh Staunton he stood up and made it his own.

Moss was equally impressive and is not afraid to put his head in where it hurts (literally a couple of times) which is wonderful to see from a player who is not ‘ours’.

Darren Sarll spoke after the match about how Robinson was ours until January and Moss was going “absolutely nowhere.” I want them both secured for the rest of the season.

I’m sure you’ve noticed, it may have been mentioned, but we don’t have much squad depth.

Only Luke Wilkinson and Morgan Williams were missing from the squad and it felt like we were missing a golden ticket from the bench.

Jamey Osborne and Adam Rooney came on and made a real difference for the hosts, when I looked at the bench, I didn’t see the midfield general we needed to control the game.

As the second half especially rolled on it was crying out for another Josh Staunton in the middle, someone to put their foot on the ball and try and calm the play down.

With Staunton’s time at centre-half set to last a while longer after Max Hunt’s dismissal, I feel we need to think about this area in recruitment.

In my last Five Conclusions after the 2-0 win over Woking in midweek, I said I didn’t really know what to think about Adi Yussuf.

Yussuf Warming

Well, 70-odd minutes more and well, now I can say with some confidence, that I am still absolutely no nearer to knowing what I think of him.

For every neat passage of play with his strike partners, there was an offside, or a stupid free-kick given away.

For every flick on into good areas, there was a frustrating lack of control especially at times where we needed to take the pressure off… and then there’s THAT miss.

At the time of writing, I haven’t seen it back on the highlights yet, but I REALLY hope it’s not as bad as I thought when it happened live.

Going into half time 1-0 up would have flipped that game on its head and quite simply you have to be taking those chances when they come around.

Darren Sarll and plenty of others have talked about how fit this bunch are, but for the first time, maybe all season… we did finish the game looking a bit tired.

Eight games in October, one of which went 120 minutes and penalties, a couple long coach trips have all piled on, and I reckon they’ve earned a Sunday and maybe a Monday off before cranking in to gear again for Yate Town in the FA Cup last weekend.

No doubt our new fitness coach Scott Wickens has been doing wonders and will be crucial in the weeks to come.

I actually wanted to do one of these without an off-the-pitch mini rant, but it was so good to see a club clearly committed to putting on a show for their family fun day.

It was Halloween special day and fans of a number of higher positioned league clubs could attend at a reduced rate, there was a Halloween fun fete thing on the outside 3G pitch, plenty of activities, face paint, the works.

Kids there had Aston Villa shirts [did you leave have yours on, Ben? – Ed), Birmingham shirts, Coventry shirts and more, and with those kids, parenmts who want a coffee, a bite to eat, to pay to park, to have a drink in one of their multiple bars – you get where I’m going with this, don’t you?

I understand that COVID restrictions are preventing us having ball boys and girls at Huish Park, but that didn’t seem to be an issue at Damson Park – if they can do it…..

We have people at our club who could do and have done this stuff with their eyes closed… they just need the green light from above.

Oh, and the away supporters’ bar at Damson Park was a small breeze block building with a bar, nicely done up with a Peaky Blinders’ theme, and it was rammed for a couple of hours before kick-off.

Not hard, is it?

 

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Following Max Hunt’s sending off in the goalless draw at Solihull Moors yesterday, our research desk (aka Ben) has looked in to when we can expect to be without the centre half.

 

Central defender Max Hunt seems likely to miss the FA Cup tie at Yate Town.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Assuming the red card goes down as a professional foul (hard to think it’ll be anything else), then it appears we’ll be without Max for next weekend’s FA Cup first round tie at Yate Town.

Red cards read across to all competitions, whereas yellows are competition specific, as is the case with Dale Gorman who is not (yet) banned for the five yellows he’s collected as one came in the first match against W*ymouth in the last round of the FA Cup.

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With both the Yeovil Town Under-18s and the Under-16s side not having a fixture, the two teams played a friendly at Huish Park on Saturday.

The match pitted the Trust’s Junior Premier League side against players in the Elite Player Development Programme (EPDP), effectively trialling for the Under-18s.

Both sets of players who took part in the friendly match at Huish Park on Saturday.
Picture courtesy of the YTCST.

The match followed a week of trials held as part of the programme at the club.

The EPDP is run together with Yeovil College and offers Year 12 and 13 BTEC students play football whilst remaining in full-time education.

 

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Tickets for next weekend’s FA Cup first round proper tie at Yate Town will go on sale to season ticket holders from Monday morning.

The club has confirmed that it will be limiting sales to one ticket per season ticket holder.

On Saturday, Yate confirmed that they had sold out the home allocation of 1,600 tickets ahead of their FA Trophy fixture with Willand Rovers, which drew a crowd of 240 people.

The exact number of tickets given to Yeovil Town fans has not been confirmed but it is believed to be around 350 tickets.

The Green & White Supporters Club is running coach travel to the match for the fixture.

Prices are £14 for members and £16 for non-members with coaches leaving Huish Park at 11am.

To book your place, contact Paul Hadlow on 07736 044570 or email him at paulhadlow@outlook.com.

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Striker Adi Yussuf has said he is confident that goals will come for Yeovil Town if they continue to do the things they are doing.

The 29-year-old played 72 minutes of today’s goalless draw at Solihull Moors where he had two great chances to find the net at the end of the first half.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the match, Yussuf said: “At the minute I am still getting the minutes in and getting fitter and I am confident in myself that the goals will start coming.

Striker Adi Yussuf fires a shot in on goal.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

“But the most important thing is the team are playing well and we are getting points on the board.

“I have got no doubts about the scoring, we are playing well and when the team is playing like that it is only a matter of time before the forwards start scoring.”

The former Solihull player has started the last two games and says he is feeling his fitness returning having not had a proper pre-season before joining in the summer.

Following his release by Blackpool at the end of last season, he had a spell at League Two side Hartlepool United before signing for Yeovil on the eve of the new season.

He said he was using his position as one of the most experienced heads in to support the Glovers’ young team.

He said: “I am a big believer in confidence, so I praise them all the time and obviously tell them when they need to be told.

“I am loving every minute of it and I think we can do great things this year as long as we stick together, work hard and most importantly believe in ourselves.”

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

Darren Sarll was full of praise for his defence following Yeovil Town’s 0-0 draw on the road at Solihull.

In a game of two-red cards, the Glovers held on to valuable point at the 5th placed side.

Speaking to BBC’s Sheridan Robins, Sarll said: “I thought we defended very well and what’s really pleasing, and something that I’ve not really spoken about is that I think we’ve probably got the fourth best defensive record in our division (it’s actually the third!). And I don’t think we would associate that with our recent run of results, but I thought that [the result] was a really good point.”

Max Hunt was justly dismissed for a professional foul in the 70th minute and the manager was pleased with his makeshift back four and how they defended in the closing stages.

He said: “When you looked at the make up of the back four in that last 10-15 minutes, I was really pleased for those young men.”

When asked about the status of Dan Moss and Jack Robinson’s loan deals, Sarll commented that “Robinson is done [signed] until January” and that Moss will be going “absolutely nowhere.”

Sarll also provided an update on Luke Wilkinson, who he had suggested on Thursday could return for the Solihull fixture. He said: “Luke tried on Thursday and it was too soon. So we put it to bed yesterday and left him out of everything. He’s going to have to get a wiggle on now, bless him Luke, or we’re going to have to bring someone else in I think.”

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Venue: Damson Park
Saturday, October 29 2021, 3pm kick-off.

Conditions: Cold, but bright and dry
Ground: “Flat and Grassy, Carpet-esque.” Ben Barrett.

Scorers: None

Attendance: 1607 (232 away)

Referee: Thomas Parsons

Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Dan Moss 28
Solihull Moors: James Ball 65

Sendings off:
Yeovil Town: Max Hunt 70
Solihull Moors: Jordan Cranston 61


Yeovil Town : (4-3-3)

Grant Smith
Dan Moss, Max Hunt, Josh Staunton, Jack Robinson
Matt Worthington, Dale Gorman, Jordan Barnett
Tom Knowles Adi Yussuf Charlie Wakefield

Substitutes: Joe Quigley (for Wakefield 72), Alex Bradley (for Knowles 87), Sonny Blu Lo Everton (for Yussuf 72), Toby Stephens, Max Evans.

Solihull Moors: Boot, Williams, Cranston, Maycock, Howe, Storer, Sbarra, Barnett, Ball, Dallas, Maynard
Substitutes: Gudger, Rooney (for Sbarra 75), Osborne (for Ball 68), Boyes, Donawa

Match Report

Yeovil players after the 0-0 draw with Solihull

Here’s how Ben saw the game.

Yeovil Town take a point from high flying Solihull Moors after both sides were reduced to 10 men.

The Glovers started brightly which has been the case so many times early corners and throw ins from both flanks caused a Moors defence consistent problems.

But, having kept three recent clean sheets in victories, the play off chasers were often more than capable of dealing with all that was, quite literally thrown at them.

Tom Knowles and Charlie Wakefield were the out ball time and time again as the Glovers put their quick breaks to good use.

Half chances came and went at both ends, there were pot shots and scruffy moments for Adi Yussuf and Jordan Barnett in the final third, but the Glovers lacked that final moment of quality.

Solihull pushed and pushed and got more than their fair share of chances along the way too, Jamie Ball having not one, but two sights of Grant Smith’s goal.

As the half wore on the game continued to sway back and forth and just as the half drew to a close Yeovil missed what was probably the definitive moment of the match.

A dangerous throw in resulted in a corner which Dale Gorman whipped under the crossbar, somehow almost inexplicably Adi Yussuf put the ball over.

Half time: Solihull Moors 0 Yeovil Town 0

The second half started in the same scrappy fashion as the first, quality, especially in the final third was lacking but the real spark came when Jordan Cranston was sent off.

Cranston and Williams on opposite flanks were a constant outlet for Solihull and when Knowles and Cranston collided on the side of the pitch what happened after was bonkers.

Cranston lashed out sending Knowles to the ground and was rightly sent off.

Knowles was a marked man after that and tackles began to fly in, Jamie Ball was lucky to stay on the pitch and not see his side reduced to nine after a nasty challenge and plenty of afters on the Glovers attacker.

 

Max Hunt warms up

No more than 10 minutes later, the numbers were evened. Max Hunt found himself the wrong side of the attacker and had no choice to bring down former Glovers target Andy Dallas and seeing red himself.

The numbers were evened up but the attacking intent was now firmly with the hosts.

The introduction of Jamey Osborne gave Moors an edge in midfield that the Glovers lacked at times.

Joe Quigley was introduced and he did have a half chance as the game wore on but by the time ticked over to 80 minutes Yeovil had shut up shop.

Solihull threw the kitchen sink, but solid defensive performances from Moss, Staunton, Barnett and make shift centre back Jack Robinson were more than a match for everything they had to offer.

In truth, it’s a good point and a big case of ‘nearly’ being more than that on occasions.

A point is a good one. Bring on the FA CUP

Full time: Solihull Moors 0 Yeovil Town 0

 

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Yeovil Town are unchanged for the visit to Solihull Moors today (3pm kick-off).

However, there is no return for captain Luke Wilkinson who is not even named on the bench, but Alex Bradley returns.

Yeovil Town: Grant Smith, Dan Moss,  Josh Staunton, Max Hunt, Jack Robinson, Matt Worthington, Dale Gorman, Jordan Barnett, Tom Knowles, Adi Yussuf, Charlie Wakefield.

Substitutes: Max Evans, Alex Bradley, Toby Stephens, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, Joe Quigley.

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Andrew Barrowman (White shirt) playing for Airdrie Reserves

Yeovil Town have taken former Airdrie forward Andrew Barrowman on trial.

Barrowman, who has also spent time on the books of the New England Revolution in the MLS is the nephew of former Dr Who, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Strictly Come Dancing star and all round actor/comedian type, John Barrowman.

Uncle John posted on his Instagram that he was in Yeovil watching Andrew train with with Glovers down at Alvington and it was “freezing“.

It also appears that John visited Huish Park during his visit, mentioning that the “merch shop” stayed open for him.

Uncle John in the Huish Park “merch shop” with Paul Hadlow of the Green & White Supporters’ Club.

He also refers to assistant manager Terry Skiverton as “the #gaffer”. Awkward.

As far as we can tell, Andrew never made a first team appearance for Airdrie, nor in the MLS but impressed in plenty of reserve games.

The 23 year old is listed on Transfermarkt as being able to play in midfield or attack.

Best of luck to Andrew with his trial!

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Yeovil Town‘s trip to big-spending Wrexham has been rearranged for Tuesday, November 30.

The match at the Racecourse Ground had been scheduled for the opening day of the National League season, but was postponed after an outbreak of COVID-19 in the Glovers’ camp.

There are no details of ticketing arrangements yet, but we’ll update you as soon as they are available.