September 2023 (Page 2)

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FA Cup week again as Didcot Town head to Huish Park. Ian, Dave and Ben are back with a look at the week and a look ahead to Saturday…

Thank you for your continued support of the Gloverscast. Remember to add Gloverscast.co.uk to your favourites and check the website daily for the latest news and views from Huish Park.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Leave us a review and share the pod with a pal.

We’d love to welcome some local businesses into the Gloverscast family through advertising. If you’re a business that would like to speak to a dedicated audience of more than 1000 monthly listeners, please get in touch. Find out more about advertising with us here.

If you have an idea for the website, want to contribute or just want to send us a message, feel free to email ian@gloverscast.co.uk.

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Yeovil Town are back in FA Cup action this week as they play host to Premier South team Didcot Town in the third qualifying round.

With the Gloversl looking to make it five wins on the bounce for the first time since the start of the 2019/20 season, the Huish park faithful will be hoping Didcot don’t spoil the party.

Unfortunately the same can’t be said for The Railwaymen, who have only won one league game so far this campaign, so will be looking to the cup for some respite.

Yeovil Town News

The big news coming out of Somerset this week is the uncertainty of midfield stalwart Matty Worthington’s availabilty to play. Having been given a red card in least week against Hampton & Richmond, Yeovil boss Mark Cooper said he would be appealing the decision. A week on Cooper is still none the clearer on whether the club have been successful. He said: ” We’ve appealed but we still have not heard (if we’ve been successful). So I am trying to prepare a team for Saturday and we still don’t know if Matt Worthington can play.

“We have to wait until Thursday night before we find out if Matt Worthington can play.”

Matt Worthington.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

As with previous games, the Yorkshiremen is “leaving no stone unturned”. He said: “I know exactly what their coaching staff will be telling their players because I have been there. I went to watch them on Tuesday night against Merthyr…our due diligence will be the same as any league game.”

Cooper also know Didcots goalkeeper, Leigh Bidwell, well having coached the shot stopper at Swindon, with the Town boss complementing Bidwell on his “footwork.”

Charlie Cooper echoed his dad’s sentiments with “paying full respect” to the Oxfordshire side. However the 26-year-old didn’t hide the fact he wants to go as far as possible in the cup. He said: “It’s massive to go as far as you can and getting to the First Rounf Proper when a few more teams come in is great.”

Jake Hyde will miss out through suspension along with Matt Worthington.

Didcot Town News

After what has been a turbulent start to the FA Cup for his team, Didcot manager Jamie Heapy doesn’t want the game to be branded as a “nice day out” for his side. He said: ” I get the enjoyment factor and the clubs going to have a day out, but I don’t see that and the players certainly wont see that. We set ourselves up to win a game of football.

“Saturday will be difficult but we want to give a good account of ourselves and not get caught in the moment.”

On a personal level, Heapy expressed his desire to “better himself” as a manager “by going up against the likes of Mark Cooper” so he can learn from guys that “been there and done it.”

One player to keep an eye on is ex-Swindon keepeer Leigh Bidwell, who was infamously subbed on by Paolo Di Canto in the 21st minute of game for now Premier League starter Wes Foderingham. Up the other end of the pitch Pat Osborne is one to watch.

Injury wise Jack King, formely of Preston North End, is out but everyone else is fit to play.

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Yeovil Town midfielder Charlie Cooper is looking to improve his own FA Cup record as he looks to help the Glovers progress to the fourth qualifying round when they take on Didcot Town this weekend.

The 26-year-old admits he does not have much history in the world’s greatest cup competition.

In 2017, he was part of the Forest Green Rovers side which took Exeter City to a second round replay and he made the first round of the competition with Woking when they lost 3-2 at higher division Gillingham in 2020, neither of which constitute a fairy tale.

Speaking ahead of the weekend’s third qualifying round tie at Huish Park, Cooper said: “There’s nothing that stands out, so hopefully this can be a season where we can kick on and get a big team in a later round.

“It’s massive to go as far as you can and getting to the First Round Proper when a few more teams come in is great and hopefully we can go further than that, but we just have to take each game as it comes.

“We will pay full respect to Didcot on Saturday and stay professional and try to get the job done.

“The club has great history in the Cup. There’s a long way to go before we get (to the stage where bigger teams come in) but we just have to take a game each come.”

He revealed that he had a friend in the Merthyr Town side which came from behind to beat Didcot 2-1 in the Southern League Premier South on Tuesday night, so has been told to expect “a tough game.”

Cooper concluded: “Hopefully we can be professional, do things right and progress in to the next round.”

The midfielder has picked up five yellow cards and one red – given for two bookings in the August Bank Holiday Monday defeat at Havant & Waterlooville – and admitted he is struggling to come to terms with new rules which have come in for officials this season.

Asked about how he was coping, he added: “I’m not liking it too much! You’ve got the added time and the one about communication with the referee I’m finding the one hard and I need to get better than that.

“The rules are getting taken too far now, you can’t even speak to a referee without it being a yellow card and you can’t even make a tackle without getting booked.

“This season the number of suspensions there will be, it’s getting a bit silly.”

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Yeovil Town still do not know whether Matt Worthington is available for this weekend’s FA Cup third qualifying round tie at home to Didcot Town.

The midfielder was red carded having been adjudged to have deliberately handled on the line in the dying moments of last Saturday’s 2-1 National League South game at Hampton & Richmond.

Speaking on Thursday, manager Mark Cooper confirmed the club had appealed the decision which he described as “laughable” and expects to find out tonight (Thursday) whether they have been successful.

The boss said: “We’ve appealed but we still have not heard (if we’ve been successful). So I am trying to prepare a team for Saturday and we still don’t know if Matt Worthington can play.

“In the National League Premier, the hearing is heard straight away but we have to wait until Thursday night before we find out if Matt Worthington can play.”

Matt Worthington in action for Yeovil Town.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Asked about his views on match officials following the match at the weekend which saw his side suffer two red cards and pick up a further four yellows, Cooper turned his fire on those setting the rules for the game.

As well as the two yellows – and the subsequent red – collected by striker Jake Hyde, who definitely sits out the Didcot match through suspension, there were bookings for Rhys Murphy, Michael Smith, Charlie Cooper and Frank Nouble.

The boss said: “I don’t blame the officials, I blame the people that put them there. That needs to be looked at because that game nearly turned in to a farce through no fault of either club. There needs to be a rule, are we allowed to say ‘hello’ to a referee without getting booked, are the referees allowed to tell a player of F-Off or not?

“I get at the start of the season that there’s going to be some confusion about the new directives, but there was nine red cards in our league last Saturday. Our bookings at this level are 60% up compared to the National League Premier and that can’t be all about players, it has got to be about a mixture of things – but we need clarity, what are the rules?

“We’ve gone from having 13 minutes of injury time to none. In the first half on Saturday they did not even put the board up. There needs to be consistency and until we get that we are going to keep having these problems.”

Echoing the rhetoric we heard ahead of the 7-1 thrashing of AFC Stoneham in the last round of the FA Cup earlier this month, Cooper said his side will be affording Didcot “all due respect” when they arrive in Somerset looking to spring a surprise this weekend.

The Oxfordshire-based side sit second-from-bottom of the Southern League Premier South table having gained promotion last season, but Cooper watched them go down 2-1 at home to Merthyr Town on Tuesday night and believes they were unlucky not to get a result.

He said: “I know exactly what their coaching staff will be telling their players because I have been there. I went to watch them on Tuesday night against Merthyr, so we are not leaving any stone unturned, our due diligence will be the same as any league game.

“They were very unlucky to get beaten by a good Merthyr team and scored an unbelievable goal and they can feel a bit aggrieved they didn’t get a result. League form goes out of the window for the FA Cup, there’s no pressure on them, they can come and enjoy themselves and they will be saying ‘let’s hope we catch Yeovil on an off day.’

“The goalkeeper played at Swindon when I was manager, Leigh Bedwell, he is good with his feet and a competent keeper. We are expecting a difficult game, it’s a big day for them like it was against Stoneham and, like in that game, we cannot win – if we win 4-0, it’s not enough, if we draw it’s a catastrophe and if we lose it’s a nightmare.”

 

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Not to toot our own trumpets too much, but we’re very proud to say we’ve been nominated for two awards in the ‘Best In Non-League’ category at the Football Content Awards.

Thanks to you lovely folks nominating us for stuff, we are up for the Editorial and Podcast awards in this part of the competition.

Now what we need you to do is vote for us so that we can tell you all what lovely people you are again, so how do you do it? You have to voted before midnight on Sunday 15th October with the awards handed out the following day.

Step 1: Visit www.footballcontentawards.com/voting

Step 2: Go to where it says ‘Take Me To’ and select ‘Best In Non-League’

Step 3: Select ‘Gloverscast’ under the Editorial and Podcast categories – you can pick someone for Video if you have a favourite.

Step 4: You can put your Name and Email address in if you like, but if you’d rather not be known it is optional, tick the agree to Ts&Cs box and hit – VOTE NOW.

And that’s it, here’s who we’re up against this year…..

Editorial

All at Sea Fanzine
Chris Phillips (Southend United reporter at the Southend Echo)
Gloucester Groundhopper
Gloverscast
Non-League Paper
Off The Line Blog
Off The Park
Severn Sport
ShrimpersTalk
TorquayTalk

Podcast

Beespod (Barnet)
Gloverscast
Heed Army (Gateshead)
HUFC Chat
Kent Non-League Podcast
Luke Walsh Football Podcast
NL Full Time
North East Non-League Football Show
The Boundary Park Alert System! 
The Non-League Treatment Room

Thankyou in advance and love you loads!

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After two weeks apart, Ian, Ben and Dave are back to chat about yesterday’s 2-1 win at Hampton and Richmond Borough. Rule #1 got obliterated.

Thank you for your continued support of the Gloverscast. Remember to add Gloverscast.co.uk to your favourites and check the website daily for the latest news and views from Huish Park.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Leave us a review and share the pod with a pal.

We’d love to welcome some local businesses into the Gloverscast family through advertising. If you’re a business that would like to speak to a dedicated audience of more than 1000 monthly listeners, please get in touch. Find out more about advertising with us here.

If you have an idea for the website, want to contribute or just want to send us a message, feel free to email ian@gloverscast.co.uk.

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And… breathe. Following a hard-fought win for Mark Cooper’s men yesterday in south-west London, let’s dive straight into the scores from the other games today, and how it impacts the league standings.

We start in Kent, where one of many shocks for top sides went down – Maidstone took down 10-man Worthing, with a double from Levi Amantchi contributing to a good day for the home side. Another shock took place at the site of our opening day hosts, where Hemel Hempstead got the better of Torquay United in a frantic end to the game, with 3 goals in 3 minutes causing chaos for scorekeepers! A final shock took place closer to home, where Bath City came back from 2 goals down to recover a point against a struggling Dover Athletic.

There were two more 2-2 draws, with Eastbourne Borough recovering a point at home to Welling United, while Farnborough were twice pegged back by a stubborn Slough Town. A former Glover had a great day out at Chelmsford City, as Shaun Jeffers grabbed a double in a rare start for St Albans City, handing the visitors a 2-0 win.

Our next league match is at home to Aveley, who were held to a 1-1 draw by 10-man Braintree Town, and in another 1-1 draw, 10-man W*ymouth earned a point at home to Chippenham Town, who are now without a win in their last 5 games in all competitions.

Dartford put a stop to their 4 game losing run (including the FA Cup) by edging past Tonbridge Angels by a scoreline of 1-0, while back down south, Truro City went down to 10 men with Ryan Law being sent off, before Kieran Thomas scored the winner for a visiting Weston-super-mare in a 1-0 result. And staying south, we finish up with a 0-0 draw between Taunton and Havant & Waterlooville, where the only action was a 92nd minute red card for the visitors.

 

National League South results – in full

Aveley 1-1 Braintree Town
Bath City 2-2 Dover Athletic
Chelmsford City 0-2 St Albans City
Dartford 1-0 Tonbridge Angels
Eastbourne Borough 2-2 Welling United
Farnborough Town 2-2 Slough Town
Hemel Hempstead Town 3-2 Torquay United
Maidstone United 4-0 Worthing
Taunton Town 0-0 Havant & Waterlooville
Truro City 0-1 Weston-super-mare
W*ymouth 1-1 Chippenham Town

National League South table

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We’re now in to double figures for the National League South season and it was a third (fourth in all competitions) win in a row for Yeovil Town.

Dave was on the terraces of The Beveree Stadium yesterday and here are his conclusions on what he saw…..


All we want is a decent referee: I have praised referees on the podcast (well, one referee!) and therefore make no apologies for starting with the conclusion that referee Eugene Robinson did everything he could to ruin yesterday’s game.
His decisions to stick to the letter of the law and book players for what he interpreted to be time-wasting and not book others (on both sides, I hasten to add) for blatant fouls is beyond me. Jordan Young was dumped on the ground and left to lie there whilst Mr Robinson played on, Morgan Williams got a two-handed shove in the back and nothing, yet Jake Hyde contests an offside which, as someone who was in line with that play, I can confirm he was completely right to contest, and he’s booked. 
Mr Robinson made yesterday all about him and when both sets of supporters are complaining about an official – you know it’s a stinker.

Jordan Stevens is the difference: From the off it was clear that Jordan Stevens was an outlet and what an outlet he was.It was my first sighting of him (not via a stream) this season and he’s got the pace and the trickery to beat anyone at this level and add to that he’s not afraid to do the dirty work as well. For those crying out for wide players, he almost literally hugged the touchline all match and, when we went down to ten, he chased everything down until the very end. Take a bow!

Michael Smith. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Strength in depth is a dream: Last season, Josh Staunton played on literally held together with sticky tape, but yesterday we were able to rest him – until six minutes from the end. The reason? Michael Smith. Quality, leadership and experience, he brought it all yesterday. Then to be able to introduce Josh Owers and Jake Hyde (albeit briefly!) off the bench again shows the quality is there. Jordan Maguire-Drew must be wondering what he has to do to get a game, albeit I don’t think the second half was one for him.

We have to be more clinical: The two goals were everything you want to see from your team – a stunning first and an ice cold second – but we had so many chances to make it more. Jordan Young needs to strike from open play the way he does from free kicks (admittedly not yesterday’s free-kicks), Frank Nouble needs to give one a proper welly-ing and set pieces didn’t do anything for us at Hampton. When you have a liability in charge of the game (yes, you Mr Robinson!), you can’t leave anything to chance and, if the ref had given another penalty with the final kick, this would have been the story of the match.

Rhys Murphy made it seven goals (in all competitions) this season.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Ten (league) games gone and September’s ending: So, whether you used to ten game rule or the Green Day Clause, we can comfortably make an assessment on Yeovil Town’s season so far.
In all competitions the results are, P11, W7, D2, L2, second in the National League South table and progressed in the only cup competition we’ve played in. It is difficult to find too much to dislike about it. 
The patient/slow/controlled/dull (pick you description) way that Mark Cooper has us playing is not to everyone’s taste, but we are improving every time I see us play.
This isn’t Jose Mourinho-esque dull but winning football, there’s more than enough there to enjoy and it’s hard (impossible?) to argue with those results.

 

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Let’s have a little whip round the Glovers’ loanees shall we?

We start at Dorchester who continued their decent patch of form with a third win in four games, they beat Didcot Town (?) 3-1 with Ollie Haste playing the full 90. Benjani Jr was brought on late in the second half for one of the Magpies’ goal scorers – former Glover – Jordan Barnett.

A strange one for Charlie Bateson, he was named in the starting line up for Shepton Mallet, but was replaced after a slight injury in the warm up, so took no part.

Mallet lost 2-1 to Barnstaple but did have to play over half the game with an outfielder player in goal… and with only ten men. 

Lewis Williams was in goal for Tiverton as they lost 4-2 against Hendon – there’s little to suggest he could have done much about any of the Hendon goals.