November 2023 (Page 2)

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Defender Jake Wannell goes straight back in to the Yeovil Town starting XI for today’s trip to Welling United (3pm kick-off).

But, top-scorer Rhys Murphy is dropped to the substitutes’ bench with Frank Nouble up front alongside on-loan Sonny Cox and supported by Will Dawes and Jordan Young, who returns from suspension.

Ahead of kick-off Welling announced the signings of goalkeeper Reice Charles-Cook and winger Anthony Grant, who both go straight in to their starting XI.

 

 

 

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Sheridan joins Ian and Dave to talk through the 1-1 draw with Chippenham on Tuesday night. We look ahead to Welling tomorrow and take your questions!

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Yeovil Town goalkeeper Joe Day said his team-mates were happy to pick up a point despite not being at their “fluid best” in the 1-1 draw at Chippenham Town on Tuesday night.

The on-loan Newport County keeper was beaten by a freak own goal by defender Morgan Williams in the 89th minute in Wiltshire, but he said a draw was acceptable after his team-mates missed a number of chances to score.

Speaking on Thursday, the 33-year-old said the Glovers now have to make the point a worthwhile one with victory at Welling United on Saturday.

He said: “Being realistic we are not going to be at our fluid best every game, so to come away with a point away from home we have to take the point and turn it in to a good point with a win on Saturday.

“I don’t think anyone is going to be easy to play against. Most teams we have come up against make themselves hard to break down, we felt that against Chippenham who defended well behind the ball. But we have got to come to expect that, when you are top of the table teams are going to want to be hard against you and it’s up to us to overcome that.

“Everyone wanted to keep the winning run going til the end of the season, but we are still unbeaten and as long as we are where we want to be at the end of the season, no-one is going to worry about the runs, it’s all about being at the right point of the season.

“I like to think of my goals as team goals because it takes an entire team to get a clean sheet, so measuring success as a goalkeeper is about performance levels and how we defended the box as a unit. Everyone in the team wants a clean sheet, not just me.”

The same back four – Michael Smith, Jake Whittle, Morgan Williams and Alex Whittle – started in front of Day for 11 consecutive games until an injury to Wannell in the 26th minute of the 4-2 home win over Farnborough broke the run.

On loan Bristol City youngster Duncan Idehen, 21, has featured in the FA Trophy exit at Torquay United and the draw at Chippenham Town on Tuesday night and Day has been impressed with how he has filled the void. Manager Mark Cooper revealed on Thursday that he expects Wannell to be available for selection against Welling.

Day said: “Dunc’s come in well. He’s stepped in to a strong partnership between Morgs (Williams) and Wans (Jake Wannell), so to come in to that is difficult for him as a young lad but I think he’s done himself justice. Whenever you change the back line, there has to be a level of adaptation and it’s frustrating we have not to keep that continuity. But over the course of the season, you have to deal with these things.”

 

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Yeovil Town will be looking for a reaction against Welling after a lacklustre performance in midweek away to Chippenham Town.

The Glovers winning streak in all competitions came to an end last weekend in the FA Trophy after a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Torquay United. The league-winning streak also came to an end after a 1-1 draw on Tuesday night. Looking on a more positive note for Town fans is that Yeovil are unbeaten in the league across the last 14 games and will be hoping Cooper and Co will continue their good form.

Welling United have been very up and down in terms of form this season currently sitting 22nd in the league but are coming off the back of a midweek win against another Somerset side, Taunton. The fixture saw the Wings beat the Peacocks 2-2 (8-7 on pens).

Yeovil Town News

Manager Mark Cooper is taking no precautions when it comes to the London team, even if they are third from bottom. He said: “We have done as much due diligence as we can and we will try and negate their threats, but when we do what we really do we take some stopping.”

Mark Cooper speaking to the press

The ex-Swindon boss also spoke about the “bonus” of having Jake Wannell back after time on the sidelines with an injury.

Striker Rhys Murphy is available for the match even though he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against Chippenham, due to the suspension taking seven days to come into action.

Welling United News

Welling United boss Danny Bloor spoke about how he loves games like Yeovil. He said: “They’re favourites, they’re flying high. They’ll come here expecting to win, very few people will give us any chance whatsoever. They’re the games I love, that’s when you can cause an upset.”

The key man for the London team is midfielder Kain Adom who has scored three goals in the last five games for Welling. Another name for the travelling supporters to look out for is former Glover Tristan Abrahams, who had a spell at Huish Park in the 18/19 season.

Tristan Abrahams during his loan spell at Huish Park in 2019.

The Wings have no one missing through injury or suspension.

 

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Yeovil found themselves back in league action on Tuesday night, where they were held to a 1-1 draw away to Chippenham Town. With nearly a full midweek programme, let’s take a look at what went down elsewhere.

We start in Essex, where Chelmsford City played host to a 1-0 defeat to Maidstone, another goal from Levi Amantchi temporarily elevating the visitors to 2nd in the table. Chelmsford’s end to their good run causes them to fall out of the playoffs.

Onto Tuesday’s action, and we begin with Worthing registering a 3-0 win away to Farnborough, while Slough Town added further misery to Havant & Waterlooville’s season with a 91st minute winner to edge themselves away from the relegation zone. Both W*ymouth and Braintree Town registered 2-0 wins, against Truro City and Dartford respectively. Dartford will be without Paul Rooney for the Glovers’ visit, as he saw red in the first half of their defeat.

There were two 1-1 draws, with Dover Athletic hosting Eastbourne Borough, and Tonbridge Angels doing well at home against a visiting Aveley. James Morton scored an 86th minute screamer to hand Weston-super-mare a 1-0 win away to St Albans City, and in the final game from Tuesday, Hemel Hempstead and Bath City played out a 0-0 draw.

Taunton’s clash at home to Torquay United was postponed, as was Welling United’s home game against Hampton & Richmond Borough. This was due to the FA Trophy tie that was supposed to be played on Saturday.

 

National League South results – in full

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

National League and National League North/South tables

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Defender Jake Wannell will be available for Yeovil Town’s trip to Welling United this weekend having recovered from a hamstring injury.

The 29-year-old, who joined from National League South rivals Taunton Town in the summer, has missed the club’s last two matches – the FA Trophy exit at Torquay United and the league draw at Chippenham Town – with the injury he sustained in the 4-2 home win over Farnborough.

On-loan Bristol City defender Duncan Idehen has slotted in to the centre of defence alongside Morgan Williams for the past two games, but boss Mark Cooper confirmed on Thursday that he expects to have Wannell available for selection.

He said: “Jake Wannell is now fit. He had a scan yesterday and he trained today and hopefully he has no reaction tomorrow and he’ll be good to go on Saturday. That is a bonus for us because we thought it was going to be maybe four weeks, but he’s back. That gives us real strength in that department with us having Duncan (Idehen), so that is good news.”

Welling sit third-from-bottom of the division after a tricky start to the season, but are unbeaten at home since the start of September. They enjoyed success in the FA Trophy on Tuesday night, winning 8-7 on penalties against Taunton at Park View Road, where the Glovers had a spy up against them in the form of on-loan striker Malachi Linton, who scored one of Taunton’s spot kicks.

Cooper said: “He’s told us exactly what they thought, they have threats. We have done as much due diligence as we can and we will try and negate their threats, but when we do what we really do we take some stopping.”

The manager said the mood in the squad was good despite dropping two points on the road courtesy of an own goal from Morgan Williams in the 89th minute at Chippenham on Tuesday night. A attempted clearance from Idehen deflected off the unfortunate Williams and in to the net.

But, Cooper said his side let their opponents “off the hook” having missed a number of opportunities before substitute Jake Hyde put them ahead after 77 minutes in Wiltshire. They had 11 shots on target including nine in the first half alone.

The boss said: “When you play a team which gets everybody behind the ball and defends really deep, you have to take those chances because if you score then they have to come out and try and score. We let them stay in the game and when it’s 1-0 they always feel they have a chance and we let them off the hook.

“Duncan (Idehen) done fine in the games he has played. There is no problem defensively. The goal on Tuesday is a complete fluke, if you tried to re-enact it 1,000 times you would never be able to do it. But we were really wasteful at the other end of the pitch whether that was the finish, the selection of pass or the cross, we were really wasteful. It happens to the best teams, every team has days when it doesn’t go for them – but we still got a point.”

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Yeovil Town front man Rhys Murphy will miss the Glovers’ game against Bath City.

The bagsman picked up his fifth Yellow Card of the season in the 1-1 draw against Chippenham Town, after said a word or two too many to the referee.

The fifth caution confirmed as falling under “C2 – Dissent by Word or Action”

With yellow cards being competition specific and taking seven days to kick in, the former Arsenal youngster will be eligible to play against Welling on Saturday and Wrexham in the FA Cup before sitting out the Wednesday night game against Bath after that.

A reminder that Saturday’s game against Welling represents the Glovers’ 19th league game of the season and is the cut off point for a five-booking ban. Both Matt Worthington and Charlie Cooper sit on four bookings, if they avoid the wrath of the ref, they can breathe easy (until their 10th booking that is)

 

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Yeovil Town have seen their defensive ranks depleted slightly with the departure of Zac Bell.

The Bristol City loanee has been recalled to Ashton Gate with 11 league appearances under his belt for the Glovers.

Bell had found himself behind Michael Smith in the pecking order of late and wasn’t in the match day squad for the game against Chippenham on Tuesday night.

 

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A frustrating evening in front of goal and a crazy own goal saw Yeovil Town’s winning run in National League South ended with a 1-1 draw at a Hardened Huish (Hardenhuish) Park, Chippenham last night. 

A crowd of 1,326 swelled by another fantastic turn out from Somerset was there to see it all, including one who travelled from somewhere outside Blackpool – and here are Dave’s thoughts from his spot frozen to the away terrace……

How have we only scored one? When you’ve scored more goals in three months than you did in the whole of last season, we can’t complain about going forwards too much – but it was our finishing which let us down. Chippenham keeper Will Henry must feel robbed not to get the sponsors’ Man of the Match after making two or three great saves, perhaps the sponsors agreed that we made it too easy for him by hitting so many shots straight at him. Matt Worthington has probably never had a better chance to score in his 201 matches, it was an off night for Rhys Murphy (see below), and Sonny Cox could not really get in to the game. Thank goodness for the predatory instincts of Jake Hyde. He’ll hate being called ‘super sub’, perhaps we can bring him off the bench after a minute and then unleash him. The stats don’t lie, 11 shots on targets to Chippenham’s six should have been enough to comfortably put that to bed.

Jake Hyde celebrates his goal at Chippenham Town.

The most ridiculous own goal you’ll ever see. This was the view of the lads watching on National League TV and I’m glad that it wasn’t the player heading firmly in to his own net that it looked from the away end. Duncan Idehen, who I thought looked composed alongside Morgan Williams, found himself in an awkward position so you can’t blame either of them particularly. Losing the ball in midfield like we did is the worst part of the whole affair. Joe Day made one outstanding save in the second half but otherwise I don’t remember him having to be ‘super Joe Day (is) in goal’ too much and, when you don’t finish your chances, that kind of a freak own goal is always going to cost you.

Duncan Idehen

A night to forget for Rhys Murphy. On another night, there would be a picture of Rhys Murphy holding a match ball and at least three fingers up. Will Henry did well to deny him once, he had what looked a clear penalty turned down by the referee, but there were a couple of occasions where he looked like he wanted to walk the ball in. I found echoes of last season shouting ‘put your laces through it, Rhys.’ The man knows goal-scoring better than I do, but he will be frustrated. Not used that word as much this season, have we?! Then, to add insult to frustration, he goes and picks up a fifth booking for what looked like dissent and now misses an important league game at Bath City in a couple of weeks time. Silly, silly boy, Rhys.

We missed Jordan Young – but not just him. There was a big Jordan Young shaped hole in a team which particularly in the first half was crying out for a bit of creativity. The optimist (aka Ben) in me told me at half-time that we had to be patient, the pessimist in me told me the first half was very heavy going. All a bit flat and nothing to really get behind, you just wanted a magician like Young or a speedster like Jordan Stevens to excite and create something from nothing. But, whilst Duncan Idehen looked competent alongside Morgan Williams, the lack of Jake Wannell stood out for me.
A lot of what has been good about our play in our winning run has been built from his composure playing the ball out from defence and that stood out.

Jake Wannell.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

We’re nine points clear at the top. Let’s not get carried away. It was a disappointing night by the standards we have set this season. But, we actually extended our lead at the top of National League South to nine points with both Aveley and Bath City also being held to draws. Third-placed Maidstone United briefly cut it to eight points with a win on Monday night, so – despite the fact it feels like a defeat (Michael Smith, 2023) – we were actually better off come 10pm than we were at 7.45pm on Tuesday night. We always knew there was going to be a bit of adversity, especially with important players missing, but this is far from anything to lose heads over. Bring on the Welling!

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Time for a midweek edition of Loan Watch with plenty of action taking place after a spell of wet weather causing plenty of postponed matches.

Let’s start in the National League South with Bath City and Will Buse who kept a ‘cleano’ for the Romans away at Hemel Hempstead.

That game works out at being the final game of his initial “one-month” loan – it remains to be seen if the deal is extended.

To the FA Trophy second round now, and Taunton Town faced Welling United after their game on Saturday was called off. Glovers’ striker Malachi Linton scored a late equaliser to take the game to penalties, he scored his, Jay Foulston and Austen Booth couldn’t follow suit meaning Taunton are out.

Next to Shepton Mallet Town for another Glovers’ goal-scorer.

Charlie Bateson got three of Shepton’s SIX in their Les Phillips Cup game against Wincanton Town scoring past his Yeovil College team-mate and ex-Yeovil Town Under-18s goalkeeper, Rob Hollard. A first-ever Loan Watch hat-trick, we think!!

No games for the likes of Melksham, Sherbourne, Gillingham and Welton Rovers, so that completes loan watch for another midweek!