Morgan Williams bagged the only goal of the game as Yeovil Town picked up their first win of the 24/25 season against Braintree.
Three points, a clean sheet and the Gloverscast Man of the Match title, have now been joined by Team of the Week status.
The Glovers are back at Huish Park tomorrow night against Ebbsfleet United and the officials for the night have been confirmed.
Greg Rollason is spending his Tuesday night in South Somerset, and (hopefully) he’ll be bringing his whistle.
Rollason has taken charge of four Yeovil games in his career as a match referee, including Chris Hargreaves’ penultimate match in charge away at Oldham, where the Glovers lost 2-0.
But he also refereed the match between Yeovil and Torquay United on New Years Day 2023. That was much better with late goals from Matt Worthington and Jordan Maguire-Drew (remember him?) securing the three Derby Day points. He booked a trio of Glovers on that occasion, including Worthington.
He was also in charge when the Yeovil beat league leaders Stockport 2-1 in the 2021/22 season. He sent off County’s Will Collar for trying to decapitate Tom Knowles…and rightly so.
Mr Rollason has Martin Bloor and Adam Wilson assisting him with Phillip Eddie keeping tabs on the dugouts.
Three points up on the board after the trip to Braintree. Ian and Ben grill Dave on the afternoon and take a look ahead to tomorrow’s visit of Ebbsfleet at Huish Park.
A slow start to the season has been rectified by Mark Cooper’s men, as Yeovil get their first points, and first win on the board following their 1-0 win over fellow promoted side Braintree Town. Let’s see how the rest of the division got on!
We begin at Gander Green Lane, where Sutton United put five past Altrincham in a result many didn’t see coming – Sutton had bagged four before half-time in a miserable affair for the visitors, who will hope to put things right on Tuesday. Only two matchdays down, and there have already been three hattricks; Paul McCallum grabbed this one in a 4-2 win for hosts Eastleigh, as they came from two down against AFC Fylde. Honourable mention goes to Nick Haughton, who already has 5 goals for the season!
Boston United’s tough start to life back in the National League continued, as they were thumped 4-0 at home to Forest Green Rovers thanks to doubles from Christian Doidge and Liam Sercombe. There were two 2-1 wins to add, as former Glovers Matty Warburton and Tahvon Campbell scored in Solihull Moors‘ victory over Maidenhead United, while Barnet kick-started their title ambitions with a win away to Tuesday’s visitors, Ebbsfleet United.
There were disturbing scenes at Kingfield Stadium, as Greg Olley suffered a horrific leg break following a reckless, mindless challenge from Woking captain Dion Kelly-Evans, earning him a straight red card. We all hope for a speedy recovery for Greg, our best wishes go to him. Once the game was restarted, Gateshead used the fire from their captain’s injury to make it two wins from two, with former Glover Mark Beck getting the second in a 2-0 win. Two quickfire goals for York City ensured they maintained their unbeaten start against Tamworth.
The spoils were shared between two opening day winners, as Rochdale and Dagenham & Redbridge played out a 1-1 draw; former Glover Dion Pereira opened the scoring for the visitors before Tarryn Allarakhia secured a point for the Dale. An early goal from Josh Barrett gave Aldershot Town the win at FC Halifax Town, while Oldham Athletic are one of three teams remaining with a 100% record so far, as they beat 10 man Wealdstone with a late goal from Harry Charsley. Finally, 10 man Hartlepool United and Southend United played out a 0-0 draw.
National League results – in full
Boston United 0-4 Forest Green Rovers
Braintree Town 0-1 Yeovil Town
Eastleigh 4-2 AFC Fylde
Ebbsfleet United 1-2 Barnet
FC Halifax Town 0-1 Aldershot Town
Hartlepool United 0-0 Southend United
Rochdale 1-1 Dagenham & Redbridge
Solihull Moors 2-1 Maidenhead United
Sutton United 5-0 Altrincham
Wealdstone 0-1 Oldham Athletic
Woking 0-2 Gateshead
York City 2-0 Tamworth
National League table
It was a first win, a first goal and a first clean sheet for Yeovil Town as their second match of the new National League Premier season saw them pick up a 1-0 win at fellow newly-promoted side Braintree Town yesterday.
A neat finish from defender Morgan Williams was enough to seal the points on a sweltering afternoon in Essex and get the Glovers off the mark at the second time of asking.
Here’s how Dave saw it from his spot in the away end at the Rare Breeds Meat Company Stadium…..
The first W: On Friday’s podcast we spoke about how getting a win on the board was the most important thing and it almost didn’t matter how it came. This was not a pretty performance and the cliched ‘game of two halves’ with a first 45 minutes which had all the hallmarks of the frustrations against Hartlepool seven days earlier, but the second 45 showing far more promise. It didn’t matter how it came, it just had to come – now we’re off the mark with a great opportunity to build on it against Ebbsfleet United on Tuesday night.
Pass and move – quicker: We really toiled in the first half, like really toiled. The only real moment for those slowly cooking on the away end came right before half-time, some neat build-up and Michael Smith found himself away down the right. It showed that moving it quicker is going to be everything this season. In the second half we did that and got opportunities but against better sides than Braintree (and there’ll be a few of those) we cannot afford a slow start.
Drought warning in Essex?: In the words of someone who knows his way around a piece of turf (Clue – you’ll often see him tending to the Huish Park pitch), rarely have you seen a pitch be such a leveller in the second game of the season. I don’t know how warm it’s been in Braintree this summer, but the pitch looked like it had not seen water in months. It was not conducive to any kind of football and hopefully evidence we left such poor surfaces behind in National League South.
Defensive solidity will be crucial: Before the match, all the talk was about Braintree’s new signings Inih Effiong and John Akinde, but they were well-handled by our defence. Effiong showed some moments in the first half but that was it, whereas I hardly noticed Akinde when he arrived as a second half substitute. Morgan Williams and Jake Wannell can take credit for that, whilst Alex Whittle and Michael Smith both looked solid. As I have already said, they will face very different and tougher tests in the season to come and a solid defence will be crucial if they are to do anything this season.
Sims showed a bit: I’ll caveat this conclusion by saying it was two moments in about 20 minutes on the pitch, but Josh Sims looks like he has some quality. His first involvement having arrived on the 76 minutes and he drifted in to space to fire a shot just past the post, then he made a great turn inside the box to set up Whittle just before the end. He is obviously lacking match fitness having not played for three months and far too soon to get too excited, but there was enough to suggest there’s a decent player in there. If Brett McGavin and Matt Worthington are to be our midfield two, a lot will depend on what the three forward players in front of them can do, and Sims looks like he could be a good addition there.
Will Buse was in goal for Weston-super-Mare as they travelled to newly promoted Enfield Town in the National League South.
The Seagulls lost 1-0 to a single Sam Youngs goal from the penalty spot with 39 minutes on the clock, as you can see from the clip below, Buse nearly got a finger tip to the spot kick, but it was too well placed and too powerful
⚽️ Our first home goal this season, dispatched by @samyoungs7 #UpTheTown https://t.co/8ejmKPTvsd pic.twitter.com/FolxVe9tFI
— Enfield Town FC (@ETFCOfficial) August 17, 2024
Meanwhile, down at Plymouth Parkway, Corey Koerner was a late sub for Parkway in their 1-1 draw with both Havant and Waterlooville.
Sherborne started (and finished) their FA Cup adventure with an away tie with Westfield FC. The home side winning 3-1.
Josh Haskett was named on the bench, he did make an appearance, coming on in the second half as the Zebras chased a goal to bring the tie level.
Match-winner Morgan Williams spoke to BBC Somerset following the 1-0 win at Braintree Town and the defender said the opening win of the season would help Yeovil Town ‘kick on’.
Williams said: “[I’m] absolutely delighted, obviously, to get off the mark now with a win, it’s perfect really. Normally that’s in your head like every week thinking ‘when we’re going to get our first win’ and we’ve got it now so we can really kick on for players.”
When asked if getting that first win played on his mind, he said: “100%. I think every footballer would say that you want to always get off to a winning start [on the] first game of the season. We obviously didn’t do that and it’s kind of like ‘when are we gonna when are we gonna get that first win’ and absolutely delighted to get that first win now in our second game. And [my] first goal as well.”
The Glovers improved after the half-time break and he told BBC Somerset reporter Josh Perkins that managed wanted his team to express themselves more.
“He just said we just needed more quality in the final third, just everywhere really. We were a bit hesitant and a bit, maybe nervous with a few of our passes. The gaffer gives us so much freedom to kind of play, especially the front boys to have that freedom and play freely. So he just wanted us to really express ourselves because he knows that we’re a good team, good players and we’ve got players like Frank, Jarv, Youngy, players off the bench as well that come on are explosive and exciting to watch and he just wants us to really express that and go and win games.”
Job done, on to Ebbsfleet at Huish Park on Tuesday night!
Yeovil got the first National League points on the board this afternoon at Braintree Town, thanks to a Morgan Williams goal in a 1-0 win. Mark Cooper spoke to BBC Somerset’s Josh Perkins following the game and praised his side’s second half performance.
“Didn’t enjoy the first half. It was a difficult afternoon for football, with the pitch and the weather. We had a few words at half time and just wanted a bit of enthusiasm. I wasn’t asking for anything too scientific, just wanted a bit of enthusiasm. I thought we started the second-half really well and did really well in the second-half,” he said.
Cooper was pleased with his sides battling display at the back against a very physical Braintree team, saying: “The back four, back five, you know, were heading every ball that came in the box. You know, you’ve got Akinde and Inih Effiong, two of the probably the biggest footballers I’ve ever seen, and they seem to have every player over 7 foot at the end and the ball was coming in the box. Wanns, Whitts, Raph came on and headed some balls away, Smudge all of them. All of them Jarvs, Frank we had to defend our box really well and we did that.”
Josh Sims made an exciting debut from the bench, showing his quality and Cooper praised both he and Raphael Araoye who made his debut. “He’s [Araoye] gonna be a big player for us, I think and for Bristol City as well. And I think with Josh Sims, you saw cameo there, real quality didn’t you when he came on? Brilliant from the Chairman to enable us to get a player of that quality and hopefully he can do well.”
Asked if he’s looking at doing anymore business Cooper said he is ‘always looking’ and added that he is expecting another tough match on Tuesday with the visit of Ebbsfleet to Huish Park: “Tough, tough game expected. At this level, every game is tough. You see that today, they’re a physical outfit and you know they do it really well and you have to deal with that physical side in every game you play at this level.”
A second half Morgan Williams goal was enough to seal Yeovil Town’s first three points since returning to the National League Premier at Braintree Town on Saturday.
The centre-half was in the right place to convert a ball in from Frank Nouble with an hour gone of a hard-fought encounter against the home side who came up from National League South alongside the Glovers last season.
The second half also saw the appearance of new signing Josh Sims, the winger who joined last week having played for Ross County in the Scottish Premiership last season. He showed some good moments of class to suggest he could be a useful addition.
But, getting the first win, first goal and first clean sheet of the new campaign cannot be underestimated.
Here is how Dave saw it from the away end in Essex…..
On a bone dry pitch on a scorching August afternoon, manager Mark Cooper made one change to his starting XI from the opening day defeat against Hartlepool United with Harvey Greenslade coming in for Dylan Morgan, who was not in the matchday squad still suffering from a knee injury sustained in pre-season.
For much of the opening exchanges it was a carbon copy of the frustrating moments of seven days ago with the visitors enjoying the majority of the ball, but unable to do much to threaten the Braintree goal. There were a few nice link-ups between Aaron Jarvis and Frank Nouble, but nothing even close to a meaningful effort on goal.
At the other end Matt Robinson had an effort blocked by Jarvis early on before Inih Effiong picked up the ball on the Braintree left and made a powerful run past Morgan Williams on 25 minutes. Eventually a combination of Williams and defensive partner Jake Wannell saw the ball out of play, but evidence of the threat of the big frontman.
From the resulting corner, Wannell blocked a shot from Robinson. The visitors dominating possession in this first half, but it is the home side who are having the better efforts on goal.
On the half-hour mark, Effiong had a shot blocked before the ball dropped to Callum Powell who fired over the bar. Probably the closest either side had come to a meaningful effort on goal – not that it was on target.
It was clear from the start that the pitch at Cressing Road had not seen water in a long time. The amount of parched turf was not something you would expect to see in the second game of the season.
The best moment of attacking play from Yeovil came just before the break, some neat play on the edge of the Braintree box worked its way out to Michael Smith who broke down the right and put a quality ball in to the box. No-one there to take advantage.
More of that, that’s what we need.
Just two minutes after the restart, neat footwork from Nouble saw him beat two players before finding Jarvis on the edge of the six-yard box, he turned and got his shot away but his effort was blocked on the line by Joe Grimwood. Once again, quick movement was the key to creating an opportunity.
On 55 minutes, Sam Pearson replaced Jordan Young and on the half-hour mark and he played a part in Yeovil opening the scoring five minutes after his arrival.
The Welshman’s quick corner found Nouble on the edge of the area and he played a sumptuous ball in to the box where Morgan WILLIAMS was in the right place at the right time to neatly turn the ball past Jacob Knightsbridge in the Braintree goal.
The home side made two substitutions with Effiong fading and Powell unable to get in to the game, Kyrell Libsie and the towering John Akinde replacing Chay Cooper and Jamie Vennings, but it was Yeovil who were in charge.
Williams almost doubled the advantage when he got his head on the end of a pin-point Brett McGavin corner but it was parried by Knightsbridge, Pearson turned home the rebound but referee Carl Walchester had blown up for a foul by Jarvis.
On 76 minutes, new signing Josh Sims made his first appearance in green-and-white as he replaced Greenslade and took up a position on the left side of the box. It was almost a dream start for the Yeovil-born winger as he combined with Alex Whittle and McGavin to find space on the edge of the box to flash an effort wide of Knightsbridge’s right-hand post.
The new boy was again in the middle of the action with five minutes remaining. He turned neatly inside the box to pick out Whittle in an advanced position, but the full-back’s effort crept wide of goal.
Williams’ goal proved enough to wrap up a 1-0 win in Essex for the second time in five months and seal the first win of the season.
Venue: The Rare Breed Meat Co Stadium
Date: Saturday 17th August, 3pm
Competition: National League Premier
Pitch: Twinned with the Sahara Desert.
Conditions: Factor 50 territory
Attendance: 1,128 (166 away)
Scorers: Morgan Williams 60 (1-0).
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Aaron Jarvis 54, Frank Nouble 69,
Braintree Town: James Vennings 7, Callum Powell 23,
Referee: Callum Walchester
Yeovil Town (4-2-3-1)
Substitutes: Sam Pearson (for Jordan Young, 55), Josh Sims (for Harvey Greenslade, 76), Charlie Cooper (for Brett McGavin, 83), Raphael Araoye (for Alex Whittle, 87), Jordan Thomas (for Aaron Jarvis, 90+3), Matt Gould (not used), Sonny Blu Lo-Everton (not used).
Braintree Town: Jacob Knightsbridge, Ryan Clampon, George Langston (for Tom Blackwell, 90+1), Louie Annesley, James Vennings (for John Akinde, 67), Marley Marshall-Miranda, Inih Effiong, Callum Powell (for Reggie Lambe, 86), Chay Cooper (for Kyrell Lisbie, 64), Matt Robinson, Joe Grimwood. Substitutes (not used): Jamal Fyfield.
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