December 2023 (Page 6)

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Josh Staunton departed Huish Park this week, Ian, Ben and Dave chat about the former captain’s departure, other bits of news out of YTFC and look ahead to the visit of Hampton and Richmond tomorrow.

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Yeovil Town top-scorer Rhys Murphy is looking forward to returning to action at Huish Park when the Glovers take on Hampton & Richmond this weekend.

The frontman, who netted his 13th goal of the season from the penalty spot in the 2-2 draw at Dartford on Saturday, admitted a month of away games had taken its toll on the side.

They have picked up five points from their four National League South matches since the 4-2 win over Farnborough during their last outing on home soil in mid-November, and they now have three of their next five games at Huish Park over the Christmas period.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah on Thursday, Murphy said: “It’s been an intense few weeks with lots of travelling to away games, but we knew it was coming because earlier in the season we had played a lot at home.

“It is brilliant to be back in front of our fans and they will be out in their numbers like they have been all season and we can put on a show for them.

“As a player you want to be playing football, whatever day of the month it is, it all blurs in to one, you are playing football and that is the main thing.”

Rhys Murphy walks away wondering how he missed an early chance in last weekend’s 2-2 draw at Dartford.

Murphy started last weekend’s draw at Dartford which saw Yeovil stretch their lead at the top of the table to seven points but he had not been in the starting XI since the 1-1 draw at Chippenham Town at the end of November.

He admitted that having the likes of Frank Nouble, Jake Hyde and more recently Alex Fisher, as well as forwards Jordan Young and on loan Sonny Cox (who has now returned to his parent club Exeter City) did spur him on to find form.

The top-scorer said: “You work hard all week on the training pitch all week and you want to play football. We have another good run of fixtures coming up now and it’s something to sink our teeth in to and hopefully we can come out with plenty of points and still top of the table.

“We have a really good group of players, so you know if you are not starting you know that you are fighting to get your shirt back. But, even if you are not starting you have to think about how you can effect a game without even coming on, so you always want to be ready and know that when your chance comes you have to take it.

“Good competition gets the best out of everyone because even when you are playing great you know you have to be at it to keep your shirt but (having good players in the squad) can also save your legs. It’s a long, hard season, so you have to look at the big picture.

“Some times you might get frustrated but that is because we all want to play. That is a good thing if you can channel that positively.”

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Yeovil Town will host in-form Hampton & Richmond at Huish Park on Saturday, which will be the Glovers first home game in a month.

In what has been a busy week for the Glovers off the pitch, which has seen the termination of the Club Captain, Josh Staunton’s contract. Sonny Cox was recalled by his parent club Exeter City as well meaning this game will come as welcome relief from the off field issues.

Hampton & Richmond come into the game as the in form side, having not lost a a league game since the reverse fixture on September 23rd.

Yeovil Teams News

Manager Mark Cooper sees the game like any other. He said: “Like every week it’s a big challenge. It’s very rare, if ever that you get an easy game.

“Hampton have got have got a real confidence behind them from a real good run. We know if we do what we need to at home we have a big chance to get points. ”

The 54-year-old was cryptic in his reasoning for Captain Josh Stanton contract termination, claiming “the squad don’t need distractions” as one of the reasons why the two parted ways. In what seemed an awkward exchange for Cooper, he also noted how the team “wants to look forward to winning” as another reason for Staunton’s exit.

Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper speaks ahead of the home fixture with Hampton & Richmond.

Frontman Rhys Murphy also spoke about The Beavers’ good run of form. He said: “They’re on a really good run at the moment and we’ll show them the respect they deserve. But we go into it confident.”

The Glovers will be without Jamie Sendles-White (long-term).

Hampton & Richmond Team News

Manager Mel Gwinnett recently received the Manager of the Month award for November after guiding his team to four wins from their five games played in the month.

Centre-back Dean Inman is the key player for the Beavers having played the most amount of minutes in the squad.

Two former Glovers for fans to look out for on Saturday are Jake Gray and Ben Seymour who now ply their trade with the London club. l Gwinnett also had a spell at Huish Park during his playing career.

The Beavers announced permanent signing of Joshua Anifowose after spending the first half of the season on loan from Dover.

When we last met…

The previous fixture between these two, saw the Glovers run out 2-1 winner. The game was fairly even until Jordan Stevens scored a goal to remember, a half-volley which nestled in the top corner. Rhys Murphy was also on the scoresheet that day who finished smartly after a through ball from Alex Whittle.

The game was also marred by two sending off’s for Coopers men, Jake Hyde receiving two yellow cards and Matty Worthington seeing straight red for a handball in the area. With the resulting penalty seeing ex-Glover Ben reducing the scoreline to 1-2 in the 98th minute.

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Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper has said the departure of former club captain Josh Staunton removed “distractions” from the league leaders.

The defender ended his three-and-a-half-year association with the club when his contract was mutually terminated this week.

His last appearance for the club came in the 2-1 defeat Torquay United as the club exited the FA Trophy last month and you have to go back to the end of September when he came on as an 84th minute substitute in a 2-1 win at Hampton & Richmond to find the last National League South action Staunton played.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah ahead of this weekend’s return fixture against Hampton at Huish Park on Saturday, Cooper said: “Where we are now, the squad doesn’t need any distractions, they need to be left to focus on football and give their best between now and the end of the season. We don’t need any distractions and for Josh it is a chance to go and play.”

Josh Staunton, left, in conversation with manager Mark Cooper. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

He added: “He’s been a focal point of the community, he’s done lots of interviews and speaks very well and has obviously struggled with an injury.

“But he’s been here three years and he’s been a good servant. Like Morgan Williams and Matt Worthington he’s been here a long time.

“The club has had three or four years of struggle, since the play-offs (in 2020) the club has been near the bottom of the league, and now it is about looking forward.

“We want now to be a club that wins games and promotions, not talking about struggle and having to talk about ownership wrangles which Josh did well last year.

“We want to be talking about winning games, big crowds, Cup runs, we want to be talking about all that now.

“The squad did not need any distractions and we had to do the best thing we could to give us the best platform to go forward.”

Cooper confirmed midfielder Matt Worthington, who has taken the armband in the absence of Staunton, would be the club’s captain, the manager added: “Worthy’s been the go to and he will remain the captain and we will probably name a vice captain.”

Asked about the departure of Staunton, top-scorer Rhys Murphy revealed that the captain was one of the people he spoke to before returning for his second spell in Somerset in the summer.

He said: “I got on really well with Josh, he’s a good guy and a good character. In my first spell at the club he had a terrible injury and I remember having a conversation with him towards the end of his rehab and saying that every day he came in and did it right, he never took a day off or took a short cut, and that summed him up.

“He led by example, so he was a really good character to have around the place and he will be missed. He was one of the people I spoke to before coming back, he was liked by everyone in the changing room, but, for whatever reason he is on to new things, so I wish him all the best.”

The Glovers return to Huish Park for the first time in a month – when they won 4-2 at home to Farnborough – with South Somerset having been beset by torrential rain.

Cooper added: “Our training pitches today (Thursday) were really soft. We’ve stayed off the main pitch since the Farnborough game, and hopefully we get a couple of dry days and it will be fine.

“The pitch at Dartford (last weekend) was really good and we showed that with the way we moved the ball in the first half, compare that to (the 4-1 defeat at) Welling it is chalk and cheese, but you have to adapt and find a way.

“We are looking forward to being at home in front of a big crowd this weekend.”

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Exeter City have recalled Sonny Cox from his loan at Huish Park.

The 19-year-old forward was initially meant to spend until January in Somerset but leaves a few weeks ahead of schedule.

The Grecians are the second-lowest scorers in League One with just 12 goals in their opening 19 matches and it appears Sonny will be coming straight in to their squad for the trip to high-flying Stevenage on Saturday.

Speaking about recall, Exeter boss Gary Caldwell said: “We have recalled Sonny to add some quality and competition in the attacking area. Hopefully after a really successful loan he is going to come back with a real energy and enthusiasm and confidence that can help us.

“It’s a big step up for Sonny and we won’t put too much pressure on him but we do believe in him and believe he can score goals at this level and hopefully even higher.

“It’s great to have him back as he is someone that you can see has quality on the training pitch and he can finish.”

He scored twice in a 2-0 home win over Dover in mid-November and has played nine times for Yeovil in the league with two further appearances in the FA Cup.

Thanks for your efforts, Sonny.

Sonny Cox makes it 2-0 for Yeovil Town at home to Dover Athletic.

 

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The attack, how is it going?

After a few games where we haven’t looked our best or have missed plenty of chances lets take a deep dive into the stats

Overall the top line stats suggest it is doing well…

Total Goals Scored: 42, 1st, highest in the league.
 Total Shots: 258, 6th highest in the league.
 Total Shots on Target: 136, 2nd highest in the league.
 % Shots on Target: 53%, 3rd best in the league.
 Shots per Goal: 6.14, 1st, best in the league.
 xG Created: 33.17, 6th highest in the league.
 xG per Goal: 0.79, 2nd best in the league.

In total 18 players have been involved in a goal, with 14 different goal scorers and 15 different players providing assists.

Overall it is going well, scoring above xG but personally I think we should be creating more with the names we have. That being said we are top scorers in the league even if we can’t beat a team by 3 or more goals. 5/7

What about the players?

Yeovil Town attacking players ranked by goal involvements.

Jordan Young and Jake Hyde were both on target in the 2-0 win over W*ymouth.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Jordan Young, 15 goal involvements. 6/7

Our Star boy, as many would call him. He has played 19 times (15 starts & 4 appearances off the bench) he has played 1283 minutes so far this season, that is 68% of available league game time. When he starts Yeovil pick up on average 2.53 PPM 0.34 points more than the team average and 2 highest in the squad.

He is involved in a goal every 92 minutes, best in the current squad

 Stats wise he is unsurprisingly our main man

  • 8 Goals, joint 10th top in National League North & South
  • xG 5.5, ranked 42nd
  • 53 Shots, 12th highest
  • 32 (60%) shots from outside the area, 5th highest)
  • 6.6 shots per goal
  • 6 Assists
  • Expected Assists 4.82, ranked 5th
  • Crosses not in top 100
  • Dribbling 87, ranked 20th
  • Fouled 1.73 times a game, 54th highest

 Not a 7/7 only due to him now and then having games where his shooting gets a bit erratic.

Rhys Murphy, 10 goal involvements. 4/7

Our main striker. He has played 18 times (13 starts & 5 appearances off the bench) he has played 1096 minutes so far this season, that is 58% of available league game time. When he starts Yeovil pick up on average 2.46 PPM 0.27 points more than the team average and third highest in the squad.

He is involved in a goal every 110 minutes, second best in the current squad

 Stats wise he hasn’t scored as many as he should have, nearly 3 goals less than expected, on the plus side he is getting in the right positions and having those chances.

  • 8 Goals, joint 10th top in National League North & South
  • xG 10.84, ranked 4th
  • 0.6 goals every 90 minutes, ranked 20th
  • 47 Shots, 21st highest
  • 5.9 shots per goal
  • 47% of shots on target, ranked 21st
  • 2 Assists
  • Expected Assists not in top 100
  • Fouled not in top 100

Gone with a 4/7 here, that is harsh you might say but before recent games it would have been a 5 or 6 however, he isn’t taking advantage of the chances coming his way as the xG shows.

Frank Nouble finds the net in the pre-season friendly win at Buckland Athletic.
Picture courtesy of Iain Morland.

Frank Nouble, 6 Goal Involvements 5/7

Big Frank, one of only 2 players to have played a part in every league game so far this season. He has played 21 times (17 starts & 4 appearances off the bench) he has played 1552 minutes so far this season, that is 82% of available league game time. When he starts Yeovil pick up on average 2.12 PPM 0.07 points less than the team average and thirteenth highest in the squad.

He is involved in a goal every 212 minutes, eighth best in the current squad. However, he is ranked joint 3rd for second assists with 3 (passing the ball to the assister, think of Hyde’s goal against Braintree)

  • 5 Goals, joint 49th in National League North & South
  • xG 3.84, ranked 80th
  • 27 Shots, 98th highest
  • 5.4 shots per goal
  • 29.63% of shots on target, ranked 87th
  • 2 Assists
  • Expected Assists 3.04, ranked 35th

Gone with a 5 for big Frank, he has been a key player this season, scored some incredible goals and does a job for the team.

Jake Hyde, 6 Goal Involvements 5/7

Our number 9, getting a bit of a name for himself as a super sub, 1 goal when starting but 4 from the bench. He has played 16 times (6 starts & 10 appearances off the bench) he has played 694 minutes so far this season, that is 37% of available league game time. When he starts Yeovil pick up on average 2.33 PPM 0.14 points more than the team average and sixth highest in the squad.

He is involved in a goal every 116 minutes, third best in the current squad.

  • 5 Goals, joint 49th in National League North & South
  • xG 4.49, ranked 54th
  • Not in top 100, less than 26
  • 2 goals form headers, ranked 8th highest
  • Not in top 100, less than 14.29%  on target
  • 1 Assist
  • Expected Assists not in top 100, less than 1.95
  • Aerial duels per 90 10.81 ranked 53rd

Goals and Assists both over their expected numbers, had a short goal drought but back on the goal train now. I’m sure he would love to snag one when he starts soon.

Jordan Maguire-Drew was introduced after an hour at Plymouth Parkway.

Jordan Maguire-Drew, 4 Goal Involvements 3/7

JMD, started 5 of the first 6 games (the last being Havant & Waterlooville), 1 goals and 2 assists in those 5 games. However, since then he has sat on the bench 13 times and got on to the pitch 5 times, 1 assist from those appearances, a vital one at Worthing. He has played 10 times. He has played 492 minutes so far this season, that is 26% of available league game time. When he starts Yeovil pick up on average 1.40 PPM 0.79 points less than the team average and the lowest in the squad.

He is involved in a goal every 123 minutes, fourth best in the current squad.

  • 1 Goal
  • 3 Assist, ranked 22nd
  • 3.02 Expected Assists, ranked 32nd

A disappointing season so far from JMD, he has the talent but does he have the fight? I hope so, he is brilliant on his day. Given him 1 extra point for the free kick at Worthing alone.

Sonny Cox, 3 Goal Involvements 3/7

Our most recent addition. He has played 9 times (7 starts & 2 appearances off the bench) he has played 527 minutes so far this season, that is 28% of available league game time. When he starts Yeovil pick up on average 2.00 PPM 0.19 points less than the team average.

He is involved in a goal every 132 minutes, fifth best in the current squad

  • 2 Goals
  • 1 Assist

Started with a bang, 2 vital goals against Dover. I love his pace and aggression but lacking the end product in recent weeks.

Jordan Stevens, 2 Goal Involvements 2/7

If only he wasn’t so injury prone. He has played 8 times (3 starts & 5 appearances off the bench) he has played 346 minutes so far this season, that is 18% of available league game time. Less than 5 starts so no PPM for him but every time he has started, we have won.

He is involved in a goal every 173 minutes, sixth best in the current squad

  • 1 Goal
  • 1 Assist

This feels harsh, he is great….when fit. I hope he finds a fix to his injury troubles soon. Class player on his day.

Will Dawes ? Debs Curtis

Will Dawes, 1 Goal Involvement 2/7

Last is Dawes, a fan favourite but he only has 1 goal involvement, an assist against Aveley. Before we get deep into his stats I would like to point out two things, I like watching him play and that he is unlucky, many of his crosses have come off a defender and fallen to a Yeovil forward who puts it away. However, in the last two games (Bath & Dartford) he has made 15 crosses, 0 have hit a Yeovil player.

Dawes has played 10 times (8 starts & 2 appearances off the bench) he has played 723 minutes so far this season, that is 38% of available league game time. When he starts Yeovil pick up on average 2.13 PPM 0.07 points less than the team average and twelfth highest in the squad.

He is involved in a goal every 723 minutes, sixteenth best in the current squad.

From the stats we can see it matches our perception of him he loves to run with the ball and get it in the mixer.

  • Crosses 37, ranked 100th
  • Crosses per 90 4.06, ranked 21st
  • Dribbling 66 ranked 53rd
  • Dribbles per 90 7.24 ranked 14th
  • Fouled 2.2 times a game, 12th highest
  • Progressive runs per 90 4.17 Ranked 4th highest  

However, when we look at his accuracy/success it isn’t pretty

  • Crossing not in top 100, less than 10.2% hit a Yeovil player.
  • Dribbling not in the top 100, less than 51.61% are successful.

Here is where I like what he does, he isn’t afraid of getting stuck in and winning the ball back cracking work rate.

  • Defensive duels per 90 7.9 ranked 79th (Josh Owers 9.32 & Charlie Cooper 7.83)
  • Interceptions per 90 5.71 ranked 53rd (Wannell 5.4 88th )

I would have scored him a 1 but his effort and tenacity gives him an extra point but his end product needs to improve, How long can he keep starting if there is no end product?

We’d love to hear your views on our attacking talent in the comments below. 

Data collected from footystats.org and Wyscout. All rankings from Wyscout and based on National league South and North combined.

PPM – Points per match

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Yeovil Town club captain, Josh Staunton has left the club.

The defender/midfielder/one time caretaker Manager departs the club having found game time hard to come by.

Staunton, who has more than 100 appearances to his name, leaves his contract early following rumours surrounding his future over the past week or two.

In a statement posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Josh said: “I owe a massive thank you to the people of Yeovil, for making me feel so at home at your club.

“It has been an honour to wear the green & white and be your captain. We got through the hard times together and I wish the club and players all the best in promotion and beyond ?”

Josh Staunton joined Yeovil from Halifax and told the Gloverscast in an exclusive chat that Huish Park was the ‘only other team he’d join’ if his future lay away from the Shay stadium.

He captained the side for the last couple of seasons and, alongside Mark Cooper, showed real leadership in times of uncertainty and hardship as the club dropped out of the National League.

He also leaves the club as the Glovers’ most successful manager in terms of win ratio, with a sole victory from the final game at Altrincham at the end of the 2021/22 season.

On behalf of us all at the Gloverscast, we’d like to say Thank You to Josh for his captaincy during his time at Huish Park.

 

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Yeovil Town Women continued their unbeaten streak in the league as they beat Bishops Lydeard Reserves 5-0 on Sunday. In a match which saw five different scorers, Yeovil showcased their ability to score from all over the pitch.

Paul Knight made one change to the team which overcame Wells in the Glovers’ previous outing, as Zoe Ball came in for Holly Coles.

YTFC Ladies vs Bishops Lydeard – Philip Shields

A typically quick start saw Yeovil in front within the first minute of the game, as the league top-scorer Niamh Nicholls opened the scoring, for her 16th goal of the campaign.

Swiftly after this, in the fifth minute, Jess Hodge made it two for Yeovil, as she drilled the ball past the Bishops Lydeard goalkeeper, to net her tenth of the season and send the Glovers on their way to another three points.

As the first half reached the halfway point Yeovil had three, as Becca McManus found Zoe Ball, who after being rewarded with a start, shot across the goalkeeper and found the far corner.

In the 39th minute Yeovil’s penalty woes this season continued, as Jess Hodge saw her spot-kick saved.

Following this, on the stroke of half-time substitute Holly Coles made it 4-0 after some excellent play from Zoe Ball.

The Glovers went in at the break four goals to the good.

Yeovil’s first real chance of the second half came to Niamh Nicholls in the 60th minute, as she fired her effort over from inside the box.

The fifth of the afternoon arrived eight minutes later courtesy of Abbie Carslake, who finished off Laura Cheesman’s inviting ball across, for her fourth goal of the season.

In a match which could have seen many more goals, Yeovil maintained control throughout and ran out 5-0 winners to make it eight league wins in a row.

The player of the match was awarded to Becca McManus for a determined midfield performance, winning the majority of her duels in the middle.

Yeovil Town Women manager Paul Knight said after the match: “Gritty performance, at the end of the day 5-0, I don’t want to sound disrespectful to the opposition, but we can do a lot better than that in terms of our clinical play on the pitch, the girls know that. I feel the lack of games over the previous weeks due to postponements has slightly hindered our performance, however this group always manages to both entertain and deliver.

“Overall, well chuffed with the team in terms of the result, I think for us as coaches we have things we need to think about for the new year and we’ve just got to keep the momentum going and just hope that the games keep coming with the weather that we’ve got.”

Sunday’s player of the match Becca McManus said: “I enjoyed the game, I love playing with these girls, we’ve been working on rotational play in the midfield and that’s what we were focusing on in this game, I felt like we did that well at times, but it’s something we still need to work on I think. It was a very good defensive performance, Emily keeping another clean sheet, I love playing with these girls, today was really fun.”

Yeovil Town Women return to action on Sunday 17th December as they travel to Ilminster Town Reserves in the Somerset County Division 1 14:00 KO.

Image courtesy of Philip Shields

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Glovers’ winger Jordan Young has been named in the Official Vanarama Team of the Week (Combined North and South).

His equaliser against Dartford put Yeovil seven points clear at the top of the NLS table.

Dartford’s keeper also makes the side after having what can only be described as a ‘Worldy’.

Quick note for a trio of Taunton players and former Glover Shaun Jeffers who also make the cut.

Good work, Jordan.

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Ian and Dave are back with Ben to chat through the 2-2 draw with Dartford. Plus, we answer your GCQs.

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