March 2024 (Page 7)

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News, Loan Watch

Another round of fixtures come and go, and whilst there might not be much to shout about from Huish Park, elsewhere Glovers were in action, and for the most part having some more success.

Firstly, looking upwards, Jordan Maguire-Drew couldn’t play for Barnet on Saturday as they were in FA Trophy action and he is cup tied, but he did manage to get on for the final two minutes (plus added on time) in the Bees’ midweek fixture.

In to the National League South and Malachi Linton was on the score sheet TWICE for… well, you know, them… as they won 2-0 away at Aveley. Excellent work Mal.

The brace comes after being named their Player of the Month for February,

 

Goalkeeper Will Buse was back on Bath City’s bench for their defeat to Farnborough, he didn’t make an appearance from the bench, but it does clarify that he is still on loan at the Romans at least following a spell on the sidelines.

Melksham Town were 1-0 winners over ten man Bishop Cleeve, Benjani Junior started the game and was taken off right at the end as his side looked to hold on to their lead.

He also played, and scored, in their 1-1 draw with Tavistock in midweek, good work, Benji.

 

Dorchester Town won 2-1 over Beaconsfield Town – Ollie Haste put in a solid display for the full 90 minutes in the Magpies’ defence.

Down to Shepton where Charlie Bateson opened the scoring for the Mallet in their 3-1 win over St Blazey. He didn’t quite see the full game out, but was taken off towards the end.

 

Bateson Celebrates
📷 Dean Halliwell

Welton Rovers changed their manager in the week, but the incoming boss still gave Jacob Shore and Max Dyer a go from the start against a strong Bridgwater United side.

Bridgwater won 2-0, Mason Alden was also used from the bench.

Over at Gillingham, they won 1-0 away at Shirehampton, plenty of young Glovers in their squad; Harrison Foster provided the assist for the goal, with Josh Haskett and Jack Bareham both starting alongside him, Harry Lock was also involved from the bench.

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

Pictures courtesy of Gary Brown. Please ask for permission before using.

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

Captain Matt Worthington apologised to supporters after a poor performance saw Yeovil Town’s unbeaten home record ended by a 1-0 defeat to Welling United at Huish Park.

The midfielder admitted the side never got going following the loss of influential full-back Michael Smith after just 16 minutes.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Tom Seymour after the game, he said: “We are really disappointed. We were not good enough today. We did not click and did not look like scoring, I think we had a couple of chances in the first half, but in the last few games we have not taken those chances when they have come.

“If we are not playing great, you have to take those chances to get anything out of the game. I think it is just not going our way, we are working hard on it in training. We will look to work on the training ground and turn it around and look to create the chances we missed and score them in the next game.”

Smith was replaced by Jay Foulston with the Glovers initially switching to a back five before reverting back to a back four just a few minutes later with the left-footed Foulston playing at right-back.

After the defeat, manager Mark Cooper confirmed the Northern Irishman, who has been suffering with a hamstring injury since the 1-1 draw at St Albans City at the end of January, was a doubt for the visit of Chippenham Town to Huish Park on Tuesday night.

On the loss of Smith, Worthington added: “He is such a big personality and such a good player for us. Obviously Jay (Foulston) had to come in and he is left footed, playing on the right, so it was going to be difficult for him. It took us too long to get to grips with it, so it is a disappointing day but we have a chance to put it right on Tuesday.”

Matt Worthington.
Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

With third-placed Worthing going down to a shock 3-1 defeat at home to Taunton Town, Yeovil’s lead at the top of National League South remains 12 points. Second-placed Chelmsford City take on Truro City at their temporary ‘home’ in Gloucester this evening.

Worthington added: “Worthing dropped points tonight, but ultimately we have to regroup, look on Monday at what went wrong. We have been very honest with each other all season. It was tough and I apologise on behalf of the whole group for the performance which was not good enough, but we have been very good all season. It is just one game and we will do everything we can to put it right on Tuesday.”

One small silver lining to the cloud of defeat was that both Worthington and Charlie Cooper got through the game without incurring the censure of card-happy referee Craig Scriven. That means both players avoided a two-match ban which would have come with a booking which would have been their tenth of the season.

The captain added: “It was difficult, but thankfully Charlie and I both got through it. It was difficult because there are challenges out there that you could go and win and put a bit more pressure on the opposition, but it is always in the back of your mind that if you slip up or catch them you will be missing for two games. At this point of the season, nobody wants to do that.“

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper said his side will “dust themselves down” after suffering their first home defeat of the National League South season with a 1-0 loss against Welling United on Saturday.

A second half strike from Anthony Grant saw the visitors completed a double over the table-topping Glovers who never got in to gear following the loss of influential full-back Michael Smith after just 16 minutes at Huish Park. Cooper confirmed the Northern Irishman will be “a doubt” for Tuesday night’s home game with Chippenham Town.

Going forwards, they never looked like adding to the 67 goals they have scored in their 35 league games this season and it was only when on-loan striker Olly Thomas came on after 75 minutes that there was any spark going forwards.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Tom Seymour after the game, Cooper said: “The goals have dried up a bit at the minute and we have got to solve that problem. I thought we had a few good final actions in the first 15 minutes and then we had a right wobble when Michael Smith comes off. We had to put a left-footed player on at right-back and it made us a bit stodgy and we could not really get going until Olly Thomas came on. We have to dust ourselves down, lick our wounds and move on to (the home game with Chippenham Town on) Tuesday.”

Charlie Cooper.
Picture courtesy of Gary Brown

It was an error from midfielder Charlie Cooper which gifted Grant the chance to fire a well-struck shot past Joe Day for the winner. The manager added: “We got caught in between trying to play going long and sticking to what we do. It is a long pass in to Charlie, Charlie makes an error and I thought the guy finishes it really well. They didn’t have lots and lots of chances, it was just a stale game. It was for us as the home team to take the initiative and we didn’t do that. But we have to move on, dust ourselves down and move on.

“It is disappointing to lose any game, but the boys have been magnificent. We have just got to hold our nerve and bounce back. I think the next game coming Tuesday will do us good. We can get back out there on Monday and train and prepare for Tuesday.”

Yeovil have drawn a blank in front of goal in three of their last four games and Cooper admitted the absence of strikers Rhys Murphy and Jake Hyde was having an impact.

He said: “We lost Murphy, Hyde, Fisher has just come back, but we have Olly Thomas back with us now. It is just one of those spells, but the boys are doing great and training hard. We just have to try and create more chances for them. We have not played as much football as I would have liked, we have gone away from that and gone a bit longer and it might be something we have to look at.”

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

Yeovil Town’s unbeaten home record this season came to an end as Welling United completed the double over the National League South leaders at Huish Park this afternoon.

The moment that mattered came after 72 minutes when Charlie Cooper’s loose pass was seized upon by Anthony Grant who lashed an effort past Joe Day in front of a stunned Thatcher’s End.

In the first half, Yeovil lost influential full-back Michael Smith after just 16 minutes to what appeared to be a hamstring injury. He was replaced by Jay Foulston but from that point on it seemed to derail any rhythm – which continued for much of the match.

First half

The visitors struck the first blow by winning the toss and making Yeovil attack the Thatcher’s End in the first half, but it almost backfired after just two minutes. Jordan Young’s corner was met by the head of Morgan Williams but his effort went the wrong side of the crossbar.

Seven minutes later, another corner this time found the head of Frank Nouble who had acres of space, but his effort went wide. If those opening exchanges are anything to go by, set pieces could be a point to exploit the weaknesses of Welling. We’ll see.

There was an early change forced on Yeovil after just 16 minutes when Michael Smith went down holding a hamstring and, rather than risk the Northern Irishman who missed the goalless draw with Aveley on Monday night, he was replaced by Jay Foulston.

That meant a change of formation with Foulston making up a back three with Morgan Williams and Jake Wannell, whilst Sam Pearson moved in to a right wing-back position. Up front Sonny Blu Lo-Everton was in behind a front two of Nouble and Young.

Whilst the Glovers reorganised, Welling had their first chance on 18 minutes. It was one which came from nothing as Reece Grant fed Jason Adigun who took his chance early and scooped it over the crossbar. It looked like a decent opening with keeper Joe Day off his line.

But, after a couple of uncomfortable looking minutes, manager Mark Cooper had clearly seen enough of a back five. Foulston switched to right back with Pearson returning to a more forward position. Foulston is not a natural right back, but with Will Dawes, who stood in for Smith at Aveley, not among the substitutes, options were limited.

Welling definitely spotted the impact of losing Smith to their hosts and on 26 minutes Adigun found himself in a good position inside the box, but chose to lay it off to Reece Grant whose shot was well saved by Day. Yeovil were struggling to find their rhythm and their visitors are enjoying a lot of possession.

The tinkering continued with Nouble moving in to a more central position as Lo-Everton moved out to the left side and the striker had a shot straight down the throat of Reice Charles-Cook in the Welling goal just after the half-hour mark.

Yeovil’s best chance came on 40 minutes when a nice move from the right side saw Sam Pearson lay it off to Lo-Everton on the edge of the box and the midfielder tried to curl it rather than drill it and Charles-Cook did well to turn it around the post for a corner.

But that was about as good as it got for Yeovil. After a bright start, the injury to Smith has derailed a bright start from the hosts and given Welling an opportunity to grow back in to the game which, in fairness to them, they have done well.

Half time: Yeovil Town 0 Welling United 0


Second half

The first action of the second half saw Jake Wannell beaten by the pace of Reece Grant and his defensive team-mate Williams was left with little option other than to commit the foul. Yellow card from referee Craig Scriven. Having totalled 60 yellow cards and three reds in his first 11 matches, it’s fair to say the man in black is doing his best to keep his averages up in his 12th.

There were a couple of half chances for Yeovil, attacking the empty away end after the interval, with Charlie Cooper having one blocked before Charles-Cook got in fractionally ahead of Nouble soon after before Worthington fired one wide. It’s definitely not been a comfortable one for the Glovers.

Frank Nouble fires in a shot.
Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

On 58 minutes, Young got a pass through to Pearson who tried to cut inside and get a shot in rather than take it first time and it was blocked by the face of Riccardo Di Trolio. Ouch.

That familiar patient, controlled style of play was met by the usual cries of “forward” from the stands of Huish Park. Not a lot of options going forward though. On 63 minutes, Cooper tried to up the options with Jordan Stevens replacing Lo-Everton.

But it was Day who was the keeper in action on 66 minutes. A quick throw-in fell to visiting midfielder Anthony Papadopoulos and Day got down well to make a comfortable save before Reece Grant fired an effort from distance over the bar and in to the Thatcher’s End. More worrying than that shot, the Welling midfield ghosted past Cooper with apparent ease on their way to the chance.

It was a mistake by Cooper which gifted Welling the goal after 72 minutes. Just inside the 18 yard box, a sloppy pass from the midfielder gifted Anthony GRANT the opportunity to smash a  beautiful left-footed shot in to the top corner. We have got away with a lot of misplaced passes this afternoon and it finally caught up with us.

Mark Cooper’s response was to introduce on-loan Bristol City striker Olly Thomas in place of Jordan Young on 76 minutes. The teenager went straight down the middle flanked by Nouble and Pearson.

Olly Thomas shoots at goal.
Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Thomas almost made an instant impact when he drove powerfully towards goal and unleashed a shot which the referee adjudged got a touch from Charles-Cook. The resulting corner came to nothing.

Having got themselves in front, Welling showed every bit of gamesmanship to both slow the game down and frustrate their opponents and, in fairness to them, they did it perfectly.

As the game edged in to injury time, Pearson nodded the ball down to Thomas who got a clean strike but it was superbly blocked by Di Trolio and took a nick off Alex Whittle on its way out. No goal, no corner. Ugh.

Day even joined the efforts for a number of late balls in to the box, but not even his presence could force an equaliser and the unbeaten home run is over.

Full time: Yeovil Town 0 Welling United 1

Match Details

Venue: Huish Park
Date: Saturday 9th March

Competition: National League South

Pitch: Looking good and holding up well
Conditions: Chilly and overcast

Attendance: 3,285 (90 away supporters)

Scorers: Anthony Grant 72 (0-1)

Bookings:

Yeovil Town: Morgan Williams 46, Olly Thomas 89
Welling United: Joe Ellul 38, Ricardo Di Trolio 45+1, Reece Grant 51, Anthony Grant 89, Sonny Fish 90+5, Crossley Lema 90+6

Referee: Craig Scriven

Yeovil Town (4-2-3-1)

 

Substitutes: Jay Foulston (for Michael Smith, 16), Jordan Stevens (for Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, 63), Olly Thomas (for Jordan Young, 75), Josh Owers (not used), Alex Fisher (not used).

Welling United: Reice Charles-Cook, Cameron Green, Joe Elull, Anthony Grant, Reece Grant (for Sonny Fish, 87), Chiori Johnson (for Crossley Lema, 76) , Antony Papadopoulos, Riccardo Di Trolio, Jason Adigun, Gene Kennedy, Lachlan Bird. 
Substitutes (not used):  Osman Foyo, Jack Burchell, Luke Holness.

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper said he has restored his starting line-up to full strength for today’s National League South encounter with Welling United.

The boss has brought full-back Michael Smith, midfielders Charlie Cooper and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton and strikers Frank Nouble and Sam Pearson back in to the XI from the draw with Aveley on Monday night.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Tom Seymour ahead of the game, the boss said: “We changed five of the outfield on Monday night which was a bit of a gamble because we had a number of players which were running on empty and recovering from injury, so we changed five there and we have put most of those back in today.

“It is 4-3-3 with a really exciting, mobile, fast attacking front three, there are loads of legs and plenty of creativity in midfield. So a strong line-up, I think.”

Jordan Young celebrates his opener after 16 minutes at Welling United, but the Glovers went down 4-1 in November.

Welling, who beat the Glovers 4-1 in the reverse fixture back in November, arrive off the back of a 1-0 defeat to Farnborough in midweek, but that was the Wings’ first league defeat since the end of January following the arrival of manager Rod Stringer.

Cooper said: “They are on a really good run, they have only lost one of their last nine, so we are expecting a tough game. They turned us over at Welling and deservedly so, but it is just another game where we want to try and get points and get towards where we need to be, so that is all we can look at.”

With their nearest rivals second-placed Chelmsford City and third-placed Worthing in action against struggling Truro City and Taunton Town respectively, the Glovers will be looking to extend their unbeaten home record at Huish Park.

The manager added: “We enjoy playing at home and we have performed really well at home all season, but it makes other teams that we are playing even more determined to beat us, so we have to be on our guard. The reason we always hail our players is the fact that every week they have to deal with those teams who come to Huish Park with ‘a free hit’ and no pressure on them. 

“We just look at each game in isolation and after it we look at what we need to do for the next one. We have to be as boring and as simple as that. The players focus on the game and what they have to do to win the game, we do not look at too much else.“

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

Yeovil Town have made five changes from the goalless draw at Aveley on Monday night as they prepare to take on Welling United at Huish Park today (3pm kick-off).

In defence, Michael Smith replaces Will Dawes with Charlie Cooper and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton returning in midfield in place of Josh Owers and Jordan Stevens.

Up top, Frank Nouble and Sam Pearson come in for Dylan Morgan and Alex Fisher, and Bristol City loan striker Olly Thomas is named amongst the substitutes.

By:
On:
In: Foot In The Opposition Camp, Latest Yeovil Town News, Podcasts

We’re back home today, and Welling United are the visitors. Ian caught up with Nigel Jones from Radio Wings about today’s opponents.

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.

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

 

Yeovil Town Team News

The Glovers are back at Huish Park for a double header of home games following two tough, but profitable away games.

Yeovil remain unbeaten on home soil this season and strugglers Welling will put that record to the test with just one defeat in their last nine games.

Yeovil are looking to extend a six match winning streak at Huish Park with the 2-1 win over Weston-super-Mare back on Tuesday 20th February the last win, on the green, green grass of home.

There isn’t much in the way of new team news from HP, other than Olly Thomas is back with the club to continue his second loan spell, he was injured playing for Bristol City’s Under 23s and has been sidelined for a few weeks whilst recovering back at Ashton Gate.

The other 16 or so players are all deemed to be ‘fresh’ after their quick fire double over the course of last weekend. 

A point of note, this match is the final game where a 10th yellow card would equal a two-match ban, both Charlie Cooper and Matt Worthington are treading the tightrope and “have been told’ by Mark Cooper to keep themselves out of trouble with the officials. 

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

Welling Team News

Welling sit just outside the relegation spots at the bottom of the NLS, three points ahead of Taunton, although the peacocks do have five(!) games in hand on the wings.

Don’t let their league position fool you though, prior to losing against Farnborough in midweek, they hadn’t been beaten in eight league games and dragged them out of the dreaded bottom four.

Welling have just two wins away from home this season and the second worst defensive record on the road, conceding 37 goals in 17 games.

Welling boss described their midweek match against Farnborough as a ‘more winnable game’ than the Saturday trip to Huish Park (they lost), he also confirmed that the visiting squad will be staying over in Somerset on Friday night.

“We’ll come up against something slightly different [than Farnborough] on Saturday… the boys will work hard and get themselves ready, we’ll train on Friday morning and get on the coach and go down, the club has been good enough to put us up and give us every chance to get something out of Saturday…”

Tristan Abrahams has seven goals for the Wings so far this season, but the former Yeovil man hasn’t been involved for the side since early February and has since moved on to pastures new, they do though still have another former YTFC employee in their ranks, Chiori Johnson who made a long awaited return to the match day squad in midweek.

Chiori Johnson. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

We’ve met before

Sorry to remind you, but yes, we did get an absolute tanking at the hands of Welling back in November.

Former Glover, Tristan Abrahams scored three times in 13 crazy second half minutes as the Wings won 4-1, Jordan Young with the opener on the day.

 

Back in 2019, the two sides met in the FA Trophy at Huish Park, with goals from Courtney Duffus and Chris Dagnall seeing the Glovers progress to the final 16.

 

Around the Grounds

Here’s where the other games are taking place around the NLS for the promotion contender.

Second pace Chelmsford, head to Gloucester (rather than Taunton or Plymouth) to take on Truro in the 7:30pm kick off, Worthing host Taunton, fourth placed Braintree host Slough Town, Hampton and Richmond take on the Glovers’ next opponents Chippenham, Maidstone v St Albans is a potential cracker in the race for a play off spot and Bath City are at home to Farnborough.

It’s also Aveley vs W*ymouth, where I think we’d like them both to lose…