January 2023 (Page 8)

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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has said he will carry on making changes if it means his side keep picking up points.

The Glovers’ boss introduced substitutes Andrew Oluwabori and Lawson D’Ath at half-time following a lacklustre first half display from his side against Torquay United on New Year’s Day.

The pair helped spark a revival which led to a 2-0 victory just five days after a similar switch at the interval earned Cooper a point in the reverse fixture on Boxing Day.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the match, the boss said: “I keep having to do that and I shouldn’t have to keep doing that, but needs must.

“You have to be seen to try and give the team an impetus and a foothold in the game, I thought Lawson would go and get us playing and Andrew’s pace has really hurt them.”

Oluwabori looked to be a man with a point to prove having come on for defender Max Hunt at the break with Ben Richards-Everton, who started up front alongside Malachi Linton, reverting to a more familiar defensive position.

Asked about why he put Richards-Everton in that position, Cooper said: “We just felt that Torquay’s weakness was defensively and we wanted to ask some questions of them.

“We had a couple of opportunities, one where (Ben) got clean through and fell over, so I think we will look at it that we softened them up in the first half and made our changes at half-time.”

Oluwabori created the first goal for Matt Worthington in the 81st minute before fellow substitute Alex Fisher set up Jordan Maguire-Drew for the second four minutes in to second half injury time.

Cooper revealed that Fisher had not trained all week, saying: “Fish has been poorly, he’s not trained all week, he’s been really ill but he texted me this morning to say he was fit. I spoke to him before the game and he said he had half-an-hour in him but after three minutes he had to come off, then luckily he found a burst of energy at the end. He put a great ball across and then it was an unbelievable quality finish from Maguire-Drew.”

The result moves up to 18th in the National League table, six points above the relegation places, and without a match now until the trip to Bromley on January 14th. They had been due to play high-flying Wrexham next weekend, but the Welsh side are in FA Cup third round action.

Cooper did not give anything away about a number of players whose loan deals expire following today’s game, but he did say that he was hoping to bring more players in before his side are next in action.

He said: “We have a two-week break and hopefully we can add to the squad in those two weeks and make us even more competitive.“

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Venue: Huish Park
Sunday 1st January, 3pm kick-off

Conditions: Driving rain on and off…..mostly on
Pitch: Sodden and slippy

Attendance: 3,907

Scorers: Matt Worthington 81, Jordan Maguire-Drew 90+4

Bookings: 

Yeovil Town: Jamie Andrews 24, Malachi Linton 61, Matt Worthington 66,

Referee: Greg Rollason

Yeovil Town  


Substitutes: Andrew Oluwabori (for Max Hunt, 46), Lawson D’Ath (for Jamie Andrews, 46), Alex Fisher (for Malachi Linton, 71, Will Buse, Chiori Johnson.

Torquay United: Mark Halstead, Tom Lapslie (for Ryan Hanson, 84), Ali Omar, Asa Hall, Aaron Jarvis, Kieran Evans, Stephen Wearne, Shaun Donnellan, Will Goodwin (for Corie Andrews, 84), Dean Moxey, Dillon De Silva (for Ben Wyatt, 73). Substitutes: Ross Marshall, Rhys Lovett.

Match Report

Yeovil Town got 2023 off to a winning start as second half goals from Matt Worthington and Jordan Maguire-Drew was enough to see off Torquay United at Huish Park on New Year’s Day.

The game followed a similar pattern to the same fixture in Devon on Boxing Day with the visitors dominating the first half and it took two half-time substitutions from Glovers’ boss Mark Cooper to change it. He introduced winger Andrew Oluwabori and playmaker Lawson D’Ath at the interval.

It was Oluwabori who was at the heart of everything which was good going forwards for Yeovil and he made the opener for Worthington before Maguire-Drew wrapped it up in injury time.

First half

In his pre-match interview, Yeovil boss Mark Cooper hinted there would be a surprise in his formation and it was a role as centre forward for natural defender Ben Richards-Everton.

In horrendous conditions from the start, the game was unsurprisingly scrappy in the opening exchanges and it took until the 17th minutes for either keeper to be called in to action. A long pass forward by ex-Glover Shaun Donnellan found midfielder Kieron Evans who forced Smith in to a smart stop.

Asa Hall had another effort from outside the box easily held by Smith, but it was the visitors who looked the brighter in the opening half-an-hour.

The moment for Yeovil came on 28 minutes when Jordan Maguire-Drew’s ball found Richards-Everton thundering forward towards goal – only to slip at the crucial moment to allow Torquay to regain posession. A penny for the thoughts of top scorer, Alex Fisher, sat on the substitutes’ bench.

Four minutes later, a good ball through saw the Yeovil defence opened up again but Will Goodwin’s effort went wide.

In a similar fashion to the Boxing Day game in Devon, the Glovers’ players seemed unsure about what they were supposed to be doing in this unorthodox formation, whilst the visitors seemed a lot more confident and it showed.

Another sumptuous pass on 40 minutes almost found Jamie Reckord bombing in to the visitors’ penalty area, but the wing-back could not get to the ball ahead of Mark Halstead in the Torquay goal.

Half time:  Yeovil Town 0 Torquay United 0

 

Second half

As it did on Boxing Day, the start of the second half saw Mark Cooper make two substitutions with the arrival of Andrew Oluwabori and Lawson D’Ath in place of Max Hunt and Jamie Andrews, with Richards-Everton going to a more familiar defensive role.

Oluwabori made an instant impact with his ball finding its way through to Maguire-Drew who fired in an effort from the edge of the box, but saw it turned away for a corner by Halstead.

Oluwabori, who had not started a match since the goalless draw at Notts County in mid-November, appeared keen to show his manager what he had been missing. On 47 minutes, his effort was turned wide and the resulting corner from Maguire-Drew was almost bundled home on the back post by Morgan Williams.

Andrew Oluwabori and Lawson D’Ath come on at half-time.

Oluwabori was at the heart of everything good going forwards for Yeovil and on the hour mark he released Linton whose effort went in to the side netting.

On 63 minutes, Donnellan’s long-range effort was parried away by Grant Smith. We’ve seen those before, haven’t we?

On 71 minutes, Oluwabori popped up on the left, cut inside and curled an effort just around the corner. Cardiff City loanee Evans, who impressed on Boxing Day, caused problems for the Yeovil defence, firing an effort wide on 72 minutes and then forcing Smith in to a smart top two minutes later.

But, with the visitors in the ascendancy, it was the home side who took the lead. Not surprisingly it was Oluwabori who was at the heart of it, breaking in from the left and finding WORTHINGTON at the back post to turn home the opener after 81 minutes.

That goal was against the run of play and led to Gary Johnson’s men pressing forward again and it led to a few openings for Yeovil. A minute from time, Oluwabori’s effort was denied by Halstead and broke to Maguire-Drew who juggled the ball but could not magic up an effort to test the keeper.

Soon after Oluwabori broke away again and hit an effort wide and wide and just when we were beginning to mutter about our inability to put a game to bed, a second goal came. Fisher, on as substitute for Linton, broke away down the right and threaded a superb ball through to MAGUIRE-DREW who dinked it delicately over Halstead to get his first for the club.

The visitors did have the ball in the net through Evans soon after, only for it to be ruled out for offside. A great start to 2023 as manager Mark Cooper continued his unbeaten run at Huish Park.

Full time: Yeovil Town 2 Torquay United 0

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Striker Malachi Linton has been rewarded for his goal-scoring appearance off the bench on Boxing Day with a place in the starting line up for the return fixture against Torquay United at Huish Park (3pm kick-off).

The frontman, whose second half goal at Plainmoor was his third of the season, appears to be supported by Jordan Maguire-Drew and Matt Worthington.

There is no place in the squad for Charlie Wakefield, who came off at half-time in the 1-1 draw in Devon five days ago, whilst Chiori Johnson, who was also substituted at the break, is named on the bench against his old team.

Substitutes: Will Buse, Lawson D’Ath, Chiori Johnson, Alex Fisher, Andrew Oluwabori.

Torquay United: Mark Halstead, Tom Lapslie, Ali Omar, Asa Hall, Aaron Jarvis, Kieran Evans, Stephen Wearne, Shaun Donnellan, Will Goodwin, Dean Moxey, Dillon De Silva. Substitutes: Ross Marshall, Ryan Hanson, Corie Andrews, Ben Wyatt, Rhys Lovett.

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Yeovil Town have announced plans to bring back women’s and girls’ football to the club nearly four years after the loss of the team which made it to Women’s Super League.

On New Year’s Day, the club confirmed that it was establishing Yeovil Town Women’s Football Club and was in discussions with the Somerset FA about which league it will play in.

In a statement, it said: “Whilst the ambition is to play all matches at Huish Park in the future, the higher we progress through the leagues (with a sustainable business model to support pitch maintenance) the more we can play at Huish Park, making it a fortress for women’s football.

“YTFC is committed to integrating women’s football to the Huish Park schedule, commencing with select matches, but the more support given to YTWFC the more matches will be scheduled.”

In December, club director Stuart Robins, Martyn Starnes, the (as yet to be announced, but assumed to be) club Chief Executive, set up a new business Yeovil Town Women’s Community Trust Limited, with Ian Maskell and Jamie Phillip, a former head coach of Yeovil Town Ladies.

The pair now run the South Somerset Regional Talent Centre, which promotes itself as having no attachment to a specific club “keeping options and opportunities open.”

The statement continues: “The YTWFC Junior section aspires to put Junior teams in both local grassroots FA leagues and Junior Premier Leagues (JPL).

“In partnership with Yeovil College, we will be championing post-16 football and education with YTWFC supporting the course and college team along with grassroots/JPL U18 teams readying the girls for the transition to women’s football with the vision of progressing through the leagues to be the leading centre in the South West for women’s football.”

Yeovil Town Ladies won the Women’s Super League (WSL) Division 2 in 2016 and were promoted to the top tier of the English women’s game where they played against the biggest sides in the country, including Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea.

They remained there until the end of the 2018-19 season having finished bottom of Division 1 having been deducted 10 points for filing notice to go in to administration – albeit they never actually did.

As a result they were denied an operating licence for the Championship and would have to contest the following season as a third tier club instead.

The ownership of the club switched to Adam Murry, with former owner Stephen Allinson settling all debts before making the sale, who appointed Phillip and rebranded the team as Yeovil Town Women.

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought a premature end of the season and the following summer the club underwent another rebranding to Yeovil United which then merged with Bridgwater Town to create Bridgwater United in March 2021.