Man of the Match Voting: Solihull Moors (home)
2024-09-10
Who was your Man of the Match for Yeovil, from their game against Solihull Moors?
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.Cooper: We’ll be careful with Williams
2024-09-10
Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper is hoping to get Morgan Williams some minutes as his side take on Solihull Moors at a damp Huish Park this evening.
The centre-half is named among the Glovers’ substitutes having missed the last two matches with a concussion suffered in the last home match, a 1-0 defeat by Rochdale on August Bank Holiday Monday.
He is replaced by new signing, Dom Bernard, the match-winning hero of Saturday’s 4-3 win at AFC Fylde, who lines up alongside Jake Wannell, who returns after a one-match suspension.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman ahead of kick-off, the manager said: “We need to be a little bit careful with Morgs, but we are hopeful we can get him 20 minutes or so tonight.”
He also confirmed that on-loan Bristol City defender Raphael Araoye has had another scan on a dead leg he suffered in the 3-1 win at Boston United ten days ago.
Cooper said: “We are still waiting to find out the extent of his injury. He has had another scan today, so we are still waiting to find out what it is.”
Solihull are looking to get back to winning ways having gone down 1-0 at home to Forest Green Rovers and being held 1-1 by Wealdstone in their previous match. Their last win came with a 1-0 victory at FC Halifax Town on Bank Holiday Monday and there has not been more than one goal in it in any of the seven matches so far this season.
The Glovers’ boss added: “They are a really good team, really well coached, they are organised and have threats all over the pitch and they will be tough to break down. So we are expecting a really tough game. Both teams try and play a bit, so it should be a good game.”
Team News: Solihull Moors (home)
2024-09-10
Jake Wannell and Sam Pearson both return to the Yeovil Town starting XI as the Glovers take on Solihull Moors at Huish Park (7.45pm kick-off).
Wannell missed last weekend’s dramatic 4-3 win at AFC Fylde through suspension whilst Pearson has been rewarded for his impact coming off the bench in the last two matches. They replace Finn Cousin-Dawson and Josh Sims, who are both named amongst the substitutes.
They are joined on the bench by Wannell’s central defensive partner Morgan Williams who has been missing since suffering a concussion in the 1-0 defeat at home to Rochdale on August Bank Holiday Monday. New signing Dom Bernard, whose late goal proved the winner in Lancashire on Saturday, stays in the starting line-up.
Solihull are unchanged from their 1-0 home defeat to Forest Green Rovers at the weekend with former Glover Matt ‘Roller’ Warburton facing his old side.
YeoGov Opinion Tracker: One Month In…
2024-09-10
It’s the return of the monthly YeoGov poll and we want to hear your assessment of the season so far. The 2024/25 National League season kicked off a month ago with the visit of Hartlepool to Huish Park. Here’s how it’s gone so far:
Yeovil Town 0 – 1 Hartlepool
Braintree Town 0 – 1 Yeovil Town
Yeovil Town 3 – 2 Ebbsfleet United
Gateshead 3 – 1 Yeovil Town
Yeovil Town 0 – 1 Rochdale
Boston United 1 – 3 Yeovil Town
AFC Fylde 3 – 4 Yeovil Town
So, let us know your scores on the survey below and any other thoughts you’ve got…well, not any.
Match Preview – Solihull Moors (home)
2024-09-09
Following two away wins on the bounce, the Glovers are back under the lights at Huish Park.
Yeovil Town welcome Solihull Moors to Somerset.
Form Guide…
Yeovil Town are looking for a third win on the spin after fruitful trips up north.
Wins over Boston United and AFC Fylde have been eventful games to say the least, but six points are six points.
Seven goals scored, four conceded and we go into Tuesday night’s games occupying the final play-off spot in the National League Premier Division table – that we’re definitely not looking at yet.
Our visitors Solihull Moors on the other hand are coming off the back of a 1-0 loss at home to big-spending Forest Green Rovers on Saturday.
A second half Teddy Jenks goal saw the Vegans taking the three points from Saturday’s game.
Prior to that a 1-1 draw vs Wealdstone and a single goal win over Halifax have shown that Solihull have been consistently inconsistent.
Moors have eight points from seven games and are 15th.
Key Players…
Yeovil – Sam Pearson
Two impressive performances from the bench in the last two games have Glovers fans clamouring for the former Bristol City man to be given a go from the start.
His first goal of the season against Fylde on Saturday was complimented an assist for both Aaron Jarvis’ equaliser and a more acrobatic assist for the Dom Bernard winner late on.
His pace, trickery and flash of quality might be the key to unlocking a stingy Moors’ defence.
Solihull Moors – Jamey Osborne
The 32-year-old has been a mainstay of the Solihull side since the summer of 2016 – albeit with stray away to Grimsby Town at the end of the 2016-17 season when he followed his then-boss Marcus Bignot north. He was back at Damson Park on loan by December 2017 and signed permanently the following month.
Fans with slightly longer memories may remember Osborne being a thorn in the side of Darren Way’s Yeovil in two notorious FA Cup matches back in 2016 – the latter ending in a penalty shoot-out defeat. If you’ve blocked it from your memory, we don’t blame you.
He’s known for a combative style (three yellow cards already this season) but with the class to unlock defences with a single pass and keeps his team ticking over.
He provided an assist for Moors’ only goal in their 1-1 draw against Wealdstone and will be a significant challenge for the midfield combo of the Glovers.
That’s What He Said…
In his post-match presser following the win at AFC Fylde on Saturday, Mark Cooper didn’t really do much talking about Solihull Moors – but there was a lot to talk about.
Andy Whing, the Moors’ boss, on the other hand was asked about the game against the Glovers after their 1-0 home defeat to Forest Green at the weekend.
He said: “Every game is a tough game, Yeovil, I played against them in the Championship, they’re a big football club, so we know it’s going to be a tough game, but if we keep playing like that [vs FGR] and getting performances like that, when our players come back – no team in our league can deal with the injuries we’ve got – we’ll got onto Tuesday full of confidence in terms of performance and desperate for three points”
We’ve met before…
Back in 2022/23 season, Yeovil took four points from the two games against Solihull coming from two goals down away from home, goals from Zanda Siziba (remember him?) and Owen Bevan plucking a point from the grasps of defeat.
Meanwhile, at Huish Park, Chiori Johnson scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win, the Glovers squad on that day had just three members of the current group (Worthington, Williams and Pearson).
Other highlight clashes include back in 2021, where a Joe Quigley hat trick landed a 3-0 win for the Glovers, Solihull won the reverse fixture 5-1 that season, Justin “the lad Donawa” Donawa picking up a match ball of his own.
Way back in 2016, we also crossed paths in the FA Cup, a 2-2 draw at Huish Park, a 1-1 draw in the replay before Ryan Dickson and Tom Eaves missed their spot kicks and Solihull progressed.
Don’t I know you?
Tahvon Campbell was a Glover for a short while in 2017, on loan from West Brom, he’s now at Solihull, but hasn’t been involved in a match day squad for a little while.
Matt “Rolls Royce” Warburton was a Yeovil player on loan from Northampton, predominantly in the behind-closed-doors season, scoring once in 17 National League appearances.
Who’s been a naughty boy, then?
Jake Wannell is available for the Glovers after a one-match ban against Fylde, but Solihull are still without defender James Clarke.
The 24-year old was given a straight red card in the 94th minute in the 1-0 win over Halifax.
It was made all the more impressive is that he was only brought on as a sub on 83 minutes.
He sits out the third of a three-match-ban.
How can you keep across the game?
In Person
Get to Huish Park! Tickets are available for the game here.
On the Radio
Ian is back on the mic with BBC Somerset and Yeovil Town Radio will have full match coverage too.
On the TV/ stream
National League TV has this game listed as available to watch. Match Passes are £9.99
On the Gloverscast.co.uk
We’ll have team news, match report, Five Conclusions and our usual reaction podcast to follow on Friday.
Bernard makes Team of the Week
2024-09-09
Match-winner Dom Bernard‘s heroics for Yeovil Town at AFC Fylde on Saturday have earned him a place in the National League’s Team of the Week.
The 27-year-old, whose arrival at Huish Park was only announced on Friday, scored an 88th-minute winner to grab three points for the Glovers in a see-saw 4-3 victory in Lancashire.
Fylde’s Nick Haughton is also named in the XI for his two first-half strikes which put them 2-0 up at half-time.
Congratulations, Dom!
Match Officials: Solihull Moors (home)
2024-09-09
There are fewer sites in football greater than a bouncing Huish Park under the lights on a Tuesday evening.
One man who gets to enjoy it from the comfort of neutrality is our referee for our midweek clash vs Solihull Moors, Mr Ruebyn Ricardo.
Much like our official from the weekend, Mr Ricardo has never officiated a Glovers game, nor has ever taken charge of Solihull.
But, he has been a busy fella this season with appointments in the EFL, EFL Trophy and Premier League Academy league.
He’s also taken charge of one National League game, and it was a feisty one.
Woking came from 2-0 to beat Hartlepool a couple of weeks ago and our man was in charge.
He sent off Pools’ midfielder Jack Hunter for two bookable offences inside two minutes and booked a couple of former Glovers; Billy Sass-Davies and Dale Gorman. (Pretends to be shocked)
He even found time to note down Michael Doyle’s name, the Woking gaffer also seeing yellow.
Mr Ricardo will have Sean Rothwell and Mark Senior running the lines whilst Lewis Sandoe is on half time tea-making duties… and other actual important jobs too, I think.
Gloverscast #359 – “I want a sneaky little chappy”
2024-09-09
Well that match was bonkers. Ian. Dave and Ben chat through the rollercoaster that was the 4-3 win at Fylde and look ahead to Tuesday’s visit of Solihull Moors.
Five Conclusions: AFC Fylde 3 Yeovil Town 4
2024-09-08
It was another three points on the road for Yeovil Town (that’s three for the season, by the way) this weekend with a win in a chaotic, see-saw match at AFC Fylde yesterday.
It took a while for Dave to get his heart-rate down long enough to pen some conclusions on the match, but these are them.
What have I just seen? That was absolutely bonkers. If anyone doubted the Spirit of 2023/24 had departed, think again. In the second half, we just went for it and it was a performance built on fearlessness to attack, character to get back up after Fylde pulled it back to 3-3, and a healthy dose of quality. That said, for context, in the first half we looked well off it. I know both Mark Cooper and Dom Bernard said afterwards that they thought we were okay, but I felt our defence was rocking every time Fylde (or Nick Haughton, more to the point) pressed forward, our midfield was anonymous, and I don’t think their keeper Ben Winterbottom had anything to do. In the second half, he had plenty to do and we did that magic thing of taking our chances when we created them. These boys have got some cast-iron balls and deserved everything they got yesterday.
Take a bow: Aaron Jarvis quite rightly got the plaudits from his manager post-match. Yeovil have had plenty of players who just ‘run around a lot’ in the past, but everything Jarvis does has a purpose. If you don’t believe me, look at his role in Sam Pearson’s first goal and the way he brings the ball down and is then in the right place at the right time to score the equaliser. He did that a lot and gave as good as he got from the Fylde defence as well.
But can I also give a shout out to Ollie Wright? He made some important saves, none more so than from Taelor O’Kane in injury time. And, if praising opposition players is allowed, Fylde’s Nick Haughton. He could have had four or five goals alone and must surely be interesting some EFL clubs. All that said, Sam Pearson was my Man of the Match.
The importance of substitutions: Mark Cooper spoke before the season about how the increase to five changes from seven substitutions would be key. He got his changes right and Fylde’s Chris Beech got his wrong. Now, Cooper only had five to pick from today – those magical empty benches made up the other two (Hey, Gloverscast Ben!) – and the changes he made all paid off. Sam Pearson and Jordan Young both caused problems, Pearson especially was at the heart of a lot that we did well in the second half, and then that strike from Sonny – it looked even better from behind the goal than it does on the highlights.
Another one of ‘those’ ticked off: It’s far too early to be looking at league tables, but if you were to do that you’d see Yeovil Town in seventh place, the final spot for the National League play-off places. Now, I’m definitely not saying we’ll be there come May, but if we’re going to finish nearer the top than the bottom, Fylde away is where you need to get points. Given the injuries and suspensions, I would have happily taken a point from this one, so to take three is a big bonus. That is three wins from four away from home, now let’s get our home form going. It’s Solihull Moors under the lights at Huish Park on Tuesday, another tough test but one we should not be fearful of. Jake Wannell will return from suspension, Dom Bernard has an impressive debut under his belt, so we can go in to it with confidence. Pack the Park, ladies and gents, Pack the Park.
Sometimes it’s more than a game: As everyone enjoyed the post-match celebrations, some quick-thinking supporters and, more importantly, the Yeovil Town medic Tony Boreham and physio Joe Storey, raced to the aid of a fan who had been taken ill on the terraces. We learnt afterwards the fan in question was the grandfather of Corey Koerner, the young full-back who was named amongst our substitutes, and there were some worrying moments as he was ‘worked on’ as fans filed out of the ground. It is with much relief we learnt soon after that he was responsive thanks to the treatment he received and was taken to hospital. It’s often said that a football ground is sometimes the best place to be taken ill, and the quick-thinking and undoubted skills of the Glovers’ team to spring in to action underlines this fact. Well done to them and everyone who supported, and we obviously wish Corey’s grandfather a full and speedy recovery.