January 2022 (Page 8)

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Tickets bought for the cancelled derby with W*ymouth at Huish Park will be valid for the new date on Tuesday, February 1.

Josh Staunton disagrees with Brad Ash of W*ymouth in the FA Cup replay at the Bob Lucas Stadium.

The new date was confirmed by the National League on Monday night and then by the club on Tuesday afternoon and tickets are back on sale again – here.

However, if you do not want to attend the new date you can get a refund by contacting the Ticket Office on 01935 847888 or email ticketoffice@ytfc.net.

The original date on December 28 was postponed after COVID-19 in the camp for our seagull bothering ‘friends’, and the first time we have faced them since we put them out of the FA Cup following the worst penalty shoot-out in living memory.

 

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Southend United manager Kevin Maher is hoping that a return to home comforts can help his side continue a run of form which has seen them beaten just once in their last six matches.

The Shrimpers, who were expected to be among the promotion contenders having dropped out of the League last season, lie four points off the National League relegation zone in 19th place going in to the fixture at Roots Hall.

The North Stand at Roots Hall where away supporters are housed.

It is only the third time they have been at home in almost a month-and-a-half and they have only won twice on home soil in the league, losing three.

Maher told the Southend Echo: “It’s been a little while since we’ve been at home after the games were called off over Christmas.

“We’re delighted to get back in front of the fans and I’m sure they will turn out in good numbers because they always do.

“I’m sure they will get behind us as well and that’s what we need at home.”

The match pits former Yeovil top-scorer Rhys Murphy against his old employers for the first time since he left in the summer having failed to show up for the final month of last season’s campaign.

Having joined the club recently relegated from the Football League in June, he posted on his Instagram account that “personal issues” meant he had been unable to turn up for even the final game of the season.

He is Southend’s top-scorer with eight goals in all competitions, but his last goal came in a draw at Maidenhead United at the start of December.

In the 1-0 win at W*ymouth on Saturday, Murphy was part of a three-man frontline alongside 6’2″ Sam Dalby, who has six goals, and Norwich City loanee Matt Dennis, who has scored three in his last three matches.

Having picked up three points at King’s Lynn Town on the opening day of the season, Southend picked up just five points from the next 27 leading to the sacking of manager Phil Brown in October.

He was replaced by club legend Maher, who played nearly 400 times for the club, who is supported by former Barnet manager Darren Currie and another ex-Shrimper Mark Bentley.

But, in a not unfamiliar situation to Yeovil, there has been a lot of attention on off-the-field events in Essex with chairman Ron Martin the target of angry campaign from the club’s supporters.

His latest finest hour came in November when he was taken to court by HM Revenue & Customs for failure to pay nearly £5m in VAT for the sale of land in Cheltenham.

FROM THE MANAGER

Southend United manager Kevin Maher believes his side are moving in the right direction after just one defeat in their last six matches in all competitions.

The Shrimpers boss described the 1-0 win at W*ymouth last weekend as “important”, which suggests he is not setting his bar too high.

Speaking to the Southend Echo ahead of the visit of Yeovil, he said: “Overall W*ymouth was a good performance too which I think shows we’re moving in the right direction.

“Getting an important win like we did at the weekend always builds confidence. We’ve lost once in six so that should build confidence too and we want to take that into this game.

“It’s one we’re looking forward to as well. We’ve done it away from home now we need to transfer it to Roots Hall under the lights on Tuesday.”

He added that he had been in attendance when stunning strikes from Tom Knowles and Charlie Wakefield earned the Glovers a 2-1 win Bromley at the end of November.

Maher said: “I know Darren (Sarll), their manager, well and his team will definitely be organised.

“He will have them well up for the game so it’s going to be tough. We watched them at Bromley where they won but we will be ready.”

TEAM NEWS

Southend winger Jack Bridge will miss the visit from Yeovil having been ruled out with COVID-19.

The product of The Shrimpers’ academy, who has played for Northampton Town and Carlisle United, has not played since November with a knee injur.

Midfielder Abu Ogogo will also miss out having been diagnosed with an issue affecting a muscle around his heart last month, whilst former Exeter City midfielder James Dunne (ankle) and ex-Barnet striker Simeon Akinola (knee) are also missing through injury.

FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS

The obvious link between these two sides is Rhys Murphy, who topped the scoring charts in the green-and-white of Yeovil Town for the past two seasons and is doing the same at Southend United.

The 31-year-old, who did not play in the final month of his contract at Huish Park last season, has got eight goals in all competitions for The Shrimpers this campaign.

Full-back Nathan Ralph, who was part of the Yeovil side which was promoted to the Championship in 2013, is likely to be the other familiar face in the hosts’ line-up having been a regular starter since the middle of November.

Other players with a foot in both camps include:

  • Jordan Green – Yeovil Town (2017-19), Southend United (2020 – loan)
  • Brandon Goodship – Yeovil Town (2016 – loan, 2016), Southend United (2019-21)
  • Jakub Sokolik – Southend United (2014 – loan, 2016), Yeovil Town (2014-16)
  • Craig Calver – Southend United (2009-10), Yeovil Town (2010-11)
  • Scott Spencer – Yeovil Town (2008 – loan), Southend United (2010-11)
  • Wayne Gray – Southend United (2004-06), Yeovil Town (2006-07)
  • Barrington Belgrave – Yeovil Town (2000-01), Southend United (2001-2003)
  • Gareth Risbridger – Yeovil Town (1998-2001), Southend United (2001-02)
  • Ben Smith – Yeovil Town (1998-2001), Southend United (2001-02)
  • David Webb – Southend United – manager (1986-87, 1988-82, 2000-01, 2010), Yeovil Town (2000)

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Yeovil Town’s exit from the FA Cup at the hands of Championship leaders Bournemouth was captured by the BBC TV cameras.

The Cherries won 3-1 and the highlights, including Joe Quigley’s 2nd half goal can be viewed below or via the Emirates FA Cup YouTube channel.

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Yeovil Town’s match away at Chesterfield has been chosen for live TV Coverage on BT Sport.

The match a the “Technique Stadium” (fka, the Proact/b2net Stadium – catchy) on February 26th will now take place at the later time of 5:20pm.

The Spireites have won the last three head to head meetings, including a 3-0 win in North Derbyshire back in March, but Yeovil did win there back in 2019 thanks to goals from Myles Hippolyte and Rhys Murphy.

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Ben Seymour in action
Credit:Weymouth FC Flickr

Former Yeovil Town loanee Ben Seymour has been speaking to DevonLive about his battle with COVID, his run in the Exeter team and his loan spell at Huish Park.

He said that whilst it was nice to play a few games, it could have been better.

“Looking back, it was a good loan to get minutes,”

“But when I was there, I was playing as an attacking midfielder and not a striker, so not my position, but I got some game time and played some minutes.”

The Grecians’ front man said when he arrived at the end of September, alongside defender Jordan Dyer, the Glovers were not in a great place, having lost back to back games against Chesterfield and Boreham Wood.

“They were in a tricky patch when I went and they were down in the dumps, but good to see they have finally picked up and shown what they can do.”

Seymour played four times for Yeovil, starting against Maidenhead in a 0-0 draw, coming off the bench in a defeat to Notts County and in a draw against Altrincham.

He also played in the FA Cup tie against W*ymouth and was one of two Glovers to miss their penalty as the Green and Whites progressed.

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It’s Day 36 since the passing of the seven-day deadline to complete a takeover of Yeovil Town set by Scott Priestnall, our chairman, owner and even more shockingly spectator.

We’re all bored of hearing the ‘in the know’ anonymous social media accounts (I always preferred Rocky) tell us what’s happening or when it’s happening, we all just want some kind of certainty, don’t we? Let’s not go back over the reasons why.

Could it be magic……?

But, if Mr Priestnall was present to see the best part of 8,000 people inside Huish Park (with thanks to the couple of thousand making the trip up from the Dorset coast) for Saturday’s FA Cup third round tie with AFC Bournemouth, I wonder what he thought.

We tweeted some pictures of a packed Thatcher’s stand after the match and made the point the ‘magic’ of the FA Cup may have brought them here, but it really doesn’t need magic to achieve this, does it?

In the summer, Scott Priestnall promised “a more inviting a more inviting and entertaining offer” for supporters; it’s an obvious improvement, but it’s one he’s failed to deliver.

There’s a group of hard-working staff behind the scenes who are doing everything they can, often with their hands tied behind their backs, and then there’s a group of volunteers without whom the operations of the club would literally grind to a halt.

If you don’t know who they are, they will be the people selling the lottery tickets and programmes, sweeping the stands, handing out cans from the makeshift bars.

There’s a lot of things which need to change from top to bottom, but here’s a few things that could make things better pretty quickly…..

  • Give the place a tidy up: Behind the Thatcher’s terrace looks like a dumping ground with landfill strewn all over the place, but the entrance to Huish Park is like an assault course – water hazards, little lighting, plastic drums blocking the entrance/exit nearest to Abbey Manor. It’s a bad look, potentially very dangerous and could be fixed. Hire a skip (or three!), mobilise an army of volunteers and make the place look a bit tidier. Yes, there will be things which require more permanent work – but there’s a few things which can be done to make things look better quickly.
  • Keep the doors open: The opening of the Alec Stock Lounge for supporters has been a good move (we assume the marquee has been left to rot?) but surely keeping it open longer would pay dividends. There was a captive audience of nearly 8,000 people there on Saturday, if you can keep even a small percentage of them after the game – it will begin to pay for itself. In the temporary bar behind the home and away terrace (presumably the bright vision of a “new bar area” the Chairman promised in the summer) staffed by volunteers, why isn’t there pints poured or cans available at a reasonable price ready to go? Again, not a criticism of those who are doing something, they are doing the best with what they have.
  • Contactless payments: The past two matches have seen long queues at the ticket offices and yet there’s no sign of any kind of e-ticket offer from the club – unless we’ve missed it? Surely the cost of printing thousands of tickets season after season must be greater than getting some QR Code scanners for each turnstile? And while we’re at it, why is there no card payments in the tea bars? Even a sole trader can get a simple, cheap card payment service – so why not for the tea bars?
  • Communicate better: It sounds like the simplest thing to do and you’ll never please all the people all the time, but regular communication with people is a great place to start. We’ve all spent the last 18 months communicating virtually with people and this would be a great way to get started and then commit to a regular forum for doing it.

Of course there are other things, like helping out the dwindling members of staff on the club’s books right now, getting some of our star players tied down to new contracts, there’s lots more than can be done and these are just a couple quick, free (or inexpensive) fixes.

For too many years we have got by doing what we always did off-the-field whilst exceeding expectations on it, but if our dream of a return to the Football League is to become a reality, we have to do things differently.

None of this is rocket science and you could probably all think of many other simple fixes; they won’t achieve getting us back to the League, but they might encourage a few hundred floating fans who turned up on Saturday to return.

If they do, that’s a step in the right direction and a direction we should be travelling.

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The FA Cup dream is over, but the treble is still on. Ian and Ben welcome Dave Prior to the Gloverscast to talk about our Saturday night under the lights at Huish Park and how we saw the game, the performance and all the stuff around it.

Thanks for listening!

Remember to add Gloverscast.co.uk to your favourites and check the website daily for the latest news from Huish Park.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, enjoy some retro content on Instagram. Leave us a review and share the pod with a pal.

WANT TO ADVERTISE ON THE GLOVERSCAST? Send us an email for our rate card.

If you want to take part in the quiz, have an idea for the website or just want to send us a message, email ian@gloverscast.co.uk

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It wasn’t quite a magic night at Huish Park, but there is always something about Yeovil Town in the FA Cup. Here are Ian’s Five Conclusions from the 3-1 defeat.

It was fantastic to see a crowd. Not since Manchester United’s visit in 2018 have we had such a turnout. Despite Bournemouth not being a ‘superclub’, Huish Park was packed and full of anticipation of more FA Cup history. While the result wasn’t what we’d have wanted, seeing supporters in their volume to watch the match was a pleasant remind of what Yeovil Town FC can be on its day. Let’s just hope the mud bath surround the stadium didn’t put people off attending less glamourous matches in the future.

Bournemouth’s quality was clear to see. But for the keeper’s mishap, we didn’t cause them any major issues. Their technical prowess allowed them to totally control the game and keep us at arm’s length. Emiliano Marcondes was everywhere for the Cherries and he earned his hattrick with his clever runs and positioning. Jamal Lowe showed what a talent he is with his dizzying runs and electric pace. We performed admirably, but Bournemouth showed why they are three points clear at the top of the Championship.

Max Evans should have got his chance. Dillon Barnes has had two disappointing performances in his loan spell for us. The corner at Torquay was bad and I felt he had another poor game in the FA Cup. He pushed the ball back into the middle of the goal for Bournemouth’s third goal and he seemed to struggle with crosses and corners again. There’s a lesson to be learned for Grant Smith, don’t mouth off at officials again. He’s missed two big games for Yeovil and we’ve really suffered for it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I think giving Max Evans an opportunity in these two games would have been a good thing. It couldn’t have gone much worse.

We looked tired. Playing against Bournemouth is totally draining, obviously. But we looked like a side which hadn’t had a proper week of preparation. Tom Knowles and Charlie Wakefield aren’t at the energetic levels they were, Matt Worthington isn’t getting forward like he was and our threat was diminished. I’m not sure having Worthington and Dale Gorman on yellow cards for the majority of the match made it trickier for us to take any risks. On the plus side, we had nine substitutes and seem to have some genuine depth in positions. Without downplaying Needham Market, we could do with playing Needham Market after these last three games. Instead, we’ve got a quick turnaround and a trip to Southend having not left the South West since November.

Scott Priestnall decided to grace us with his presence, albeit under the radar. That there’s even speculation about whether or not the owner of the football club will attend a match is appalling enough in itself. We can only guess as to the reason why this match was worth a visit, perhaps it was to see what a proper occasion at Huish Park can look like. Perhaps it was to sort out some contracts for players and the manager. Maybe we’re days away from seeing his long-term plan. Hopefully he was there to clear out his desk. Plenty on the terraces let him know their feelings last night.

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Midfielder Tom Knowles said his Yeovil Town team-mates need to take the positives from their run to the FA Cup third round in to the rest of the season.

The Glovers went out of the competition after a 3-1 defeat at home to Championship leaders AFC Bournemouth and now have just two days until the National League trip to Southend United on Tuesday night and an FA Trophy tie with Needham Market next weekend.

Tom Knowles. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Knowles said: “We’ve come away from Torquay with two disappointing losses and we’ve got to go to Southend and look to pick up a win again and then we’re back in to the FA Trophy. We have to pick up momentum and keep going game by game.”

He praised the support from the home fans in the crowd of 7,818 who turned out for the televised tie, adding: “We play football for the fans, they were class tonight, you saw when we scored that goal and right throughout the evening they were behind us.

“If we can take that in to our league form and see as many (fans) back here again, that will push us on for the season and hopefully we can kick on and do well.”

Knowles said the team was “gutted” to have been put out of the competition courtesy of a hat-trick from Bournemouth midfielder Emiliano Marcondes – but said they were proud of their performance.

The midfielder added: “We felt we gave a good account of ourselves against a good Championship side and we went out there and did Yeovil proud.

“We are gutted to be going out, but it’s been a great journey and we have really enjoyed it.

“We knew they were going to have a lot of the ball, they are a possession-based team, but I thought we frustrated them in the first half.

“We all did our jobs well, we were working our socks off and their quality shone through.”

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Darren Sarll said he was pleased his Yeovil Town side did “never backed down” against Championship leaders AFC Bournemouth in the defeat which ended their FA Cup run.

A hat-trick from Cherries’ midfielder Emiliano Marcondes sealed a 3-1 win for the visitors and the manager was keen to praise his side for their willingness to take the fight to this high-flying opponents.

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

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the loss, he said: “We had a saying tonight ‘never back down’, we wanted to step in to the battle, we didn’t want to get to half-time and be talking about giving too much respect to the opponent.

“No-one backed down, no-one shied out of a challenge, and we made it messy for them at times which was something we knew we’d have to do.

“We had to try and rough it up a bit to get anything out of them and I thought the second half was an excellent performance.

“The first half I thought was patient, the first goal gives us no pride because we worked on that exact scenario too often this week, but I thought the players showed great character and I am pleased we did that.”

Having had a number of cases of COVID-19 in his already limited squad, the boss said that he was able to count on four substitutes with just under four hours to go until kick-off.

He ended up with a full complement of nine substitutes albeit only four of them – Charlie Wakefield, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, Adi Yussuf and Reuben Reid – made it on to the pitch.

Sarll added: “Some of them were not in any condition to play, especially with the time they have played up until now, Charlie (Wakefield) being one of them.

“We have so many games coming up and we know what an important player he is for us but the physio and doctor were excellent to get the players in a shape to compete.

“We were pleased at 2pm that we started the day with four on the bench and we managed to get the full complement out, which we have not been able to do much this season.”

Looking ahead of Tuesday night’s trip to Southend United in the National League, the boss said his side needed to get back to the form which had seen them go 13 matches unbeaten before a double defeat to Torquay United over the festive period.

He said: “All the razz, glamour and cameras are over now and it’s important we get back to being gritty and getting draws away from home, three points at home.

“We have to get back to the reality of what the fifth division of the game looks like, and Tuesday will be tough because (Southend is) a well-supported club and it has a bigger resource than us.”