November 2024 (Page 7)

Full-back Michael Smith will be available for Yeovil Town when they take on FC Halifax Town at Huish Park this weekend.

The 36-year-old has trained this week having missed the last five matches with a hamstring injury which saw him go off at half-time in the 1-0 home win over Dagenham & Redbridge at the start of October.

Manager Mark Cooper said captain Matt Worthington was also back in training after suffering an ankle ligament injury early in the goalless draw at Tamworth four-and-a-half weeks ago, but the Glovers will be without midfielder Charlie Cooper who serves a one-match ban for picking up five bookings.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah on Thursday, the boss said: “Matt Worthington’s back in training, Michael Smith’s been back this week and he’s had a couple of good training sessions, so he is available this weekend.

“We have had one or two players off this week with a bug, Josh Sims has been ill, he was ill (at Southend) last weekend. So we still have some illness in the camp,  but we’re hopeful that we getting to the back end of that now.

“When you rip ankle ligaments you get you get a lot of ankle ligaments, but he is back on the grass now, so he will not be long. He’s a naturally really fit, fit lad, so it won’t be that long.”

Cooper collected his fifth booking in last weekend’s 1-0 win at Southend United, a match which saw the home side’s goalkeeper Zach Jeacock sent-off for handling outside the box and manager Kevin Maher sent to the stands. Jeacock subsequently had his red card overturned on appeal this week.

The Glovers’ boss cut a frustrated figure in his post-match comments after the win in Essex and explained that an unnamed player had been accused of making “an inappropriate comment” by a Southend player – who subsequently admitted to inventing the comment.

Cooper said: “One of our players was accused of making an inappropriate comment which would have carried a minimum eight-game ban, if it had been substantiated. He was then consequently booked. We had four players booked, but I did not think any of them were bookings. There were two red cards (goalkeeper Zach Jeacock and manager Kevin Maher) for them and after the game the Southend player, admitted that he lied and made the comment up to get our player sent off. That is sad really.

“Their goalkeeper has had his red card rescinded following an appeal, but our player’s yellow card still stands and the player that made the allegation, unless we go to the FA, will get away with making up that comment. But we would not go to the FA because we’ve got better character than that. We are more of the belief that what happens on the pitch stays on the pitch. We are not like that, we have got proper characters, but if our player would have got sent off for the incident, he would have had the red card rescinded. That’s how mad it is.

“Their their goalkeeper gets a red card for a blatant handball and they somehow get that rescinded. How can we build a multi-million pound training centre at (the FA’s headquarters) St. George’s Park, build Wembley Stadium, put a man on the moon, but we can’t rescind a yellow card for something that somebody didn’t do? I suppose it’s just the state of the game now.”

Yeovil saw four players booked with defenders Jake Wannell, Finn Cousin-Dawson and Alex Whittle also collecting yellow cards alongside midfielder Cooper. Speaking after the game the manager said he felt like football was “losing the spirit of the game” due to the amount of bookings that are being handed out.

Five days later he reiterated previous comments about the need to change the disciplinary rules which see players handed a one-match ban for collecting five yellow cards.

He said: “If I showed you the four yellow cards  we got (at Southend) on Saturday, you would be scratching your head and saying ‘it’s just not it’s just contact’. It’s just Jake Wannell got a yellow card for their player putting his hand in Jake’s chest, falling over. Finn Cousin-Dawson got booked for winning the ball on the halfway line, and we still do not know what Alex Whittle got booked for. I’m not crying because we lost, we won the game, I am speaking about the good of the game.

“If you are a combative player, it is impossible to only have five yellow cards from the start of the season in August to the 23rd November when we will have 19 games including the FA Cup. It seems like that (the FA) does not want any contact or any emotion or any passion in the game, and that that goes to the touchline as well.

“If you’re gonna front load the games at the start of the season, then you you have to move the the the threshold (for the amount of bookings you can get) higher. You have to move the cut-off date for bookings back or make the number of bookings you have to receive for a suspension higher. It is impossible because there are that many games.”

This weekend’s encounter sees two of the National League Premier’s best defensive records come head-to-head. The Glovers have conceded just 15 goals in their opening 17 league matches, whilst Halifax have only let in one more. Only the division’s top two sides, York City (12) and Forest Green Rovers (14) have conceded less. 

Cooper said that he is viewing the fixture as another opportunity to add to their points total required to secure safety, despite his side being in the play-off places going in to the match against a side two points and one place behind them in the table.

He said: “When you first come into the league you look at getting enough points to try and make sure we’re still in (the division next season) and that has to be our first aim. We have got 28 points so I think we need another another six wins to make sure we are still in it and then we will go from there.”

Halifax have former Glovers’ loanee Andrew Oluwabori, who played 24 times under Cooper in the 2022/23 season whilst on loan from Peterborough United, and experienced striker Billy Waters, who returned to The Shay on loan from League One side Wrexham in September.

Cooper said: “I think they will come and have a go, they like to play on the front foot with real pace. They have got Andrew Oluwabori who is an absolute flying machine, Billy Waters, who is a a top player for the level, so I think they will come and have a go at us. But we have to concentrate on  what we do, we are playing some really good football at the moment, we are dominate and whilst we do our homework (on the opposition) but we have to concentrate on what we do really well.”