November 2023

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News, Match Reports

Yeovil Town Women won their seventh consecutive league match as they overcame Wells City with a 3-1 victory. Niamh Nicholls’ brace, as well as a goal from Jess Hodge ensured that Yeovil took the three points against a strong Wells City outfit.

Paul Knight made one change to the team which thumped Ilminster in Yeovil’s last league outing, as new signing Abbie Vernon came in for Laura Cheesman for what would be her debut for the Glovers.

Yeovil started the game on the front foot, with Wells being pinned back in their own half during the early exchanges. The first chance of the match came in the 15th minute, as the league’s top scorer Niamh Nicholls saw her shot go wide of the post after being played in behind.

In a relatively uneventful first half and just as Wells were beginning to gain a foothold in the game, the deadlock was broken by Jess Hodge, as she netted her 9th goal of the season to give Yeovil the lead in the 42nd minute.

Yeovil went in at the break one goal to the good.

The Glovers came out in the second half in search of a second goal but struggled to break down a stubborn Wells defence.

Yeovil eventually found their second of the afternoon in the 70th minute, following impressive build up play. Chloe Davenport found Abbie Carslake who slid the ball across for Nicholls who inevitably finished to make it 2-0.

Yeovil’s two goal cushion did not last long, as Wells halved the deficit swiftly after the Glovers’ second goal, a well taken goal made it 2-1 just minutes after.

However Wells’ late rally was met with a decisive response by Yeovil, as Nicholls put the result to bed in the 75th minute. Abbie Carslake and Niamh Nicholls combined again, which resulted in Nicholls scoring her 15th goal of the season and continuing her prolific form in front of goal.

Moments later, Yeovil nearly made it four, as Zoe Ball saw her attempted lob impressively saved by Wells City’s goalkeeper.

The match finished 3-1 and saw Yeovil increase their points tally to 21 from seven matches, with the Glovers being six points off the top spot with three games in hand.

The player of the match was awarded to winger Chloe Davenport, who has impressed in recent weeks and continued her good form on Sunday.

Yeovil Town Women manager Paul Knight said after the match: “Solid performance, couldn’t wish for anything else, quite tactical today from our point of view, we know how they lay out the stall we knew it would be a physical game. We’ve let in our second goal of the season, however, what’s massive today is we’ve turned over quite a high pressing game and turned it into a win. Fair play to Wells, I have said to their manager today I felt that they were our threat for this season, so really pleased with the girls.”

On in-form winger Chloe Davenport he said: “Chloe and her opposite wingmate stepped up in the second half, her positioning was great, Wells weren’t coming through. Chloe stopped at least two or three dead cert goals with her ability to recover and make the tackles she did. Over the moon, player of the match 100%.”

On YTWFC’s title ambitions: “Obviously the league title is always in view, that’s my job, today was a critical game in putting us on the right track to achieving that. The girls know that and I think that does add a little bit of pressure.”

On debutant Abbie Vernon: “She’s finding her feet, she made selection after only training once, she’s not a natural left footer but she’s clearly defensive minded and quite a driving player, she worked well with Chloe and the wingers. She’s also quite a threat going forward, as well as defensively, she grew into the game.”

Finally, Paul Knight discussed team selection: “Of course it’s difficult, obviously those players are seen as attacking players but I see them slightly differently because of the way we coach them, for me the key word for this team this year is versatility. They’ve got to learn to play football all over the pitch, even the most senior of players. Those that started off in forward positions 12 weeks ago aren’t necessarily playing there at the moment, I think this is where we’re hurting teams, the fact we are versatile and we can rotate players quite vigorously.”

Sunday’s player of the match Chloe Davenport said: “It was great build up play from the girls, on the counter attack we were quite dangerous. Credit to all the girls for the entire game, great build up throughout.”

Yeovil Town Women return to action on Sunday 3rd December as they travel to Wellington in the Somerset County Division 1 14:00 KO.

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News, Podcasts

Episode #300 of the Gloverscast is here. Ian, Ben and Dave are back to chat through Yeovil’s 4-1 defeat at the hands of Welling United. Where the hell did that come from? 

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.

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

A tricky week for Yeovil, ending in their defeat at Welling United yesterday would normally spell disaster for the Glovers, but with a full 12 game programme on Saturday, let’s see if there’s been a real impact on the league leader’s gap at the top.

We start in Kent, where Tonbridge Angels made light work of 10-man Havant & Waterlooville, hammering the bottom-placed side 4-1 to hover just outside the playoff spots. There were also some upsets, with St Albans City pulling off an impressive 3-2 win over Maidstone, ex-Glover Shaun Jeffers finding himself on the scoresheet, while Dartford hit Torquay United for three in a first half demolition, the defeat leaving the visitors hovering in mid-table.

There were more trip-ups for frontrunners too, as Farnborough held on for a 2-2 draw at home to Bath City, while W*ymouth benefitted from a Charlee Hughes own goal to share the points at home to Aveley. Another playoff contender, Braintree Town, fell victim to a Slough Town side that were out to prove that there is life after George Alexander, who was recalled from his loan spell by Bromley only to be sent out to division rivals Dartford (Alexander scored on his debut for Dartford today).

Truro City put to rest a 7 game winless run in the league by nabbing the three points away to Chelmsford City, while Chippenham Town attempted a late comeback at home to Hampton & Richmond, but to no avail, both these games finishing in 2-1 wins for the away sides. Taunton and Worthing played out a 1-1 draw, with the hosts scoring an 88th minute equaliser, while there were two 1-0 wins for Weston-super-mare and Hemel Hempstead, over Dover Athletic and Eastbourne Borough respectively.

Yeovil will look to get back to winning ways against Wrexham in the FA Cup Second Round on Sunday, up the Glovers!

 

National League South results – in full

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

National League and National League North/South tables

By:
On:
In: Five Conclusions, Gloversblog

Yeovil Town’s unbeaten run in National League South came to an end in spectacular style with a 4-1 defeat at a Welling United side who still sit third from bottom of the table on Saturday.

The result means we have not won in our last three matches in all competitions, but, courtesy of other results in the division, that we are also still eight points clear at the top.

Once his fingers had thawed out after a chilly afternoon in South London, Dave gave us his thoughts about what he made of it all…..

We played their game, not ours: First things first, Welling absolutely deserved their three points. They took their chances better than us, they defended better than us and they wanted it more than us.
But, after Jordan Young missed an opportunity to put us 2-0 up after 20 minutes, we stopped playing our game and started playing Welling’s. Once they got their equaliser, they set out to pull our defence all over the place with pace and tenacity which we simply never matched.

The view from the first half position at Park View Road.

It was a midfield crying out for Charlie Cooper: The chasm between our defence and midfield was a playground for Welling and neither Matt Worthington nor Sonny Blu Lo-Everton ever got to grips with it.
It was crying out for someone who could get the ball, do something simple with it and drive us forward and that player was Charlie Cooper.
He’s not every fan’s cup of tea, I get it, but when he came on for Worthington for the final 15 minutes, we looked much improved.

Charlie Cooper, appeared as a 75th minute substitute at Welling.
Picture courtesy of Iain Morland.


Our attack looked as much of a worry as our defence: Against Chippenham four days earlier, we could at least point to plenty of attacking play and a good performance from the opposition keeper, but I don’t recall Reice Charles-Cook in the Welling goal to have a huge amount to do.
Frank Nouble looked out of sorts, Sonny Cox struggled to get much of a foothold on the game and when Rhys Murphy came off the bench he looked typically lively, but missed a chance you’d have put your house on him to score.
In fact, the only major save I remember Charles-Cook having was from Alex Fisher, who put himself about well when he came on. It was good to see him back after such a long time and hopefully he can push those ahead of him in the pecking order to spark them back in to action.

No-one else wants to punish us: The positive was that, for all the chuckling there will be for our misfortune among other National League South sides, no team managed to take advantage of it.
Third-placed Hampton & Richmond, who are in the most in-form side in the division, were the only one of the top seven to win yesterday and both second-placed Aveley and Bath City in fourth fluffed their lines by dropping two points each on the road.
It will probably stick in the craw of our seagull bothering ‘friends’ in W*ymouth that they did us a favour with a late equaliser against Aveley.

The National League South table following Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at Welling United.

There’s something special about this squad: These players have shown us time and again that there’s something special about them and that has not changed in three matches.
Yesterday at Welling was a bad (very bad) day at the office, but there’s characters and quality in this squad which we have not seen much of in the past decade. That did not change at Torquay (in the Trophy), last Tuesday night at Chippenham or this weekend.
Alex Fisher spoke post-match about there being some “home truths” in the Yeovil dressing room and this is when the experienced heads need to lift the troops.
Wrexham in the FA Cup (don’t look at their result from the weekend, by the way) is a ‘free hit’ which no-one outside of South Somerset expects us to do anything with and then we have two more away dates – at Bath City and Dartford – before we can taste the comforts of home again.

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

It’s strange how things turn out isn’t it? Not one single Yeovil Town employee was on the winning side this weekend.

Let’s begin in the National League South where Will Buse was in goal for Bath (we assume that means his loan has now morphed into a second month), The Romans drew 2-2 with Farnborough.

Taunton next and Malachi Linton started for the Peacocks, but was withdrawn in the 62nd minute, they drew 1-1 with Worthing.,

Ollie Haste and his Dorchester side were on the wrong side of a five-goal thriller against Salisbury, Haste was booked in the 5th minute, but saw out the full 90,

Dropping down, Benjani Jr played an hour for Melksham who drew 1-1 with Bemerton Heath, Welton Rovers also drew 1-1 with Max Dyer and Mason Alden on the pitch, Jacob Shore was an unused sub.

Gillingham lost 4-2 to Odd Down, however, Josh Haskett claimed the assist for one and Harrison Foster the assist for the other of the Gills goals, Harry Lock was also used from the bench.

Shepton Mallet were without Charlie Bateson for their 6-0 win, but revealed after the match that the young striker had been involved in a car accident on Saturday. We hope he, and anyone else involved, are OK and that he can be back scoring goals soon.

 

 

Cover Picture C/O Merthyr Town FC

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

A few “home truths” were told in the Yeovil Town dressing room after the 4-1 defeat at Welling United, according to Glovers’ striker Alex Fisher.

The 33-year-old appeared as a 67th minute substitute in South London, playing his first competitive minutes since suffering a horrific double leg break back in April.

The National League South leaders took the lead through a stunning Jordan Young strike after 16 minutes before conceding an equaliser soon after and then being sunk by a hat-trick from former loanee Tristan Abrahams in 11 second half minutes.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Ian Randall after the match, Fisher said: “You got to give Welling credit for how they performed today and how they took the moments of importance so professionally, but I do think there’s an element that we allowed certain things to happen that we haven’t been doing for all season. It’s not just taking anything away from their achievement today, but there are some home truths that we’ve had in the changing rooms about keeping standards high and we’ve got to hit our next game with all that in mind.

“Once they got their advantage, they felt like they played an extra man. Once you give a team confidence at any level,  that that can happen to you. I think the results haven’t been great in the last three games for us, but in the grand scheme of the season, if you if you take our winning run, that’s 31 points out of a possible 36.

“By our standards, these have been a couple of poor results, but with the added context of those points we’ve had a very good spell and we know we need to get back on track.”

The former Exeter City player has been an unused substitute in recent matches, but got a 23-minute outing at Park View Road playing alongside Glovers’ striker Rhys Murphy and Frank Nouble as Yeovil pushed for a way back in to the game.

He was only denied a consolation goal by a fine stop from Welling keeper Reice Cooper-Clark late in the second half.

Speaking of his return, Fisher said: “It’s been a long road to come back from the severity of injury I had, but very proud to get on the field today for not just a token two-minute cameo at the end but to get a substantial amount of the game. Granted the score wasn’t at all in our favour, but you’ve got nothing to lose so you could play the maybe a little bit more freedom than if you were sitting on a 1-0 advantage.

“It’s hard to say how far I am away from a full 90 minutes because everyone else has been through a pre-season with ten or 15 minutes here and there, and then build up to 45 or 90 minutes. Given the nature of the operation I had I’ve been very mobile for pretty much my entire recovery and even with my frame on my leg I was able to do quite a lot of fitness and I am pretty much where I’d like to be for the stage I’m at. I would could only answer how well I’d get through 90 minutes perhaps after I’ve tried to complete it, but I certainly felt sharp today and I have no hang ups over my.”

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper accepted responsibility after seeing his table-topping side capitulate to a 4-1 defeat at Welling United on Saturday.

The Glovers’ boss said he “maybe got the selection wrong” after a second half hat-trick from former player Tristan Abrahams ended an unbeaten league run stretching back to the end of August, and called on fans to back his players.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Ian Randall after the game, Cooper said: “Welling deserved to win. If you take the first 20 minutes out of it where we controlled it and we looked really dangerous, we ran hard, got the goal, but after that they ran harder, they jumped higher, sprinted faster, competed more and that’s why we lost.

“There’s no excuse. We have to compete, and that’s what we’ve done so well, we’ve competed against teams. If you take for granted, we didn’t run hard enough today. We can talk about tactics and talk about selection, all our big guns ended up on the pitch and they were better than us until the last 10 minutes when we changed the shape, got an extra man on the pitch and solidified in the middle a bit, put two up and then we started to play a little bit, but up until then they were miles better than us.”

Jordan Young celebrates his opener after 16 minutes at Welling United.

Having gone ahead through a fine strike from Jordan Young after 16 minutes, Welling levelled seven minutes later when Kain Adom levelled with a fine strike before three goals in 11 minutes from Abrahams rounded off a convincing win for the home side.

Asked about Abrahams’ performance, Cooper said: “With his ability, he should be playing a lot higher. I’ve tried to sign him before but have not been out getting anywhere near it, but today he made our centre-backs look like Under-12s players.

“But listen, our players have been fantastic, it’s important that we don’t lose sight of what they’ve done, I’ll take the blame for today. Maybe I’ve got the selection wrong. We need to back the players, we need to give them all the support and encouragement we and be ready for a really exciting, really tough game next Sunday (in the FA Cup) at Wrexham.”

Having put his side ahead, Young had a great opportunity to add a second soon after and, having come on for Sonny Cox after the hour mark, Murphy had a great chance to make it 3-2 just before Abrahams completed his hat-trick.

Cooper said: “At 1-0 we were not in really any danger and then we make a mistake in the middle of the pitch and let the ball bounce and the the lad has scores a good strike, but fancied Youngy it score to make it 2-0. Then put Muroh on to do what he does best with his score that he’s allowed to miss now and again. He’s human, he’s had a bit of fluid on his knee and it might have affected him, but he is allowed to miss now and again and he’s our top-scorer.”

But, with third-placed Hampton & Richmond the only winners in the National League South’s top seven, the defeat means Yeovil still sit eight points clear at the top of the division.

Second-placed Aveley were held to a 1-1 draw by a late equaliser at W*ymouth whilst Bath City, who sit in fourth, were held to a 2-2 draw at Farnborough, which still leaves them nine points behind the Glovers.

Cooper said: “We’ve played 19 (league) games, which means we have got another 27 to play and we have just got to keep going. It’s it was never meant to be easy and I think it’s important  we don’t lose sight of what we’ve done and we we stay focused and we stayed together.”

 

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News, Match Reports

Yeovil Town’s unbeaten run in National League South stretching back to the end of August came to an end in spectacular style at Welling United this afternoon.  An early Jordan Young goal set the Glovers on their way, but it was downhill from there for Mark Cooper’s side as they fell to a 4-1 defeat.

The hosts’ Kain Adom equalised in the first half before a hat-trick in 11 second half minutes from former Glovers loanee Tristan Abrahams left the frozen travelling supporters feeling blue.

Here’s how Coatesie saw it from both away ends…

First half

Mark Cooper made two changes from Tuesday night’s draw at Chippenham Town with Jordan Young straight back into the side and Jake Wannell returning to defence, having missed the previous two matches through injury. On-loan Bristol City defender Duncan Idehen and top-scorer Rhys Murphy both dropped to the bench.

The first meaningful effort came to the visitors as Josh Chambers seized on a lapse in concentration and an important deflection by Morgan Williams saw the ball go over. From the corner which followed Joe Day had to get down smartly to deny Dominic Odusanya’s header.

Play swung to the other end and Sonny Cox was brought down on the edge of the box with Lachlan Byrd booked for the foul. Jordan Young’s resulting free-kick went over the bar.

But YOUNG made no mistake after 16 minutes as he came in from the right flank, got on to his left foot and lashed an unstoppable shot in to the net. 1-0

The wind was in the visitors’ sails with pressure coming towards the away terrace (there were in fact two away terraces with the game being the first unsegregated fixture of the season, meaning supporters could change ends at half-time) but the closest to a goal came from Young who got a fierce shot in from the edge of the box on 21 minutes.

Young will have felt he could have done better and never more so than two minutes later as Welling found an equaliser through another good strike. The ball dropped to Kain ADOM on the edge of the box and he curled a fabulous shot past Day. 1-1

That sparked a flurry of pressure for the hosts with Anthony Grant, one of two new signings announced at the start of the game, heading wide before Cameron Green curled one past the post just after the half-hour mark.

With neither side able to retain a lot of possession, a basketball game broke out as the game pressed towards half-time. On 34 minutes, Nouble burst forward through the middle but his shot was straight in to the hands of Charles-Cook. The game sprang to the other end and the speedy Jephte Tanga broke away and was denied by a block from Williams.

But it was the hosts who were in the ascendancy, knocking on the door of the Yeovil defence with some last ditch defending required to keep them out. Adom almost found his second, denied by an acrobatic Day as the board went up for first half stoppage time.

Since Young’s opener and a strong first 15 minutes, it was Welling who had all the impetus and Mark Cooper will have been the happier manager to hear the half-time whistle blow.

Half time: Welling United 1 Yeovil Town 1

Second half

With the words of their manager (probably/hopefully) ringing in their ears, Yeovil attacked down the slope at Park View Road after the break.

They started brightly again with Sonny Cox almost getting away within seconds of the restart, before Morgan Williams forced a fine stop out of the Charles-Cook. But that was as good as it got.

Ten minutes in to the half a break left the visiting defence floundering and cross form the right found ex-Glovers’ loanee Tristan ABRAHAMS who headed his side in front. 1-2

The gaps between a shaky defence and a fairly non-existent midfield, by the standards Worthington and Lo-Everton have shown, were being ruthlessly exploited by the home side who were belying their lowly status. Time and again, they out-ran and out-fought their lofty opponents who almost assisted their opponents to play the way they wanted.

Then, two minutes after going a goal ahead, the home side added a third as ABRAHAMS found himself one-on-one with Day and made no mistake. 1-3

On the hour mark,  Murphy replaced Sonny Cox, before Abrahams missed a glorious chance to get his hat-trick as the ball flew across the face of goal only requiring the slightest of touches.

Murphy had a glorious chance to pull one back when he found himself close range, but his toe poke went straight to Charles-Cook. You’d have put your house on him to reduce the deficit.

On 67 minutes, ABRAHAMS completed his hat-trick curling in an effort. From potentially 3-2 to 4-1 down and that looks decidedly like that. 1-4

“Top of the league, you’re having a laugh”, sang the home fans and it was hard to argue. Since falling behind to Young’s 16th minute strike, the Wings looked far the superior side.

The immediate response saw Alex Fisher replace Dawes before Charlie Cooper replaced Worthington.

But their job was little more than damage limitation at this point.

There was at least a chance for a bit of happiness when Nouble thundered down the right side, fired a ball in to the back post where Fisher was arriving but his shot was stopped by the legs of Charles-Cook.

The final chance of the match deservedly fell to Welling as Adom forced another flying save out of Day in injury time.

Full time: Welling United 4 Yeovil Town 1

Match Details

Venue: Park View Road
Date: Saturday 25th November, 3pm kick-off
Competition: National League South

Pitch: Rutted and definite slope
Conditions: Beautiful Winter Sunshine (sounds like Coatesie’s debut album title)

Attendance: 826

Scorers: Jordan Young 16 (1-0), Kain Adom 23 (1-1), Tristan Abrahams 55 (1-2), Tristan Abrahams 57 (1-3), Tristan Abrahams 65 (1-3).

Bookings: 
Yeovil Town: Jordan Young 40, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton 73, Frank Nouble 85.
Welling United: Lachlan Byrd 13, Anthony Grant 13 , Tristan Abrahams 90+1.

Referee: Callum Fisk

Yeovil Town (4-4-2)

Substitutes: Rhys Murphy (for Sonny Cox, 60), Alex Fisher (for Will Dawes, 67), Charlie Cooper (for Matt Worthington, 75), Duncan Idehen (not used), Jordan Maguire-Drew (not used).

Welling United: , Reice Charles-Cook, Crossley Lema (for Rob Howard, 90+5)), Cameron Green, Taylor Curran (for Will Wood, 52), Anthony Grant, Tristan Abrahams, Dominic Odusanya, Kain Adom, Jephte Tanga, Josh Chambers (for Amadou Kassarate, 84), Lachlan Byrd
Substitutes (not used): Ibra Sekejja, Enoch Muwonge