December 2023 (Page 9)

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On the day we face Bath City, Dave speaks to former Glovers (who also played for tonight’s opponents) Rob Cousins and Dean Birkby on this episode of the Glovers Past.

Pic courtesy of our friends at The YTFC Heritage Society.

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Yeovil Town Badge on huish park

Yeovil Town will be looking to get back to winning ways after getting knocked the FA Cup on Sunday evening.

The good performance against Wrexham AFC will hopefully inspire the Glovers squad to turn around their slight dip in form. Even with being in the cup at the weekend the Somerset side remain top of the National League South five points above second with a game in hand.

Bath City however dropped to sixth in the league after a loss to Chelmsford, a game in which they led 2-0, against ten men. The Romans are also in a poor run of form having not picked up a league win since the 11th November – comfortable 3-0 victory over Aveley.

With both side looking to regain their early momentum, it will be a tough away trip for the visiting Yeovil squad.

Yeovil Town News

Manager Mark Cooper spoke after the Wrexham game about how his team wanted Wednesday to come. He said: “There is no disappointment from us today, it’s just pure positivity and desperate for Wednesday to come along. We’re desperate to play.

“I know we wanted we wanted to push the game back but we feel we could play again now.”

Some good news has come the Glovers way, after it was announced centre-half Morgan Williams has extended his stay at the club until 2026 which will no doubt be boost for defender. Williams, 24, also spoke about how “the focus is now on Bath” after the defeat in North-Wales.

Rhys Murphy will be ruled out of the game as he will serve his one match ban for accumulating five yellow cards, Jamie Sendles-White is still out injured.

Rhys Murphy
? Those White Lines / AFC Stoneham

Bath City News

After their 2-3 defeat on Saturday boss Jerry Gill was very damning about his sides performance. He said: “Brutally honest, the better side won. I don’t think we lost in the right way today. It was night and day what we’ve been…we have to react on Wednesday.”

Twerton Park, the home of Bath City.

With a sellout at Twerton Park, the ex-Glover also spoke about how special the game will be for everyone involved. He said: “TP [Twerton Park] under the lights is always special, but this one will be electric.

“When I see a packed out packed popular side as you walk up the tunnel, I get a feeling of pride and passion that only Twerton Park can give you.”

The Romans have a number of talented players but Cody Cooke is one that stands out. The forward has bagged seven goals this season but has been in prolific form recently, scoring five in the last five games.

First choice goalie Will Buse is ineligible to play against his parent club, meaning Slav Huk will start, but there will be two former Glovers in the Bath squad; Jordan Dyer spent a short amount of time on loan at Huish Park from his former club Bristol City, whilst Ewan Clark spent a stint at HP.

Scott Wilson, who has a fair few goals this season, did spent a short time on trial at Yeovil the pre-season before last.

Scott Wilson,

The Last competitive meeting between the two sides was the 2022 Somerset Men’s Premier Cup Final. Yeovil Won, 3-0.

 

Yeovil Town and Bath City have a storied history together, thanks to the Ciderspace Archive you can see the full results of competitive meetings between the two Somerset giants, simply by clicking HERE.   – 

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Yeoviil Town defender Morgan Williams has signed a contract extension until the end of the 2025/26 season.

Williams saw his contract extended at the end of the 2022/23 season with a one-year addition, but the deal has now been extended for two further years.

The former Coventry City man has had two loan spells with the Glovers before making the deal permanent in at the start of the 2021/22 season.

Williams recently clocked up his 100th game in Green and White and with two more years ahead of him, here’s to many more!

Morgan Williams celebrates with the travelling fans at the end of the match.

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Gloverscast Ben saw his FIRST live and in person game of the season on Sunday as the Glovers travelled to Wrexham in the FA Cup.

A 3-0 defeat, a Percy Pig v Cuthbert bar fight and here’s how Gloverscast Ben saw it from the Press Box.

Firstly, I thought 3-0 really flattered Wrexham, but it’s probably fair to say we took too long to get going.

In the the first half, we were clearly just trying to stay in the game for as long as possible and that meant inviting Wrexham’s plethora of attacking talent on to the back line.

Whilst, we were quick to put pressure on when the hosts came within sniffing distance of the penalty area, I was left thinking… why can’t we put that pressure on 20 or 30 yards further up the pitch?

The break downs in play were easy for Wrexham to recycle and easy to keep the pressure on, when you have the quality they do, that means chances will fall their way – they did, and they took them. You can’t begrudge them that. 

In the second half, I felt we did have the bravery to press a little higher, force mistakes in the middle of the pitch and that gave us a foot hold in the game, and chances to give our defence a rest, from the constant barrage that came at us in the first 45.

Football is a game of fine margins.

If Charlie Cooper’s long range effort dips in, if Jordan Young’s free kick is 6 inches to the left, the game is TOTALLY different going into the second half.

To go from being the width of the post away from getting the game back to 1-1, to being 2-0 down in a matter of seconds just shows how cruel football can be.

On another day, Joe Day parries the first chance away from sniffing strikers, on a another day, the finger tip he gets to Andy Cannon’s second goal is more substantial and it goes wide.

On another day, we get something out of that game and maybe take it back to Huish Park. Nobody in the crowd could have complained if that game had ended 2-2.

Jordan Young. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Jordan Young was on a one man mission

Jordan Young’s free kick was inches away from perfection, his desire to cut inside from the right and play balls across the edge of the area, shape to shoot, get in to dangerous areas and generally be brilliant showed that he has multiple facets to his game.

Now, technically it was a game of ‘nearly’ moments for Young, but it’s probably fair to say he caught plenty of eyes with his performance.

The eyes of Managers we will be coming up against soon (Hi Jerry!), the eyes of Managers at other clubs who might need a tricky winger in the near future, the eyes of plenty of fans and supporters – more than a couple of Wrexham voices spoke highly of him.

The truth is, all he did was add an Extra 0, on the end of his potential transfer fee. Let’s not pretend he’s not going to be the subject of offers and interest, because he’s shown this season he’s an EFL player in waiting.

I hope the club has the bottle to demand the very best deal for him when the time comes and has a plan in place to fill the eventual Jordan Young shaped hole that will be left.

Don’t fall in love with footballers, it only ends in tears.

I was worried about the back three.

All together now… You hate wing backs, I hate wing backs, we all hate wing backs. We got wing backs and I don’t mind saying it wasn’t half as bad as it could have been – far from it in fact.

Morgan Williams – Mr reliable, versatile, you can hang your hat on him to put in a shift just about anywhere. Duncan Idehen grew into the game brilliantly after a couple of early wobbles, he made some vital interceptions, a couple of big blocks and a couple of crunching tackles, particularly on Paul Mullen… ouch.

Finally, Jake Wannell, in the middle of the three was an absolute colossus. It’s probably fair to say that he might not have played many games of that magnitude before – with the exception of the Taunton FA Cup run of last season (grumble, grumble).

But from Taunton to the Racecourse and not look a second out of place just shows how far he’s come and potentially how far he could go in time.

I don’t think that’s the last of the defensive trio we’ll see this season, but it’s great to know we’ve got players who can do it if we need.

Finally… and I know I’ll get plenty of love for this.

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

We are so much better with Charlie Cooper in the side.

There’s no one that can convince me otherwise. He was tasked with trying to keep tabs on Elliot Lee, who might just be the best player outside the top two divisions, he can probably say that he did alright there. 

They were embroiled in a little sub plot throughout, both got booked, both had to be at their influential best without giving the referee an excuse to wave another card.

At one point in the second half, they quite literally exchanged snarls, just growling at each other… it was quite animalistic, I quite liked it.

He dared to go forward and had two of the Glovers more meaningful shots on goal, he dictated play when the ball broke down on the edge of our own box and stood head and shoulders above the rest in the game from where I was stood.

Cooper is, for my mind, quickly becoming the first name on the team sheet – who drops out, I don’t know, but I don’t want to go into big games without Charlie Cooper – and they don’t come much bigger than Wednesday.

 

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Well, the run has come to an end… it was wonderful while it lasted, but the journey for the Glovers ends in the second round at the hands of Wrexham. Let’s see what else went down this weekend for all the other NLS sides.

We begin with the FA Cup, where there was only one other NLS side remaining in the form of Maidstone. They did what we couldn’t, by defeating League 2 opposition in a major upset! They beat Barrow 2-1 at home to book their spot in the 3rd Round against either Stevenage or Port Vale, both in League 1.

Into the league fixtures now, and there were tons of goals to talk about! Aveley and Farnborough played out a 3-4 barnstormer, with the hosts conceding three times in the final 15 minutes to hand the Yellows their first away win of the season. Another classic took place at the Draper Tools Community Stadium, where Havant & Waterlooville registered their second win of the season, and their second 4-3 win of the season, holding off a late comeback from Dover Athletic to close the gap between the bottom two to 3 points.

Weston-super-mare brought Welling United back down to earth with a thud, as they ran out 4-2 winners, former Glovers Reuben Reid grabbing a brace, while a game full of action at Wednesday’s hosts Bath City ended in Chelmsford City‘s favour. 3 penalties (2 for Bath, 1 for Chelmsford), a red card for Chelmsford and also an own goal in favour of Chelmsford (keeping up?) meant they came from 2-0 down to win 3-2!

Down in Plymouth, Truro City lifted themselves out of the relegation zone with a 3-1 win over St Albans City, while an Ollie Pearce hattrick handed Worthing all 3 points at home to Chippenham Town. In the comparatively dull final fixtures of the day, both Hampton & Richmond and Torquay United registered 2-1 wins to continue their playoff pushes, over Hemel Hempstead and Tonbridge Angels respectively.

There was one postponed fixture due to the chilly weather, and one abandoned mid-game due to bad weather, with Braintree Town and Weymouth not even getting underway, while Eastbourne Borough and Taunton Town was abandoned at the half-time mark, Taunton winning 2-1 at that point. Rearranged dates will be announced in due time.

 

FA Cup 2nd Round results (NLS teams in bold)

Maidstone United 2-1 Barrow

National League South results – in full

Aveley 3-4 Farnborough Town
Bath City 2-3 Chelmsford City
Hampton & Richmond Borough 2-1 Hemel Hempstead Town
Havant & Waterlooville 4-3 Dover Athletic
Torquay United 2-1 Tonbridge Angels
Truro City 3-1 St Albans City
Weston-super-mare 4-2 Welling United
Worthing 3-1 Chippenham Town

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Returning Yeovil Town midfielder Charlie Cooper has said how he is proud of the way the Glovers handled themselves in defeat to Wrexham in the FA Cup.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the game, he reiterated his pride at the way the side fought against a side two divisions above the visitors. – You can listen to the entire interview below.

“It wasn’t an easy one, I think the lads were great today, obviously it’s a tough place to come, a team that are at the top end of League Two and are probably going to get promoted this season – and it wouldn’t surprise me if they go again next season – a tough place to come, but I think we’ve done ourselves proud, we’re just a bit frustrated, fine moments in the game, we haven’t concentrated and that’s let us down, but the overall play and the chances we had, I think we were decent.”

“That’s what they’re all about, they just created loads of pressure and long throws, corners, switching the play, they play with two focal points up front, we just switched off at key moments in the game and went in at 2-0 down, which is a killer really, but I think we came out in the second half really held our own, we played some good stuff and committed a lot of bodies forward, had a few chances but unfortunately they caught us at the end for 3-0. It’s unlucky, but it’s a good performance.

“We definitely had chances, a couple in the first half and then a few in the second half as well, I think if we keep in 0-0 at half time, it’s always going to be interesting, but we didn’t do that and they’ve punished us, like I said, we’re proud of our performance but a little bit frustrated at the same time. 

Speaking to Gloverscast Ben after his chat with Sheridan, Cooper thought his first half chance, which drew a save out of Mark Howard in the Wrexham net was destined for the top corner – as was Jordan Young’s free kick.

“I thought it was in you know, I thought he was going to palm in into his net, but obviously it didn’t go in, it was frustrating, Youngy’s had one off the bar as well, moment’s like that – something goes our way there and it makes it really interesting, but it just didn’t go our way today.

“It’s ridiculous, he (Jordan Young) is a talent to be fair, I don’t even bother trying to get on the free kicks now because it’s either a goal or it’s going close, I see it a lot in training and he’s proved it in games as well, he’s got unbelievable technique and a great left foot, so I leave him to it”

“I thought it was in you know, I thought he was going to palm in into his net… Youngy’s had one off the bar as well”

Cooper was booked early in the first half, with a – ahem – feisty, Elliot Lee snapping at his heels all game, the midfielder had to keep his wits about him, so he did what anyone would do, make friends with the referee.

“I was trying to talk to the ref, we ended up good mates in the end, that’s the way to go now, it’s my first tackle and I got a yellow card so I was a bit frustrated with it, but I just tried to keep disciplined – I need to improve on that”

“Listen, we were never going to win the FA Cup, we’re disappointed that we didn’t get anything today, but the bread and butter is the league and that’s what we have got to do now, we had a little dip, came off that big run that we were on, but I think everyone in there believes we can go on another run like that and create more of a gap at the top of the table”

“The fans were unbelievable, I don’t think they stopped singing all game, they out sung the Wrexham fans, they’re going to back us again on Wednesday, I think they knew today was going to be a tough one, but Wednesday, we owe it to them to put it right and go and get three points”

The full interview with Charlie Cooper can be listened to below

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Glovers boss Mark Cooper has praised his side’s performance despite losing 3-0 to Wrexham in the FA Cup 2nd Round.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins post match, he said that on another day, his side could have been coming away with more.

“I thought we were brilliant, I thought we were absolutely magnificent, I thought we were bang in the game, the goal on half time was a killer for us, it’s a poor header and we didn’t pick the edge of the box, but I thought we played well, honest to god, I thought we were brilliant to a man, I thought we played lovely football, we kept the ball, we created some chances, the keeper has pulled off an unbelievable save in the top corner from Charlie Cooper, it’s right in the top corner, we’ve had chance in the second half, so, it’s just tiny, tiny details that is the difference between the two sides.”

“You know that, when you come here, the ref is not going to do you any favours, he was …. there was some really questionable bits and pieces that went against us.”

The Glovers were pitting their wits against a side flying high in League Two and more than held their own at times, the gaffer said how he and the team had had a positive moment in the changing rooms after the game.

“They’re a top team, let’s get that right, a top team, a top manager, top fans… everything and they scored at good times, but I can’t give our players enough credit, I can’t give our fans enough credit, I thought they were amazing, onwards and upwards for us,

I think they (Wrexham) could play in the Championship, most of them, and have been, so now, we’ve just had a really good moment in there as a group and we’re just really looking forward to the rest of the season now to dream about what we can achieve and we’re really looking forward to Bath on Wednesday”

“I can’t give our players enough credit, I can’t give our fans enough credit, I thought they were amazing”

On the FA Cup run as a whole, Cooper said they have taken on three tough draws and done themselves credit in all of them.

“We had two favourable draws and two tough draws, we’ve beaten two National League teams that are both flying at the top of that league, and we’ve got one of the toughest draws you can probably get and come here and I think we’re unlucky, we’ve given a really good account of themselves.”

All on eyes on Bath now, it’s a big one on Wednesday.

“Like I’ve said we’ve had a really good moment there, we’re really looking forward to it”

So are we, Gaffer!

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Yeovil Town’s FA Cup run came to an end in the Hollywood Hills of North Wales as two first half goals and a late third saw League Two high-fliers Wrexham earn a victory.

The Red Dragons took the lead after 14 minutes when striker Ollie Palmer smashed home after Joe Day had parried his initial header before Andy Cannon fired a second in first half stoppage time.

The second half and the in particular the introduction of strikers Rhys Murphy saw Yeovil come close to narrowing the deficit before a late third from substitute Sam Dalby sealed it.

Here’s how Coatesie saw it from the away end…

 

First half

Glovers’ boss Mark Cooper reverted to five at the back with on loan Bristol City defender Duncan Idehen coming in to defence, as the Glovers tried to match up their opponents, who regularly play five at the back. A brave move given the quality in the Wrexham squad.

The first psychological battle went to the visitors who turned their opponents around to shoot towards their own supporters in the first half. Whether that proves to be worth anything….I’ll come back to you.

The first action of the match as Frank Nouble tussled with Wrexham’s Andy Cannon down the left wing. After both players tried their best to undress each other, Cannon came off the worse of a coming together and spent a period on the floor before making a Lazarus-style recovery to return to the fray.

Wrexham’s threat in the opening exchanges came down the left side with wing-back Jacob Mendy heading over the bar from a James McClean cross after ten minutes.

At the other end, a surge forward by Matt Worthington saw a dangerous ball in to the box was cleared by the home defence.

But the threat from down the left was still there and on 14 minutes the home side were ahead. Elliott Lee spread the ball out wide and a ball in to the box from Cannon found Ollie Palmer whose header was parried by Joe Day, but PALMER was there to hammer home the rebound.

The Red Dragons suffered a setback soon after when defender Aaron Hayden went off injured after 15 minutes. He was replaced by midfielder James Jones with George Evans dropping back in to defence.

Cannon hammered a shot across the face of goal after 20 minutes but no Wrexham player was there to get a vital touch.

Five minutes later, a foray forward from the visitors saw Jordan Young felled on the edge of the box. The referee presumably new it would have been in the territory perfect for his left foot and did not give it.

The first meaningful opening for Yeovil came on the 29th minute following a period of controlled possession (cue calls to “gerrit  forward”) and Michael Smith and Nouble combined down the right for the big striker to lift a shot over.

Seven minutes later a ball broke to the edge of the box and Cooper was there to fire in a shot which Wrexham keeper Mark Howard turned over. It was a great save by the hosts’ stopper as Yeovil started to come in to the game.

 

In the 43rd minute, Young brought the ball in from the right and was felled 25 yards from goal by Lee. The winger proceeded to unleash a tremendous effort which Howard looked to get a touch the ball on to the post.

But, as the game crept in to the second minute of three added on at the end of the first half, Wrexham doubled their lead. A long throw from Ben Tozer (“you were crap for us”, the ex-Glover was reminded by one visiting fan every time he got close enough to hear) was headed away by Duncan Idehen but landed to CANNON who fired through a crowded area and just inside the post. Even in Hollywood there are no television replays, but it looked as if it could have taken a nick off a player on its way past Day. 

Two bits of quality – and the two goals which came from them, of course – were the difference between the two sides at the interval.

Half time: Wrexham 2 Yeovil Town 0

Second half

There were no changes from either side at the break, as Yeovil continued to try and match their opponents’ formation again.

The opening 15 minutes of the second half saw the visitors dominating possession with Wrexham seemingly happy to let us keep it and try and keep us at arm’s length.

On 52 minutes, a Charlie Cooper effort went over from the edge of the box and three minutes later, Young cut in from the right side, beating a couple of defenders, but hit a effort curled wide of goal. If something was going to happen going forward, it feels most likely to come from Young.

On 64 minutes, top scorer Rhys Murphy was brought on in place of Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, joining Nouble up front.

A minute later, Mendy flashed an effort but within five minutes of his arrival Murphy almost halved the advantage. A great book from Young set him loose inside the box and it was only a superb tackle from Evans that denied him.

Moments later, the striker headed down a ball in from Smith towards Morgan Williams but the defender was not quite on the same wavelength. 

Further freshness came off the bench on 75 minutes with ex-Wrexham man Jake Hyde and on loan Exeter City striker Sonny Cox replacing Nouble and Young.

The pressure was all coming from Yeovil, but they almost got caught on the break as a fast attack from Wrexham broke to Mendy in the box but he could not get his shot away.

A great ball from Cooper almost released Murphy inside the box soon after before another fast counter by Wrexham found substitute Sam Dalby on the edge of the box. His effort sailed over the bar with the help of a deflection.

With three minutes of normal time remaining, a surge forwards from Cox fed Hyde whose cross ball over just went too far in front of Murphy as he moved towards goal.

The home side continued to look a threat on the break and added a third four minutes in to stoppage time when DALBY chipped in a third having been played in by McClean.

The scoreline flattered the home side who had more quality where it counted, but the chants of “we are top of the league” from the away supporters at the final whistle give an indication of where the real prize lies this season. Bring on the Bath!

 

Full time: Wrexham 3 Yeovil Town 0

Match Details

Venue: The Racecourse Ground
Date: Sunday December 4, 3.45pm kick-off
Competition: National League South

Pitch: December rain and cold 
Conditions: Mostly green 

Attendance: 9640 (784 away supporters)

Scorers: Ollie Palmer 14 (0-1), Andy Cannon 45+2 (0-2), Sam Dalby 

Bookings: 
Yeovil Town: Cooper 30, Wannell 85
Wrexham: Lee 43,

Referee:

Yeovil Town (5-3-2)

Substitutes: Rhys Murphy (for Lo-Everton, 64), Jake Hyde (for Frank Nouble, 76), Sonny Cox (for Jordan Young, 76), Josh Owers (for Cooper, 87), Will Dawes (for Alex Whittle, 87).

Wrexham (5-3-2): Howard; Mendy, Hayden (Jones 15), Tozer, O’Connor, McClean; Cannon (Young 77), Evans, Lee (Davies 88); Palmer (Dalby 77), Mullin (Bickerstaff 88). Subs not used: McNicholas, Boyle, Hossanah, McAlinden.

 

 

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Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper has reverted back to wing-backs as his side look to spring an FA Cup shock against Wrexham in the competition’s second round today (3.45pm kick-off).

On loan Bristol City defender Duncan Idehen is brought in to a defensive back three alongside Morgan Williams and Jake Wannell with Alex Whittle and Michael Smith at wing-back.

In midfield, Charlie Cooper makes his first start since the end of September whilst Jordan Young is paired alongside Frank Nouble up front.