April 2024 (Page 2)

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A final day to remember for Yeovil fans, as a 3-1 win away in Dover meant the Glovers finished on 95 points, their highest points tally since the infamous 2002-03 season! Let’s see how the rest of the league got on in their final day clashes, with the final playoff spot up for grabs!

One team that came out poorly in that playoff clash was Hampton & Richmond Borough. They started the day inside the playoff spots, but a thumping 5-1 defeat away at an already-confirmed playoff side, Maidstone, meant they would have to wait another year to compete for a spot in the National League. Another team that were already confirmed for the playoffs were Worthing, who booked their spot in the playoff semi-finals with a 4-2 win at home to Weston-super-mare, ending their regular season on 104 goals.

Two more fixtures involving playoff sides, with one coming on the south coast – W*ymouth had their final day of the season spoiled by playoff-chasing Farnborough, who found themselves down to 10-men shortly after half-time, but that wouldn’t stop them from coming from behind to win 2-1. Ultimately, their win wasn’t enough, as Aveley defeated Bath City in front of a club-record crowd to confirm their place in the post-season. A 2-3 classic was played out at Braintree Town, who were defeated by 9-man Eastbourne Borough with a 91st minute winner by Imran Uche, while the final playoff side to feature saw Chelmsford City and Chippenham Town play out a 1-1 draw.

Torquay United celebrated their survival with a stonking 5-0 win over relegated side Havant & Waterlooville, with Austen Booth’s 35 yard screamer helping cap off a turbulent season for the Gulls. Tonbridge Angels and St Albans City played out a 2-2 draw to close out their seasons, while Truro’s busy end to the season finished with a 2-1 defeat away to Dartford. It was a good end to the season, including the preservation of their fantastic home form, for Slough Town, as they drew 1-1 with a resurgent Welling United, and in the final game of the season, and what proved to be Rob Dray’s final game as Taunton Town manager, they drew 0-0 with Hemel Hempstead in Bobby Wilkinson’s first game in charge.

 

National League South results – in full

Aveley 2-0 Bath City
Braintree Town 2-3 Eastbourne Borough
Chippenham Town 1-1 Chelmsford City
Dartford 2-1 Truro City
Maidstone United 5-1 Hampton & Richmond Borough
Slough Town 1-1 Welling United
Taunton Town 0-0 Hemel Hempstead Town
Tonbridge Angels 2-2 St Albans City
Torquay United 5-0 Havant & Waterlooville
W*ymouth 1-2 Farnborough
Worthing 4-2 Weston-super-mare

National League South table (look at that gold!)

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The Yeovil Town first team might be on the first flight out of Gatwick bound for Barcelona, but there are still some Glovers still with games to play.

In the National League – Jordan Maguire-Drew wasn’t involved in Barnet’s final league game, they beat relegated Kidderminster 4-1. They get their play-off campaign underway this coming week.

As do Bath City, they along with Will Buse will head to Braintree on Tuesday after finishing the regular season in 6th after a final day defeat to Aveley.

 

Dorchester had a double header of a week, beating Tiverton on Tuesday 2-0 (say that three times fast!) and then falling to defeat in their final away day of the season against Basingstoke.
Ollie Haste played in both, the latter result ended a wonderful run of results and ended their fairly slim chances of extending their season into the play offs.

Melksham lost 3-0 to Bristol Manor Farm on Saturday, Benjani was on the bench, information is light as to if he came on or not.

Shepton Mallet pulled off a wonderful 2-0 win over Falmouth on Saturday, the only team to beat the 2nd placed side home and away.

Charlie Bateson started and played an hour before coming off, he also played… and scored in midweek, in a 2-1 defeat.

There are few busier teams than Gillingham at the moment, a number of games last week and three more this week;

They lost 2-1 to Wincanton, drew 1-1 with AEK Bocko and were beaten comfortably by league winners Portishead with only 10men.

The numerous young Glovers; Harry Lock, Harrison Foster, Jack Bareham and Josh Haskett were involved throughout, with Lock scoring in the Wincanton game.

Welton Rovers got their first win since October with a 3-2 victory over Millbrook, Max Dyer, Jacob Shore and Mason Alden all playing in the game and getting a much deserved result.

 

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It was a dead rubber as the National League South’s bottom side, Dover Athletic, hosted the champions, that’s Yeovil Town, if you didn’t know! And the Glovers signed off the season in style with a 3-1 win at Crabble.

Dave was there to bring the curtain down on the campaign.

Farewell National League South: That’s all, folks! The National League South season is done and we wrapped it up nicely with a bow on it. For a game that meant nothing in terms of league positions to either side it was competitive in flashes with long periods of passing practice in between those flashes for the visiting champions. All respect to Dover, they have a lovely set-up at Crabble (no ‘the’ remember?) and I have no doubt they will be back up the pyramid again soon.

Picture courtesy of Gary Brown

Dylan Morgan could be a gem: If there’s one thing you can draw from yesterday it was that there could be a very handy player growing in Dylan Morgan. Yes, he was playing against a team which had been relegated three weeks previous, but the precision with which he finished his chances yesterday show he could be quite a goal-scoring midfield player. In the same way Jake Wannell has gone from a shaky start to life at Yeovil to a defensive colossus (he’s the Somerset Cannavaro), with the right coaching and no doubt a bit of luck, Morgan could do the same.

Was that goodbye from a few?: It was good to see some players we have not seen much of lately getting a good run out. Josh Owers got the full match, Jake Hyde got half-an-hour and both looked like they were enjoying being out there again. As we discussed on the last podcast, there was a definite feeling that this could have been farewell from a few. Alex Fisher’s wave to the travelling fans looked like goodbye. If I’m not just reading too much in to that, the man will bow out as a true hero – got us over the line and a thoroughly good chap.

This is how I always want to remember Alex Fisher.

An important summer: As Mark Cooper says, now it’s time to see what we are really made of. On the face of it the National League Premier is wide open, as he describes it, but every club in it will be thinking the same thing. What we decide to do this summer will be important, we’ve had a undoubtedly impressive budget on the playing side this season, and that will probably equate to something more middling at a higher level. You get the sense Cooper knows what he wants to do and it’s really down to the economic realities, but I am hopeful we can be competitive next season.

The Crabble burger was everything I remember: Now we are on to the real important stuff, but the Crabble burger was everything I remember it being. And at £4.80, it was a bargain as well. Maybe it could have done with the cheese slices melting for a little longer – but I’ll take it. If you got one, I trust you enjoyed it too.

The Crabble Burger

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Yeovil Town’s two-goal hero Dylan Morgan has spoken to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins about the part he played in Yeovil’s 3-1 win over Dover.

“We started really well, the boys came out like a house on fire, I am buzzing to get two goals, it’s two great assists from Sam and Fish, I was really, really trying to get the third, but we had to control the game, so it wasn’t the day for that overall, I’m just buzzing for the boys, it’s been a great season.

Another unbelievable turn out from our fans, so, overall a great day.

The gaffer always talks about pull backs, so every time the ball goes out wide, I know where to be and the boys know where the players are, so as long as I get myself in those areas, I’ll score goals, I always back myself in front of goal, so I’ve just got to get myself in those areas.”

“I am buzzing to get two goals, I was really, really trying to get the third!”

With the game having not a lot riding on it, Morgan spoke about how he himself and the club as a whole attacked the game.

“All the players have got personal pride, we want to win all the time, if it was a thumb war, or a football match, everyone wants to win, we’e a team full of winners and that what you need if you want to achieve in football.”

Dylan Morgan gets past his man
📸 Gary Brown

The former Taunton winger also spoke about how his team mates have helped him settle in to a new club and settle back into a Full Time schedule after moving to Huish Park.

“For me, it’s been massive, coming in half way through the season, I was a bit nervous, the boys got me on board with the program straight away, they got their arm around me, I thank them all for that, to help me find my feet here.

It’s been brilliant, I’ve worked so hard to try and get back and try and take the opportunity, I’m forever thankful to Yeovil and the gaffer to give me the opportunity to come back, now it’s up to me to make it work it again.

I’ve only been here four or five months, so there’s loads to learn, and with a manager like that I can push on and push on, I’m happy to pick up some form, and hopefully I can come back next season and start really well.”

With a title in the bag and a flight to Barcelona waiting for Morgan and some of the squad, the winger simply left his final thoughts with the fans.

“I’m buzzing for the fans, they can see this club succeed again, it’s been a rough couple years, they can enjoy this more than anyone, to see Yeovil back doing well.”

 

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Mark Cooper spoke to Sheridan Robins after the Glovers wrapped up a Championship winning season with a 3-1 win over Dover and the gaffer was pleased with the way his side went about the ‘dead rubber’ fixture.

“To say there was nothing on the game, I thought we gave it total respect, I thought we played some brilliant football and dominated the game, but when it’s 3-0 it difficult to keep it going, isn’t it?

I was really pleased with the ruthlessness of the team”

Cooper was being serenaded by Glovers’ fans as the chat went on and he had a special word for the Yeovil Town following.

“It’s been an amazing following today, to say that we’ve already won the league and it’s so far, they’ve followed us throughout the league, they’ve followed us through thick and thin this year – well, there hasn’t been much thin – it’s been quite a lot of thick, but we’ve given them lots to shout about and they’ve got right behind us.”

Yeovil Town’s two-goal hero Dylan Morgan came in for praise, not just for his goals, but also for making the transition from Part Time, back to Full Time football.

“Dylan has come from Taunton, part time, it took him a while to get accustomed, I still think he’ll be better after a pre-season, the one thing about Dylan is that he’s desperate to be a footballer, he trains his socks off every day and that so valuable for us.”

Picture Courtesy of Gary Brown

Cooper spoke of the mentality of his team, who were visibly disappointed to concede late on, despite the match (and season) being wrapped up long before and how the team and the club as a whole can benefit from what he calls a ‘winning mentality’.

“You have to, you can’t turn it on and off, you have to have that ruthlessness, that needs to run throughout the club and we showed that today.

It’s been really enjoyable, we’ve given everybody a lift, we’ve given them some good times, there was no need for us to be in this league, we said that at the time, but lessons need to be learned from that”

“…we have the momentum and we have to not waste that”

With a big summer on the way, Cooper suggests he now gets down to work on moulding a team to take on the National League.

“I think [this summer] is really important, we have to make a decision, are we going to kick on? Are we going to attack a wide open National League Premier next year? are we going to consolidate, or something we don’t want to think about?

But, that will depend on what kind of budget we set, which will determine which way we go.

I think momentum is massive and we have the momentum and we have to not waste that, I think the best time for us to compete is next year, to really push and have a crack it.”

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A first half double from Dylan Morgan sealed a comfortable win for Yeovil Town in the top-versus-bottom clash at Dover Athletic on the final game of the National League South season.

The midfielder netted two almost identical goals in the 16th and 29th minute before a calamitous own goal from Dover keeper Matt Rowley made it 3-0 early in the second half.

There were minutes for both striker Jake Hyde and midfielder Will Dawes, who appeared off the bench after long injury lay-offs, before Luke Baptiste pulled a late consolation goal back for the already relegated home side.

First half

The opening 15 minutes was something of an non-event with the possible exception of an effort from Luke Baptiste in to the the gloves of Joe Day and a Sam Pearson header wide.

But, with 16 minutes gone it was Pearson’s cut back which found Dylan MORGAN who smashed the home side in front.

The 13 minutes which followed could probably be best described as passing practice up until the 29th minute when Alex Fisher cut in from the right, fed the ball through to Dylan MORGAN who doubled his tally with a carbon copy of the first goal.

After that, Pearson warmed the palms of Matt Rowley in the Dover goal after 37 minutes, before George Nikaj hammered a half-decent opportunity over the bar three minutes later for the home side.

But, aside from that, if you had told me this was a pre-season friendly, I would not have argued. 2-0 up in a non-event.

The Crabble Burger

Half time: Dover Athletic 0 Yeovil Town 2

 

Second half

With five minutes of the second half gone, Jordan Young did what Jordan Young does. Weaved in to the box with great trickery, but then took one touch too many and played the ball back to Rowley.

Rowley repaid his gratitude on 54 minutes when Jay Foulston’s corner saw the keeper pat the ball in to his own net. As own goals go that was as clear an OWN GOAL as you can get – sorry Jay.

Dover keeper Matt Rowley has had a nightmare there.

On 57 minutes, a nice moment as Jake Hyde, not seen since the end of 2023, replaced Alex Fisher, who received a warm round of applause himself.

Just after the hour mark Pearson forced a smart stop out of Rowley before Charlie Cooper and Will Dawes replaced Pearson and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton.

In the away end, it was nothing but a celebration of the end of the most successful season in more than a decade for the club. Even a late consolation goal for BAPTISTE in the final minute of the game could not dampen that spirit.

Champions again, champions again, champions again ole oleeeeeee!

Full time: Dover Athletic 1 Yeovil Town 3

Match Details

Venue: Crabble
Date: Saturday 20th April, 3pm

Competition: National League South

Pitch: Sloped in every which way imaginable, but not in bad nick for the final game of the season.
Conditions: A lovely Spring day

Attendance: 

Scorers: Dylan Morgan 16 (1-0), Dylan Morgan 29 (2-0), Matt Rowley o.g. 54 (3-0), Luke Baptiste 90 (3-1).

Bookings:
Yeovil Town: None
Dover Athletic: None

Referee: Charles Martland 

 

Yeovil Town (4-2-3-1)

Substitutes: Jake Hyde (for Alex Fisher, 57), Will Dawes (for Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, 68), Charlie Cooper (for Sam Pearson, 68), Matt Worthington (not used), Frank Nouble (not used)