March 2024 (Page 5)

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Yeovil Town make four changes, as well as a formation change, for their trip away to Slough Town in a bid to end their three game winless run.

There is a debut for new signing Brooklyn Genesini, who slots in at RWB. Jay Foulston slots in at CB, with Jordan Stevens expected to play as a number 10. Another new signing, Jahmari Clarke, is named among the subs. Frank Nouble is the fourth change, as he returns to the starting lineup in place of Olly Thomas, who isn’t involved at all today.

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Reading forward Jahmari Clarke has bolstered Yeovil Town’s attacking options as they prepare for the run-in to the National League South season.

The 20-year-old has joined on loan until the end of the season, according to his parent club, who refer to Yeovil as “the Devonshire club in their announcement” and will be available for today’s visit to Slough Town.

Clarke has had a spell on loan at National League Premier side Boreham Wood this season where he played five times with his last outing coming at the end of January.

Last season, he had a brief spell in League One at Forest Green Rovers, scoring in a 1-1 draw at Morecambe, and prior to that he had a couple of games at Woking, including starting in the Cards’ 1-0 win over Yeovil in November 2022.

He is the second signing in less than 24 hours for Mark Cooper’s side with Yeovil-born right-back Brooklyn Genesini arriving on loan from Swindon Town until the end of the season yesterday.

The Jamaica Under-20s international, who has scored three times in five appearances for the national side, arrives with Yeovil having scored just once in their last four matches and joins Alex Fisher and on-loan Bristol City man Olly Thomas as the out and out striker options for Cooper.

Get at ’em, Jahmari!

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After two losses at home, Mark Cooper’s Glovers travel to Slough Town today. Dave has caught up with the Chair of the Slough Supporters Club, Richard Kendall.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Leave us a review and share the pod with a pal. If you have an idea for the website, want to contribute or just want to send us a message, feel free to email ian@gloverscast.co.uk.

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Yeovil-born full-back Brooklyn Genesini has joined the club on loan from League Two Swindon Town until the end of the season.

With regular right-back Michael Smith expected to be missing for tomorrow’s trip to Slough Town with a hamstring injury, the former AFC Bournemouth academy product has arrived and will be in contention for a starting place in the National League South clash.

The 22-year-old has made nine appearances for Swindon this season with his last outing coming as a substitute in a 3-0 home defeat to Barrow on December 16th.

Asked about potential incomings at his Thursday press conference, Glovers’ boss Mark Cooper said: “I only want a player to come if he is desperate to play for Yeovil, I don’t want someone to come here to do us a favour. I want someone who is desperate to be here and get a promotion on their CV. So, unless it is one of them, we will not bring anyone in. If I find one of them, I will bring him in.”

One assumes therefore that the local lad is one of those desperate to do well for his hometown team.

Gensini’s parent club has confirmed he will be with us until the end of the season and we await further details out of Huish Park.

Having started his career with the Cherries, the 22-year-old spent time on loan at Poole Town in 2021 and at Danish First Division side Næstved in 2022 where he was coached by former Liverpool defender Daniel Agger.

He played just once for Bournemouth, scoring his side’s second goal in a League Cup tie with Norwich City in August 2022, and arrived at Swindon in August 2023. 

We hope you (and we) enjoy your time at Huish Park, Brooklyn!

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Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper has called on his players to out-work their opponents as they look to bounce back from back-to-back defeats when they travel to Slough Town this weekend.

The Glovers turned in below par performances as they went down 1-0 at home to Welling United last weekend and suffered a second half horror show to concede three in a 3-1 defeat to Chippenham Town on Tuesday night.

Speaking like a man who has given his players running stats a good look, the boss made no secret that he was looking for an all-action performance this weekend.

He said: “We have to react now and put a team on the pitch that want to work and want to run. The one thing an opposition can’t stop you doing is running and I think we have maybe got away from that a bit.

“I have to make sure I put a team out that I know are going to run and sprint. Sometimes if you are feeling a bit down on yourself or you are not quite sure about your ability, just run. You can play rubbish and win if you run about, you can’t do that if you don’t run about. If we work harder than the opposition, we can win.

“We can’t not match physically the team we are playing because their levels are going to be so high. They have some good players. I just want to see a hard-working performance.”

He added: “Players have spells of inconsistency but, if you are in one of those spells, run yourself in to the ground. If you do that and you stop the player you are playing against playing well, you have done a job for your team without playing well. I can put up with players being a bit off form, but what I can’t have is our running stats being down from three weeks ago.”

Matt McClure celebrates Chippenham Town’s second goal at Huish Park.

Following the defeat in midweek, Cooper called on the club’s supporters to “come together” behind his players as they prepare for the final eight games of the season. The Glovers still sit nine points clear of second-placed Chelmsford City, who face a tricky home game against play-off chasing Bath City at the weekend, with a game in hand.

On Thursday, he repeated that plea to fans travelling to Berkshire this weekend, saying: “We just have to make sure we stick together and I include the fans in that because they could be the biggest part of it.

“They are part of what we do and we need them to be with us and I know they will be in the next eight games, but on the inside we have lost two games, confidence is fine, we are in good spirits and we look forward to the game in the next game.”

Full-back Michael Smith, who missed the defeat to Chippenham with a hamstring strain sustained in the loss against Welling, is definitely out for the weekend, but Cooper said midfielder Charlie Cooper could be available.

The 26-year-old, who was part of the Forest Green Rovers side which won the National League under his father in 2017, went off after 37 minutes against Chippenham with an ankle injury.

Cooper Senior said: “He is not ruled out for the weekend yet, he has responded quite well to treatment.”

Rhys Murphy has not featured since early January.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The manager said that the team did have “a couple of knocks and bruises” going in to the weekend, but did reveal that striker Rhys Murphy could yet see further action this season. The frontman got 13 goals before suffering an injury in an innocuous incident in the 1-0 win at Taunton Town in early January.

Cooper said: “We are keeping our fingers crossed that,even if it is the last few games, Murph could come back and give us something.”

The boss was asked whether he could look at adding further to his squad for a boost as they prepare for the season run-in, but said there were unlikely to be players available at this stage of the campaign that would appeal to him.

He said: “We gambled on having a smaller squad with more quality and, on the whole that has worked, up until the last few weeks. When you look at injuries to the likes of Murphy, Hyde, Smith injured, they are massive players for us.

“If we could bring a player now that eased that burden and perhaps helped Worthy go back in to midfield where he is best, of course we would do it.

“But is there loads of quality players that teams want to let go at this stage of the season? No. Are there players that are available that want to come down to Yeovil? No. It’s a real difficult market.

“I only want a player to come if he is desperate to play for Yeovil, I don’t want someone to come here to do us a favour. I want someone who is desperate to be here and get a promotion on their CV. So, unless it is one of them, we will not bring anyone in. If I find one of them, I will bring him in.”

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It was a second defeat in a row for Yeovil Town on Tuesday night, as they fell to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Chippenham Town. Let’s see how the rest of the league got on, across the first half of the week of fixtures!

The standard Monday night slot was taken up once again by Aveley, who continued their push for the playoffs with a 2-1 win at home to Tonbridge Angels. Moving on to Tuesday, and we begin in West Sussex, where Worthing were dealt a blow in their title hopes as they were toppled by an impressive Farnborough performance. A Joe Haigh double helped the visitors along the way to a 3-2 win, bumping them up to 11th.

A shock came at Plainmoor, where Torquay United were handily defeated by Taunton Town; perhaps the extra rest from those postponements came in handy (more on that later!) – there were further issues for top-of-the-table sides on Tuesday night, as Chelmsford had a man sent off, and were sent home defeated by Maidstone, meaning all of the top three were defeated on Tuesday night.

There were three more 2-0 wins, all for playoff contenders – Bath City had a man sent off late on, but it didn’t matter as they beat a sinking Hemel Hempstead side, Braintree Town finished off another relegation candidate in Dartford, who were down to 10 men near the end of the game, while St Albans won away at Weston-super-mare, courtesy of a Shaun Jeffers double. In the final game of Tuesday night, Dover Athletic were denied their first win since January, as a late equaliser from former Glover Jack Clarke meant the points were shared with Eastbourne Borough.

There was a Wednesday night fixture to top off the running order, as Havant & Waterlooville came from behind to beat Saturday’s hosts Slough Town in a 2-1 win.

Finally, postponement watch, with our guest stars Truro City and Taunton Town! Truro had their game with W*ymouth called off on Tuesday night, while Taunton were supposed to play tonight (Thursday night as I write this) at home to Weston-super-mare, with the game initially being ruled as ON, before being ruled as OFF.

 

National League South results – in full

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

National League South table

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/national-league-south/table

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Yeovil Town full-back Michael Smith has said he hopes he can stay at Huish Park beyond this season.

The Northern Irishman has become an influential player having joined in September following his departure from Scottish Premier Division side Hearts at the end of last season.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s visit to Slough Town, he confirmed he would be out of Saturday with the hamstring injury which saw him miss the 3-1 defeat at home to Chippenham Town on Tuesday night.

He said: “If all things go well, I would love to be here next season and hopefully playing in the National League. That would be great and that is what the club is striving for and as a club I think we can keep getting better. Who knows where that could take us? Momentum is massive in football. You have seen it before, a team gets promoted and the next year they go again and the next year after that you are in the Football League and cementing yourselves in there, so I am really excited about what could happen here.”

Michael Smith. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

On his time at the club, Smith added: “It’s been enjoyable and it still is enjoyable. We are looking to getting the job done and win the title and that is down to us, we know we have been off it these last few games but we have been brilliant all season. We can’t get away from what we have been doing all year. It is the same messages from the coaching staff, from all the players, we are not going to get too down from losing one or two games, we are still in a really strong position and we are going out this weekend to get the win.

“Fans are entitled to their opinion if we do not go out and put on a show, so I am happy for fans to say whatever they want to say. But for us in the club it is the same messages, the same positivity, as a club we have to be together and it would be nice to go and win the league with club, staff, fans, everyone at the club involved. It’s been fantastic all year and we need to continue that.

On the injury he sustained early in the 1-0 defeat to Welling United last weekend, the 35-year-old, said: “It is still a little bit sore, we don’t really have a timeframe on it yet and we are going off symptoms. I will be out this weekend definitely, but beyond that I am not so sure.”

After the midweek defeat, Glovers’ boss Mark Cooper said he would be leaning on the experienced heads in the Huish Park changing rooms to turn the form around.

Smith added: “Every player is different, some need an arm round them, some need a kick up the butt! That’s what is nice about a changing room, not every player is the same and as a group we are close knit and pulling in the same direction. We have lost two games in a row, it is not the end of the world, we just need to get back to what we were doing and what we are good at which is being solid and I am 100% sure we will start picking up wins again, hopefully starting on Saturday.“

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Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper appealed to disgruntled sections of the club’s support to “come together” and back his players as they look to finish the job at the top of National League South.

The Glovers went down to their second successive defeat with a 3-1 loss at home to Chippenham Town on Tuesday night and the final whistle was met by boos by some sections of Huish Park.

The boss kept his players in the dressing room long after the end of the game and said they would be back in training on Wednesday morning, but said he and his coaching staff would “not slaughter” them for a below par performance.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the game, the boss said: “When times are tough you need the fans. It is easy after a couple of defeats for the fans to nail the players, nail me, and I really don’t get it. It doesn’t matter if you want the ball booted forward or played short or long, if you are the supporter of a team, the word ‘support’ means you support your team in good and bad. If you are going to blast players telling them how crap they are, they are going to play crap.

“I said weeks ago that the supporters are just as important as the players on this run-in. I would appeal to all of them, as much as it hurts some of them to be positive – get behind the boys! They have done great this season and we are still nine points clear with a game in hand.

“If you think where we were last year and where we are now. It is really hard to win a promotion and a title, so we need the fans as much as possible. Please just back the players home and away. Just get behind them.”

Having taken the lead at the end of the first half through a superb Alex Fisher header, Yeovil were pegged back by Aaron Amadi-Holloway before a quickfire double by Matt McClure and then substitute Craig Fasanmade completed the win for the visitors.

Cooper called on the experienced players in his squad to pull together after admitting the side’s “flair players” were “not taking enough care in the final third.”

He added: “We still have Joe Day, Jake Wannell, Morgan Williams, Alex Whittle, Matt Worthington, Frank Nouble, Alex Fisher, we have lots of experience on the pitch. They are the ones that will get us through and they are the ones that have got to get together now. The only pressure comes from the players themselves and there is only two players in the changing rooms which have won a promotion and to change that and be a winner you need to get over the line. So we need those experienced boys to step up and drive the team home.”

Midfielder Charlie Cooper came off after 37 minutes after twisting his ankle and he had to be replaced by Josh Owers. The boss added: “He’s experienced, he has a promotion on his CV and he knows where to be on the pitch and he left a bit of a hole in there. He just tweaked his ankle ligament and hopefully we can get him back as quick as possible.”

The Glovers travel to Slough Town, who are unbeaten in their last six National League South game as they prepare to travel to Havant & Waterlooville on Wednesday night.

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Chippenham made it four points from a possible six against Yeovil this season, as they inflicted a double dose of home defeat on the Glovers. An uninspiring performance was witnessed by Tom, who has given us his Five Conclusions…

Alex Fisher celebrates his goal against Farnborough.

Classy from Fisher! There were some pretty dour performances out there tonight, but one player that did impress me was Alex Fisher. His header was taken expertly, meeting Olly Thomas’ wonderful cross to give Yeovil the lead. I think his determination alone earned him my Man of the Match (and the sponsor’s Man of the Match as well). His work rate, and success in aerial duels across his 90 minutes were great to see, and I think he’ll continue to play a part in Yeovil’s run-in. Credit must also go to Sonny-Blu Lo-Everton, and Alex Whittle, who also put in solid performances.

Credit to Chippenham. As much as Yeovil clearly weren’t up to the races tonight, credit to Chippenham for executing their gameplan to a tee. I spoke to Steve Rutter before the game, and he said we had to be careful of a potential banana skin here, as their away form, particularly against better teams, has been impressive this season – and we saw exactly that. Calm in defence, with Fisher’s goal the only real lapse in performance for the visitors, three well taken goals to give them three well earned points.

Jordan Young. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

It’s time to discuss Jordan Young. He started the season quietly, before setting fire following his opening goal against Tonbridge Angels, but since his contract extension at the start of 2024, I’ll be honest and say I’ve seen nothing from our number 11 at all. Tonight was no different, as we saw Young either trying too much at once and being dispossessed, or being pushed out of the game. I don’t know where the Jordan Young of 2023 has gone, but I’d desperately like him back for the end of the season please!

Some positives… It’s easy to be negative after a loss, but there were some positives to take from tonight. Josh Owers gave a good account of himself when he replaced the injured Charlie Cooper, that pairing with Sonny-Blu gave us a little bit of both defensive stability, and a little bit going forward with our special number 16. We looked a bit more fluid in the second half compared to the first, before the goals took the wind out of our sails, and the ideas were there from Nouble and Stevens, nothing was coming off for us though. It’s not all doom and gloom yet!

However… we got away with it tonight. Yes, I’ve listed off the positives above, but these are games we need to be clinching, and widening the gap at the top. We have got seriously lucky tonight, with Chelmsford and Worthing both losing too, there’s no need to panic but we have got to be careful that this doesn’t set a precedent for the end of the season. Up the Yeo!