August 2022 (Page 8)

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The National League season kicked off yesterday and there were some eye-catching results!

Dale Gorman made his debut for Barnet in a 2-0 win at the Hive against FC Halifax Town. A 90th minute equaliser from Junior Morias salvaged a point for Dagenham & Redbridge as they came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 against League new boys Gateshead.

Chesterfield had two players sent off in their 2-2 draw at Dorking, and Boreham Wood won 1-0 on the road at Southend and had two players sent off too. Ten-man Maidstone earned a 1-1 draw against Altrincham. Torquay and relegated Oldham drew 0-0 at Plainmoor.

Two Yeovil old boys were on the scoresheet for Wealdstone in their 3-2 win against Bromley. Olufela Olomola and Rhys Browne both scored for the Stones. Omar Sowumni also scored for Bromley.

Darren Sarll got off to a losing start with Woking as the Cardinals fell 2-0 away at York.

Wrexham showed title-winning credentials coming back from 1-0 to earn an opening day 2-1 win at home to Eastleigh. 

Notts County and Solihull Moors might have set the bar, though. County comfortable despatched Maidenhead 3-0 and the Moors demolished Aldershot 4-1.

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Well, we are off and running for the 2022/23 season and the outcome of the opening game wasn’t what any of us were hoping for.

Ben was there for BBC Somerset and has rattled his brain for some thoughts.

Having watched the game against Scunthorpe from the press box at Glanford Park I feel like I could have 10 conclusions and narrowing them down to five key ones isn’t going to be easy.

However, we will have a go.

Firstly. 3-5-2… simply didn’t work.

It’s a thoroughly boring subject to most people if you want to get deep into the nuances of tactics and their pros and cons, at its best, with plenty of the ball and a rock solid spine, 3-5-2 is lovely.

Wing backs flying forward, crosses galore and plenty of extra bodies in wide areas.

At its worst… well, it looked like that first 50-odd minutes.

Two huge holes of space where full backs would normally be gave Liam Feeney and others all the time in the world to create and attack.

It made players like Morgan Williams move out of position and kept Charlie Wakefield far too defensive.

It might be better at home when we have more possession, but it cannot be the go-to set up with that personnel.

However, credit where its due, the change to bring on Pearson and the switch to 442 sparked us into life.

This is something of a double header conclusion actually because I am really excited to see what Pearson brings to this side during his time with us.

Fearless, exciting, quick, direct, strong and powerful. More of that please, he has to start against Wrexham.

The ‘jekyll and hyde’ performance showed just how important the senior players will be.

Staunton probably didn’t have his best game in a midfield that was getting overrun with ease, especially in the first half.

But Smith made big saves, Reckord was outstanding on the left and Fisher was desperately trying to make something happen and grab a moment by the scruff of the neck.

There were shaky moments for Hunt and Richards-Everton, but with time I think they can be a formidable partnership in both boxes.

It was only when I looked at the team sheet and saw a very youthful bench did it really hit home how much we need some significant and senior players in the door

The match was crying out for Lawson D’Ath, how amazing would it have been to bring a senior front man on instead of a young lad who has goals at Warrington Town on his CV and not a lot more. I’m excited by the young lads; Grivosti, Perry, Pearson, Craske, Hulbert etc etc, but we cannot be asking them to save us or win us games.

I’ve got to end on a positive note haven’t I?

What I saw in the first half was a shell shocked, undercooked, rabbit-in-the-headlight side who didn’t know if they were coming or going. But, the last 20 minutes showed me enough that there’s something to build on, to learn from, to be excited about, to get behind.

We did look dangerous and if Alex Fisher’s studs were longer or their keeper doesn’t pull off a couple of good late saves, we would be talking about a point or maybe even three. It’s a big week coming up for a lot of people at Huish Park, that’s for sure.

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Tom Knowles wanted to leave Yeovil Town when League Two Walsall came in for him on the eve of the new season, according to Glovers’ boss Chris Hargreaves.

The forward scored ten times in 46 appearances for the Glovers last season and that form caught the eye of the Saddlers – perhaps when they came to check out their own loanee midfielder Sam Perry during pre-season.

Asked about the decision to sell one of his main assets just 48 hours before the opening day trip to Scunthorpe United, Hargreaves told BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins the situation was “not ideal.”

Chris Hargreaves talks to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins ahead of the 2-1 defeat at Scunthorpe United.

He added: “I have only got good things to say about (Tom), he was brilliant with me and always gave it everything, I didn’t want to lose him and the football club didn’t but an amount of money was offered and the player wanted to go.

“You have to let it be about the player’s decision because you don’t want an unhappy player. I’m not saying he would have been but sometimes things are out of my hands and all I can focus on now is the players I have got.

“They are the ones who are working hard to get in to the team and now I have to work on finding that person who replaces Tom and can be our match-winner and talisman who can turn something in to nothing in the final third.”

Asked whether he had been made any assurances that the funds from the transfer would be available to strengthen the squad, the manager said chairman Scott Priestnall had “made it clear” he would be supported.

Hargreaves added: “The likelihood of Tom going at the end of the season was high, so a decision had to be made at some point. As manager I can only focus on what is in front of me, I didn’t want him to go but we have got to move on, we wish him all the best and we have to focus on what we have now.”

Following the departure of Knowles, Hargreaves brought in 19-year-old Matt Grivosti on a youth loan from Bolton Wanderers. The length of the loan was not disclosed.

Grivosti joins goalkeeper Will Buse (Bristol City), defender Finley Craske (Plymouth Argyle) and midfielders Sam Perry (Walsall) and Sam Pearson (Bristol City) who make up the other four loanees at Huish Park.

In terms of permanent arrivals, strikers Alex Fisher and Malachi Linton and full-back Jamie Reckord have joined in the summer having been released by Newport County, Wycombe Wanderers and Boreham Wood respectively.

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Jamie Reckord has said he and his Yeovil Town team-mates will take a look at the video nasties of the two goals they conceded in the opening day defeat to Scunthorpe United.

The Glovers’ allowed Iron defender Andrew Boyce freedom inside the box to head home the opener after 26 minutes before Jacob Butterfield was allowed to bomb forward and smash home a second just after the hour mark.

Jamie Reckord speaks to YTFC YouTube.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the game, Reckord said: “Every goal you look at and feel you could have stopped it, but I feel like we could have stopped these ones, everyone could have done better in the build up to each goal.

“We are going to have to break it down, look at it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The former Solihull Moors and Wrexham player and fellow wing-back Charlie Wakefield were given more licence to go forward in the second half as the visitors reverted from a five-man defence, and Reckord scored his first goal for his new club to set up a frenetic finish.

Of the change, Reckord said: “The gaffer has worked on us being able to change shape quite a bit and I felt like we were a lot more fluent (after the change of shape) and created more chances, unfortunately we couldn’t get the second even though we created a lot of chances.

“I like getting forward, when you play 4-3-3 against 4-3-3 like we did in the second half, it gives you licence to bomb on. I enjoy attacking, so that’s not a problem.”

He added: “The first half neither side really took control of the game, I didn’t feel there was much in it from either side but we gave a sloppy goal away and goals change games.

“We went in at half-time and regroup and created some chances, we probably should have done better and put more chances away and nicked a draw at least there.”

Next up for the Glovers is big-spending Wrexham, the club which Reckord played nearly 50 times for up until January this year when he departed for Boreham Wood where he finished last season.

The Welsh side came from 1-0 down to win 2-1 at home to Eastleigh on the opening day with Elliott Lee, who joined from Championship side Luton Town in the summer, getting both goals.

Reckord said: “I’m going to be up for (that game), that’s one game in the calendar that I looked for straight away. Everyone knows what Wrexham have been doing with the transformation of the club, so everyone is going to be up for it.

“You can’t be too high or low after the first game, everyone wants to win each game, but there’s plenty more to go and we will feel like we can win on Saturday.

“It’s still early in the season, we’ve lost this one and we’ve got to pick ourselves up and move on to the next one.”

 

 

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Chris Hargreaves’ first match as manager ended in defeat at Scunthorpe this evening and he was disappointed with the result but praised the bravery of his players – and reiterated the need for additions.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sheridan Robins, the manager said: “[I’m] disappointed, so are the lads, bitterly disappointed. I think we did enough. We changed the shape, maybe we were a little bit on the backfoot [in the] first half, just too protective. A lot of lads probably just on a fine line between being able to play or not. They did well to even be on the pitch a couple of them.”

The Glovers went 2-0 down before Jamie Reckord scored a consolation and they certainly created chances to find an equaliser. Hargreaves thought once his side were calmer, they improved.

“It was an okay performance, once we go the belief and once we were calmer on the ball and switched play and did what we’ve done in a lot of the pre season training sessions and games. We looked excellent, we looked a threat, we looked like we had width, we looked like we were going to score a second goal.

“I’m baffled as to why we couldn’t get on the end of one of the crosses, numerous corners, chances. It was front-foot football and I always reference the fans at the end of a game cos they usually tell you what they done and I have to thank them for their support today, they were absolutely brilliant.”

Jacob Butterfield’s second half strike was one that the defence will not want to watch back, and the manager admitted it was a poor goal to concede.

“I think the second goal was a killer, really, because of the backing off. We lost the ball when we probably think we’re in good possession. We’ve still got to react, we’ve still got to get back in numbers and some point someone’s got to transition to go and press and try and affect the ball and we didn’t, so that was really poor from us,” he said.

Following the departure of Tom Knowles on Thursday, there is a clear need for additions in the squad and Hargreaves is determined to add.

He said: “I’m still going to be on the phone all next week, because we want to add to what we’ve got, we’ve got to add to the quality we have, we just need a little bit more to be able to go into a full season with a squad of real depth.”

When asked by our very own Ben Barrett about if he was looking to add experience to his squad, Hargreaves said: “Experience costs a lot of money, in the main, and we have to cut our cloth to our own club and our own finances. And, I maintain that we cant be frivolous because you can’t exist as a football club because someone’s got to put the money in and it’s a lot of money to run a football club. I would love millions of pounds, everybody would. But, the reality is, we want to be competitive with what we have, and we were today.

“So we’ve got to get that recruitment right and try and get the players in. And I can assure you that 24/7 for the last six weeks I have tried to do that. Its fallen through a couple of times at the last minute which is disappointing, which happens, but lets hope it doesn’t fall through next week,” he added.

  • One notable absentee was Lawson D’Ath, who has had a reoccurrence of a previous injury. Hargreaves said he was hoping to get Lawson back training more intensely towards the end of next week.

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Venue: Glanford Park
Saturday August 6th, 5:20pm kick-off

Conditions: Sunny Scunny – no seriously!
Pitch: Green….all over.

Attendance: 3,131 (141 away supporters)

Scorers: Andrew Boyce 25 (0-1), Jacob Butterfield 62 (0-2), Jamie Reckord (1-2)

Bookings: Grivosti 90+5
Sendings off: None

Referee: Scott Tallis


Yeovil Town : (3-5-2)

Grant Smith

 Morgan Williams, Max Hunt, Ben Richards-Everton,

Charlie Wakefield, Sam Perry (for Sam Pearson, 66), Josh Staunton, Matt Worthington, Jamie Reckord

Alex Fisher (for Matt Grivosti, 83) , Malachi Linton

Substitutes (not used): Will Buse, Chiori Johnson, Oliver Craske.

 

Scunthorpe United: Dewhurst, Ogle, O’Malley, Boyce, Taft, Daniel (for Carver, 73), Whitehouse, Feeney, Butterfield, Beestin (for Gallimore, 80), Nuttall (for Wilson, 90+4). Substitutes (not used): Lewis, Rowe.

 

Match Report

Two pieces of defending which defied belief saw Yeovil Town fall to a 2-1 defeat at Scunthorpe United on the opening day of the National League season.

Having given giant Iron centre half Andrew Boyce the freedom of the box to head home the opener with 26 minutes gone, the Glovers gifted Jacob Butterfield the freedom of Glanford Park to smash home the second on the hour.

The first half was utterly abject from the visitors with a five-man defence with Charlie Wakefield and Jamie Reckord operating as wing backs repeatedly pulled apart by the home side, playing their first game since relegation out of League Two in May.

Glovers’ boss Chris Hargreaves responded with a change of shape with Wakefield and Reckord given more licence to go forward and, albeit with a low bar to reach, the second was an improvement with Reckord pulling a goal back on 74 minutes to set up an interesting finish.

Here’s how Dave saw it from his vantage point in the away end in Lincolnshire…..

First half

After a shaky opening few seconds, a long ball forward from Max Hunt set Malachi Linton away on two minutes, his ball in dropped to Jamie Reckord, up from left wing-back, to lash one wide from the angle.

Two minutes later, the hosts worked an opening down their left with Charlie Wakefield and Morgan Williams found wanting and the ball dropped to Alfie Beestin whose effort was tipped over by Grant Smith.

What could at best be described as half-chances fell to Linton and Reckord at one end whilst Beestin’s effort from the edge of the box did little more than warm Smith’s palms.

The back five certainly looked stretched at times with Wakefield exposed on a number of occasions and on 13 minutes Reagan Ogle got the better of him to whip a ball in from the right and Andrew Boyce had a free header which went just wide.

There was what can only be described as ‘a full and frank exchange of views’ between Wakefield and Smith following. Perhaps asking quite what Charlie was doing at right wing back!

Unsurprisingly, when Scunthorpe found a breakthrough on 25 minutes it was from the left albeit Wakefield was not in attendance. Instead a free-kick broke out to the flank where Mason O’Malley delivered in and BOYCE rose highest to head home. The visitors’ defence certainly couldn’t say they didn’t see the giant centre half coming!

In the words of Adam Virgo (Gloverscast #182): “If you can’t defend set pieces in this division, you are going to struggle.” I’m not saying we can’t, but we definitely didn’t this time.

Wakefield lashed one over and Beestin (loves a shot from outside the box, that lad) has another from distance, before Wakefield popped up further forward on 34 minutes. Linton’s positive play found him on the right side of the box but he dragged his effort wide. Good chance.

A Reckord header that was comfortably held after Josh Staunton scooped a ball in to the box with two minutes of the half remaining was as good as it got for Yeovil.

It is difficult to know quite what to say. Defence looked like it hadn’t played together. Midfield bypassed. Up front….well, Linton or Alex Fisher barely saw the ball. The only positive I can find is it is only half-time in the first game of the season.

 Half time:  Scunthorpe United 1 Yeovil Town 0

Second half

Having come out first after the interval (difficult to check for fleas in ears from this range) there was a change of shape and some more impetus from Yeovil going forward, though the hosts did seem to have less of a spring in their step.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the change in shape saw Wakefield further forward and looking far more dangerous with Williams offering more cover on the right side and therefore looking more solid. If that is the last we see if that experiment, I will be quite happy.

On 56 minutes, the ball was worked out wide to Wakefield who beat his man and got in to the box to put a ball across the six-yard box. There was no-one there to apply a finishing touch, but Reckord was on his backside protesting inside the box. Have to rely on VAR for that one.

Shortly after the hour mark the home side doubled their advantage. From my vantage point at the other end of Glanford Park, I watched Jacob BUTTERFIELD pick the ball up in midfield and proceed to run in a gap as wide as the pitch and unleash a thunderous effort past Smith. The defending (if I can call it that) was absolutely criminal.

On 66 minutes, Perry limped off after a hefty tackle and was replaced by fellow loanee Sam Pearson, whose first effort saw his left-wing cross land on top of the net.

The most frustrating thing about that weak second goal was that it came after a much improved performance from Yeovil. I know, it couldn’t have been much worse.

But on 74 minutes, Linton got the ball forward with real positivity and the ball broke to RECKORD who coolly slotted home his first goal for the club. It was nothing less than the visitors deserved.

Three minutes later Fisher stretched but could not quite get on the end of a Worthington ball across the box. Then, on 88 minutes a great free-kick in from Worthington found Hunt sliding in and his connection was turned aside by Dewhurst in the Iron goal.

With Yeovil pressing forward in search of an equaliser, space (yes, even more of it) was left for Scunthorpe and they nearly made the visitors’ pay when Feeney and Butterfield combined for the letter’s shot to be turned over the bar by Smith.

Although improved in the second half, there was still plenty to cause concern for those travelling back to Somerset – and, of course, boss Chris Hargreaves.

Full time:  Scunthorpe United 2 Yeovil Town 1

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Chris Hargreaves has named his first National League side of the season to face Scunthorpe United with a side that probably picked itself.

There are debuts for Ben Richards-Everton, Sam Perry, Jamie Reckord, Malachi Linton and Alex Fisher (again) and a very youthful looking bench of loanees and Chiori Johnson.

It looks like Charlie Wakefield and Reckord start at wingbacks with a back three of Richards-Everton, Morgan Williams and Max Hunt.

Grant Smith, Morgan Williams, Max Hunt, Ben Richards-Everton, Charlie Wakefield, Sam Perry, Josh Staunton, Matt Worthington, Jamie Reckord, Alex Fisher, Malachi Linton

Substitutes: Buse, Johnson, Craske, Pearson, Grivosti

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Morgan Williams. ? Mike Kunz.

For those who care about these kind of things, (it’s got to be more than just Ben, right!?) Yeovil have confirmed the squad numbers for the upcoming season.

They are as follows;

1 – Grant Smith

2 – Morgan Williams

3 – Jamie Reckord

5 – Max Hunt

6 – Ben Richards-Everton

7 – Matt Worthington

8 – Lawson D’Ath

9 – Alex Fisher

12 – Max Evans (on loan at Larkhall AFC)

14 – Malachi Linton

15 – Sam Pearson

16 – Sam Perry

17 – Chiori Johnson

18 – Finley Craske

19 – Charlie Wakefield

20 – Will Buse

21 – Toby Stephens (on loan at Truro City)

22 – Ollie Hulbert

24 – Matt Grivosti

29 – Ollie Haste (on loan at Truro City)

32 – Josh Staunton (captain)

Morgan Williams switches from 13 to 2, which is his 4th different number as a Glovers player with loan spells seeing him wear 17 and 29 – can anyone think of any Yeovil player to match that!?

No number 10 or 11 is currently listed after Joe Quigley and Tom Knowles’ numbers were vacated, whilst the latest duo of loan signings Will Buse (20) and Matt Grivosti (24) are assigned their first squad numbers for the club.

None of the other retained members of the squad have switched their numbers, good news for anyone who got a player on the back of a replica shirt last season.

 

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Pearson & Grivosti

Yeovil Town have announced the signing of Bolton attacker Matty Grivosti on a youth loan.

A winger by trade, the former Warrington man made a permanent switch to Bolton in the summer having impressed in the same College team played in by Ollie Haste and coached by Chris Todd.

Chris Hargreaves told YTFC.net

“Matt arrives as an exciting addition to our group. He’s shown a real maturity in front of goal at such a young age.

“He is an individual who is already battle-hardened, from competing and thriving within the Northern Premier League at such a young age, that is a huge testament to him. He has all the attributes to make a big impact here.“

The length of the deal has not been disclosed, but its expected he’ll be available for the opening game against Scunthorpe on Saturday evening.

Welcome to Huish Park, Matty.