October 2021 (Page 11)

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Dion Pereira showed glimpses of his quality. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

It was a difficult afternoon at Huish Park for Yeovil Town as they fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Notts County. Here are our Five Conclusions from the game.

Once again it was another game with a lack of creativity. Two centre midfielders who play it safe, an out of form Tom Knowles and a new loan signing in Dion Pereira adjusting to his new surroundings struggled to create anything. Pereira showed glimpses of quality but the overall performance made it near impossible for him to make an impact. Charlie Wakefield looks better on the right hand side than the left, and looked a threat after his half time introduction, but Joe Quigley is looking increasingly isolated. I know it’s easy to say, but we need an Ed Upson. 

I think there’s a decision to be made about Sonny Blu Lo-Everton. The youngster is struggling to adapt to the physicality of the National League. He was withdrawn early against Chesterfield having made little impact. He came on against Maidenhead United when they were down to ten men and couldn’t unlock them. And yesterday he didn’t get a sniff out of Notts County. I’m sure Sonny has a very bright future in the game but right now his contribution in a Yeovil shirt is negligible. We’re on the verge of crisis territory and it’s unfair to put a young loanee in that environment because with every stray pass, every lost challenge the supporters’ frustration grows. 

For the second consecutive game Josh Staunton was voted the sponsors Man of the Match. It was another strong performance from the stand-in skipper and he’s proving what a smart signing it was last season. However, when your centre back is getting man of the match awards, it’s a damning indictment of the shape of things. Well done Josh, you’re becoming a leader and standard bearer, but I’d love a striker or a winger to be Man of the Match on Tuesday after scoring three and setting up two.

Minus King’s Lynn, we started well this season. A solid and dependable XI that we weren’t forced to change. The loss of Luke Wilkinson through injury has created a ripple effect through the side. With Staunton having to move back (mainly because of Morgan Williams’ injury) we’ve had to shuffle the pack a bit, including breaking up Staunton and Gorman. But are we changing things too much now? Three changes against Maidenhead United, after an alright (given the circumstances) performance against Boreham Wood in our last outing. Another three changes yesterday, and I’m not sure why. Jordan Barnett has been one of our better performers and was left out of the team yesterday for loanee Jack Robinson. Mitch Rose, regardless of the overwhelming negativity, started on Tuesday but was dropped for Notts County. History tells us that chopping and changing for every match doesn’t bode well, and now we can expect more on Tuesday.

Darren Sarll’s final substitution at 1-0 down yesterday was to remove Dale Gorman, the slightly more forward thinking of our central midfielders, for a defensive midfielder in Mitch Rose. We had an experienced striker in Adi Yussuf on the bench. I think with 20 minutes left at 1-0, we should have brought on another striker, tried something different and at least gone down swinging. That change was essentially us forfeiting the game in my view. Our rigidity is our strength in certain moments, but it is a weakness when we’re trying to do the same thing over and over again and failing to achieve anything. I know we’ve heard about ‘doing Plan A better’ in previous seasons but in the space of two weeks, the team appear to have been totally sapped of confidence and are barely carrying out Plan A. 

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Darren Sarll has said he will need to ring the changes to try and spark his struggling Yeovil Town side in to life after two drab performances.

The Glovers face Altrincham at Huish Park on Tuesday night on the back of a goalless draw against Maidenhead United in midweek and a 2-0 defeat at home to Notts County on Saturday.

Speaking after the loss, the manager said: “We are going to have to open the door for other opportunities which come in the squad depth and we have to look at throwing them around and see if we can spark a bit of attacking pulse out of someone else.

“Sometimes we are crying out for coming out of the team and just watching, and we need to spark something because that was nowhere near good enough.”

Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, who was replaced by Ben Seymour after 56 minutes.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The manager made three changes from the side which drew in the week with striker Ben Seymour, midfielder Mitchell Rose and winger Charlie Wakefield dropping to the bench in place of Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, Matt Worthington and new signing Dion Pereira.

There was no place in the squad for loanee Lewis Simper who the manager said was continuing to struggle after coming down with COVID-19 and an injury, or defender Jordan Dyer, the two of Yeovil’s seven loanees to miss out.

Striker Adi Yussuf, who was available after a one-match suspension, and left-back Jordan Barnett who would both have been attacking outlets both remained on the bench against Notts whilst Alex Bradley did not even make the squad.

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Darren Sarll said his Yeovil Town side have “nowhere to hide“ after capitulating to a 2-0 defeat against Notts County at Huish Park.

The Glovers’ boss described the performance as “dross” after his side failed to register a meaningful shot on target until the 85th minute.

Over the entire 90 minutes, the home side managed two shots on target and none off target leading to boos from the home supporters for the second successive match.

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

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the match, the manager said his players deserved the reaction from fans having called four patience just four days earlier after a frustrating goalless draw at home to Maidenhead United.

He said: “There’s nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, we have got to make sure we provide a solution.

“We have to make sure we provide the ball in to that final third a lot quicker because without the ball we are not going to score.

“And we need to address the amount of time we are spending in that final third which is next to nothing.

“Unless we have the balls in that territory we can’t create or register chances.”

Sarll dropped loan signing Ben Seymour and winger Charlie Wakefield from the start and went with top-scorer Joe Quigley just in front of Sonny Blu Lo-Everton in the forward line  supported by Tom Knowles and new signing Dion Pereira on the flanks.

Joe Quigley stretches for a ball.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

He pulled Knowles off at the interval introducing Wakefield, but said he could have substituted all four players after an abject first 45 minutes.

The manager said: “First half it was like having a mouth without teeth. We didn’t keep the ball in the final third, so we couldn’t draw a foul, get a set play or a long throw.

“Tom obviously drew the brunt of it with the substitution, but all four of them could have come off. I would probably have done it if I knew I had the wiggle room later.

“I thought Tuesday night I thought we were solid and a bit bland, but when we were weak like today that really hurts.”

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Venue: Huish Park
Saturday, October 9 2021, 3pm kick-off.

Conditions: An August day in October.
Ground: A great surface which was almost unused.

Scorers: Reuben Rodrigues 16 (0-2), Reuben Rodrigues 81 (0-2)

Attendance: 2,438 (291 away)

Referee: Gary Parsons

Bookings:
Yeovil: Robinson 55,
Notts County: Nemane 11, Palmer 14, Chicksen 45, O’Brien 57

Yeovil Town : (4-4-2)
Grant Smith
Dan Moss, Max Hunt, Josh Staunton, Jack Robinson
Dion Pereira, Dale Gorman, Matt Worthington, Tom Knowles
Sonny Blu Lo-Everton
Joe Quigley

Subs:  Charlie Wakefield (for Knowles, 46), Ben Seymour (for Lo-Everton, 56), Mitchell Rose (for Gorman, 66)  Jordan Barnett, Adi Yussuf.

Notts County: Patterson, Brindley, Brennan, Cameron, Chicksen (for Kelly-Evans, 70), O’Brien, Palmer, Rodrigues, Nemane (for MItchell ,80), Roberts Wootton Subs: Mitchell, Francis, Vincent, Sam.

Summary

Yeovil Town fell to their third home defeat of the season at the hands of a far superior Notts County side this afternoon. Ruben Rodrigues put the Glovers to the sword with a goal in each half.

There were three changes for Yeovil after Tuesday’s

New signing Dion Pereira in action against Notts County.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

dismal draw against Maidenhead United Matt Worthington came in for Mitch Rose to partner Dale Gorman in central midfield. Sonny Blu Lo-Everton took Ben Seymour’s place behind Joe Quigley and there was a debut for Luton loannee Dion Pereira with Charlie Wakefield dropping to the bench.

The opening ten minutes of the match saw little in the way of any action with both sides trying to get a foothold. There was an early yellow card for County’s Aaron Nemane after he cynically brought down Pereira in the Yeovil half. Matt Palmer joined his teammate in the book shortly after for a late challenge on Gorman.

Notts County took the lead after quarter of an hour through RODRIGUES who picked up the ball outside the box and sauntered past Max Hunt before firing a left footed effort at goal which took a small deflection leaving Grant Smith on his knees.

County dominated the ball following their opener and Smith was called into action again diving to his right to palm away Cal Roberts’ deflected shot from just outside the edge of the area in the 24th minute. Smith’s save fell to the feet of Nemane but the Glovers cleared their lines after a scramble inside the 18 yard box.

Yeovil did get County’s defenders hearts racing moment later with some neat interplay between Pereira and Quigley almost forcing an effort at Patterson’s goal.

Joe Quigley battles for the ball.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The Glovers were starved of any meaningful possession as County imposed their technical superiority, finding space across the pitch. Murmurs of discontent grew with supporters struggling to keep their patience at wayward passes and aimless hoofs forward.

The closest Yeovil came to a shot in the first half was in the 44th minute when Dan Moss aimed a cross into the box towards Quigley. His effort was charged down on the penalty spot by a County defender.

County should have doubled their lead before the break as they outnumbered Yeovil defenders on a counter. Some fancy footwork in the box slowed the attack down and Moss got a block in on Kyle Wooton‘s shot.

As the half time whistle went there were boos from the Thatcher’s terrace, unsatisfied with a submissive first half display.

Half time: Yeovil Town 0 Notts County 1

The Glovers made a change at half time with Tom Knowles, who had been largely anonymous, making way for Charlie Wakefield. Wakefield moved to the right with Pereira taking up Knowles position on left midfield.

County had an early effort on goal through Rodrigues who was allowed to take the ball from the half way line to the edge of the box by a back-pedalling defence. His effort was high and wide, though.

Roberts thought he had a shout for penalty in the 53rd minute as he went down under a challenge in the box. The referee waved away the appeal, and there were few shouts from Roberts teammates.

Sonny Blu Lo-Everton.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Sonny Blu Lo-Everton was replaced by Ben Seymour just before the hour mark with the Glovers chasing the game. The diminutive midfielder struggled to make an impact throughout the game.

County had a big chance to grab a second in the 60th minute as Roberts put a sliding effort wide of the left hand post. The winger had plenty of time on space after being found by Rodrigues.

Sarll made is final substitution in the 66th minute taking off Gorman for defensive midfielder Mitchell Rose, to a smattering of boos from the terrace.

Wakefield managed to get hold of the ball on the right and get round two Notts players before slipping Seymour through on the right of the 18 yard box. The Exeter loanee struck a stinging cross across the box which was palmed out by Patterson. The incoming Periera and Wakefield got in each others way with the former handling the ball and conceding a free kick.

Worthington had a half chance moments later after a Seymour flick on but he couldn’t get the ball under control and a Notts County defender pinched the ball off his toe on the edge of the box.

RODRIGUES doubled his tally in the 80th minute with the County man rising alone in the box to head home from a corner emphatically.

Seymour had Yeovil’s first effort at goal in the 85th minute after being put through on the left hand side. He was closed down quickly by Patterson who saved his tame effort comfortably.

Yeovil forced another half chance in the 90th minute as a cross from left found Wakefield in space but his volley was saved well at the near post.

Five minutes were added on at the end of what has been a disappointing week for Sarll’s men in front of the Huish Park faithful. Altrincham on Tuesday before Weymouth in the FA Cup next Saturday look to be two increasingly important fixtures for Sarll.

Full time: Yeovil Town 0 Notts County 2

Read our Five Conclusions Here

 

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Image 1 of 10

All pictures courtesy of Mike Kunz – thanks Mike!

 

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Benjani Junior and Finlay Skiverton were both on target as Yeovil Town Under-18s picked up a 2-1 win over South West Counties Youth League leaders Mangotsfield United on Saturday.

The pair put the Glovers 2-0 up at the Alvington Playing Fields before the visitors scored a late consolation goal.

The victory means the young Glovers have won four and lost two of their opening six matches.

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Loan signing Dion Pereira is thrown straight in to the line-up as Yeovil Town manager rings the changes for today’s fixture with Notts County at Huish Park.

The boss has benched Charlie Wakefield, Mitchell Rose and Ben Seymour who all started the midweek goalless draw against Maidenhead United in favour of Matt Worthington, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton and Pereira, who joined from Luton Town in the week.

Jordan Barnett remains on the substitutes’ bench alongside striker Adi Yussuf who returns after a one-match ban for his sending off at Boreham Wood.

For the visitors, former Torquay United man Kyle Cameron returns after injury in place of former Glovers’ defender Alex Lacey who drops to the bench.

No sign of assistant manager Michael Doyle who has been rumoured to return to playing after the Magpies threw away leads in their past two matches.

Yeovil Town: Smith, Moss, Staunton, Hunt, Robinson, Worthington, Gorman, Pereira, Knowles, Lo-Everton, Quigley. Subs: Barnett, Rose, Wakefield, Seymour, Yussuf.

Notts County: Patterson, Chicksen, Cameron, Brennan, Brindley, O’Brien, Palmer, Roberts, Rodrigues, Nemane, Wootton. Subs: Kelly-Evans, Francis, Vincent, Mitchell, Sanm.

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Yeovil Town have been handed an away tie in the 2nd Round of the Somerset Premier Cup against Larkhall Athletic.

Larkhall are a Bath based side currently plying their trade in the Southern League, Division 1 South.

They progressed through the First Round after defeating Street FC on penalties after drawing 1-1 in standard time, whilst the Glovers beat Bridgwater United to progress to this stage.

Athletic currently sit in 7th place in the league table, just outside the play-off spots.

Ties will be played week commencing 9th November, with full tickets details to be released in due course.

 

 

We’ve met before

Yeovil Town were last drawn against Larkhall Athletic in the Somerset Premier Cup back in March 2015

The Glovers put out a strong side, which included future Wales international striker Kieffer Moore… (at Centre Back!)… the game ended 1-1 after 90 minutes with Yeovil progressing on penalties.

Here’s the Ciderspace news report from that evening:

Penalty Shoot-Out Needed To Settle Cup Tie

Yeovil Town needed extra time and a penalty shoot-out tonight to get past Southern League Division One South and West Larkhall Athletic tonight. In a match played at their Plain Ham Ground near Bath, the Glovers had taken the lead midway through the first half when AJ Leitch-Smith beat home keeper Alex Shaftoe to the ball to score from inside the box. However, they were pegged back when Joe Tumelty scored from close range midway through the second period to level the tie, and despite having the greater number of chances they couldn’t convert a winner.

That took the game through extra time, and after 120 minutes the two sides still couldn’t be divided. Thankfully Yeovil Town found their shooting boots during the penalty shoot-out, with AJ Leitch-Smith, Sam Hoskins, Kieffer Moore and Nathan Ralph converting a perfect set of penalties, whilst Larkhall failed to convert two of theirs, with Jamie Lyons the unlucky man whose spot kick was missed to send Yeovil through to the semi-final stages. There they will meet Bridgwater Town at Fairfax Park, after they saw their way past Odd Down at the Quarter-Final stages – a date for this tie has yet to be arranged.

Final Score: Larkhall Athletic 1 Yeovil Town 1. (After Extra Time. Yeovil win 4-2 on penalties).

Scorers: AJ Leitch-Smith (0-1, 24 mins), Joe Tumelty (1-1, 67 mins).

Penalty Shoot-Out: AJ Leitch-Smith (scored, 0-1), Tyler Sibbick (scored, 1-1), Sam Hoskins (scored, 1-2), Matt Thorne (missed, 1-2), Kieffer Moore (scored, 1-3), Rob Hobbs (scored, 2-3), Nathan Ralph (scored, 2-4), Jamie Lyons (missed, 2-4).

Yeovil Town:
1. Artur Krysiak
3. Seth Nana Twumasi, 4. Kieffer Moore, 5. Ben Nugent, 2. Liam Davis
6. Fergus Bell, 8. Craig Eastmond, 10. Alex Smith, 7. Nathan Ralph
9. Sam Hoskins, 11. AJ Leitch-Smith

Substitutes:
12. Gareth Stewart 13. Nathan Smith 14. James Hayter 15. Gozie Ugwu

Larkhall Athletic
1. Alex Shaftoe 2. Giorgio Wrona 3. Jamie Lyons 4. Rob Hobbs 5. Ollie Price (Capt) 6. Dan Jones 7. Joe Tumelty 8. Matt Thorne 9. Chris Pile 10. Brad Norris 11. Ben Horan.

Substitutes:
12. Tyler Sibbick 14. Jake Gardner 15. Ross Lye 16. Ryan Elliott.

Referee: Ron Ganfield. Assistants: Adam Fricker and Kevin Williams.

Attendance: 160.

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Dion Pereira makes his Premier League debut for Watford

Yeovil Town have further boosted their attacking options with the loan signing of 22-year-old Luton Town winger, Dion Pereira on a short term deal.

Pereira joins as the Glovers’ 7th loanee and will fight it out for a place in the squad with Dan Moss, Jack Robinson, Sonny Blu Lo Everton, Lewis Simper, Jordan Dyer and Ben (not Tom) Seymour also at the club on temporary deals.

The former Watford academy product will have worked under Darren Sarll in the Hornet’s academy before making the switch to Luton Town where he has been involved in the first team making a handful of appearances under former Yeovil skipper Nathan Jones.

He has been previously linked with moves to West Ham and Newcastle after making his Premier League debut at Vicarage Road instead opting for a spell in the United States with Atalanta FC.

Welcome to Huish Park, Dion!

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The big news coming out of Notts County ahead of their visit to Huish Park is that 40-year-old midfielder Michael Doyle is due for a return to action.

The former Coventry City player was appointed as assistant head coach to manager Ian Burchnall and took a step back from his role as a player.

However, after seeing his side give up a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 against a ten-man FC Halifax Town on Tuesday night, the manager is looking to bring back the experienced head in the middle of the park.

Burchnall said: “We have discussed it and it’s not necessarily that we need Michael to play every game but there might have been a moment against Halifax where he could have come in and settled the environment.

“A lot of what we do will come from the way in which we train and I’ve said to Doyler maybe you need to get back on the training pitch and help the players understand from a coach on the pitch.”

The capitulation of the Magpies in West Yorkshire in the week and last weekend when they gave up a 1-0 win to lose 4-1 at home to surprise package Woking.

 

FROM THE MANAGER

Notts County manager Ian Burchnall described his side’s performance in the 3-2 defeat at FC Halifax Town as “junior football“.

Having led 2-0 when Halifax defender Tom Bradbury saw red, Notts collapsed to a 3-2 defeat with a 100th minute winner from ex-Yeovil Town man, Matt Warburton.

Speaking afterwards, Burchnall told the Nottingham Post: “We’ve got to understand that over the course of the season goals go in but we can’t have such a negative reaction.

“When they do we have to bring ourselves together and reorganise. Until the red card, when I felt the game unravelled a little bit, I thought it was a very good away performance.

“We were 2-0 up and looked very stable. We have to remember why we’re in that position and what put us there.

“We started to chase the game and chase the result even at 2-1.

“When we’re 2-1 up, I still felt like we’re so desperate to chase that third goal to close it, that we leave ourselves vulnerable and a bit open to counter-attacks.

“We just have to completely manage the game and kill the opposition at that moment.

“And I think that is a mindset to be able to do that, to stay focused and disciplined even with a setback within the game.”

 

TEAM NEWS

Goalkeeper Sam Slocombe has been missing since the middle of September after picking up an injury in training.

The club have brought in highly-rated Sunderland youngster Alex Patterson has played the last three matches, conceding seven times in his last two matches.

Slocombe’s injury was described as being “for around three weeks” when it was reported on September 24, meaning there’s a chance of him returning at Huish Park.

Central defenders Connell Rawlinson and  Kyle Cameron, the latter signed in the summer from Torquay United, have been big misses through injury in recent weeks.

As with Slocombe, both were ruled out for “up to three weeks ago”…..around three weeks ago and may be brought back in to the fold this weekend.

Ex-Yeovil central defender Alex Lacey is recently back after a hip operation in the summer following a four-month lay-off, but returned to the side at the beginning of September.

He has been an ever-present in the Notts side since the 3-2 win over Aldershot Town and has scored twice in that time, including in the 3-2 defeat at FC Halifax Town on Tuesday night.

 

A FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS

On the pitch, there will be at least one player on either side of the weekend’s fixture facing their old employers.

In the green corner, Jordan Barnett arrived at Huish Park following his release by Notts at the end of last season, where he played 12 times scoring once….against Yeovil.

Barnett was on the bench for the goalless draw with Maidenhead United in midweek when his all-action display was lacking, so may return.

Midfielder Mitchell Rose, who played the full 90 minutes against Maidenhead, played more than 50 times for Notts during an 18-month spell between January 2019 and November 2020. He was part of the County side who dropped out of the Football League.

In the black-and-white corner, central defender Alex Lacey was a virtual ever present in his two seasons at Yeovil in 2015-16 and 2016-17.

In the latter season, he was was awarded with the Green & White Supporters Club and Community Sports Trust Player of the Season.

Having rejected an offer of a new contract in Somerset, he signed for League One Gillingham and arrived at Notts in November 2019 following his release from the Gills.

He signed a contract extension in August 2020 and (ominously) scored in the 3-2 defeat at FC Halifax Town in midweek.

Other players who recent experience playing for both teams include:

Francois Zoko – Notts County (2012-13), Yeovil Town (2015-2019)
Carl Dickinson – Notts County (2016-18), Yeovil Town (2018-2021)
Yoann Arquin – Notts County (2012-14), Yeovil Town (2018-2019)
Leroy Lita – Notts County (2015 – loan), Yeovil Town (2016)
Adam Coombes – Notts County (2013-14), Yeovil Town (2010 – loan)

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Tickets are on sale to season tickets for the FA Cup derby draw with W*ymouth at Huish Park next weekend.

The club has confirmed the game at Huish Park will be all ticket and no sales will be made on the day.

Season ticket holders are advised to take up their first refusal on their seats using the club’s ticket portal – here. They have until 5pm on Wednesday to confirm their seats.

However, tickets are also on general sale via the same ticketing portal – here.

Prices are here:

Seated Home fans

Adult £19

Senior / Armed Forces £17

Young Person 16-23 – £12

Under 16 –  £5

Under 12 – £3

Home Terrace

Adult £16

Senior / Armed Forces £13

Young Person 16-23 – £12

Under 16 –  £5

Under 12 – £3