January 2025 (Page 6)

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It was a night to forget as Yeovil Town huffed and puffed without ever blowing down the house of bottom-of-the-table Ebbsfleet United in Kent last night. Dave was among the 150 who made the journey and here are his thoughts from the away end.

An absolute stinker: There’s no sugar-coating this one. Against a team which bottom of the league and playing with ten men for half-an-hour, to get 0 shots on target in the second half is unforgivable. Ebbsfleet were playing for a point from the first minute, but we showed no attacking intent for large parts of that game. The fact we’ve finished a game and no-one is saying a word about the referee for once tells you that he was favourable to us and he absolutely was. Truth is, we have no-one to blame but ourselves.
 
Rover The Dog’s expression summing up the feelings of those in the away end.
 
The moments came when we went direct: I feel like I have written this half-a-dozen times this season. I’m the wrong Pleb for nuanced tactical analysis, tune in to Friday’s podcast for that, but the moments a threatened were when we ditched the patient passing. I get that you need to be in control to find the moments to go direct but it just did not happen often enough. In ‘The 3 Loanees’ (Ciaran McGuckin, Kofi Shaw and Sean McGurk) we should have the quality to unlock the leakiest defence in the division. Another cross, another block, and rinse/repeat. It screamed of the need to try something else.
 
What has happened to our defence?: Another defensive error has cost us. We didn’t say that much last season, did we? But I will bet everything I have that Ebbsfleet are playing in National League South next season, and we gifted them one. The goal was a difficult one to see from my vantage point in the away end, but it looked like Jake Wannell got done. There’s so much quality in our defensive players, but their mistakes are killing us right now. See above for how our attacking play is also killing us right now.
 
Sean McGurk. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.
 
Sean McGurk, take a bow: Thank goodness for McGurk’s goal. Even from the distance of the away end, it looked an absolute beauty. The skill to spin away from the midfielder from a ball dropping from some distance was just mouth-watering, little nutmeg and then a superb strike in off the post. It was going to take something to threaten Brett McGavin (either the free-kick at Boston or the rocket at Woking) in the Goal of the Season contest, but that’s put the cat right among the pigeons. 
 
We’re still mid-table: Yes, yes, I hear you shouting at me. Hear me out. We go to football to be entertained and (McGurk’s goal aside) nothing entertained me about Yeovil’s performance last night. But I could say that about so many Yeovil sides down the years. I’ve wasted days of my life, spent thousands of pounds and burned thousands more miles for the pleasure and that is something I accept as a lower league football fan. I come to matches hoping to be entertained, but never expecting it. The reality is that this style of play has us where we should be this season, in mid-table. That is a statistic you cannot argue, the concern for me is we have got there getting results against other mid/lower table sides and last night was a golden opportunity to get one. Ebbsfleet are battling against almost inevitable relegation and yet they showed character, we need to summon some of that and show the undoubted quality we have – the players, the manager, everyone. Okay, you can carry on shouting at me again now.
 
I didn’t even get to talk about the heartbreak of finding out The Rose has shut.

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For the fourth match running Yeovil Town threw away a lead to leave a winning position with less than full points.

A Sean McGurk wonderstrike was cancelled out by Aaron Cosgrave in the second half.

Ebbsfleet played almost 40 minutes with ten men and Yeovil could not break them down.

A thoroughly disappointing showing from the Glovers, who have to settle for nothing more than a point.

First half

The starting XI saw two changes from the 1-1 draw at home to Woking on Saturday with Kofi Shaw straight back in to the line-up following his suspension, and Morgan Williams returning having missed the weekend through injury.
 
A Charlie Cooper shot past the post after nine minutes and Shaw’s ball in to the box were as close as either side came to breaking the deadlock in the opening ten minutes.
 
There was little to write home (or even to you good people) about for the 15 minutes which followed that with another Cooper effort from the edge of the box on 24 minutes which was deflected wide the closest effort either side came. 
There was a substitution for Ebbsfleet (that feels something concrete) with Jez Davies replaced by Todd Kane after 26 minutes, and Finn Cousin-Dawson having to temporarily go off with a blooded nose.
 
Not to sound too ‘Gerrit Forward, Cooper’, but the first shot on target came from a long ball forward which sat up nicely for Shaw to hit the game’s first effort on target. There are 35 minutes played, that is the first effort on target, although McGurk did have another within about 30 seconds of the first one landing. As low blocks go, Ebbsfleet’s is one of the lowest I have ever seen.
It was going to take something special to wake this one up and fortunately there was something in the boots of Sean MCGURK. The Swindon Town loanee produced a beautiful bit of skill to get past a defender, turned towards goal, beat another defender and lash one in off the post in from 20 yards out.

Half time: Ebbsfleet United 0 Yeovil Town 1

Second half

The second half began with no changes for either team, the opening exchanges were understandably scrappy; nothing more than a mis-timed Aaron Jarvis through ball and an Aaron Cosgrave wild shot at goal for the first few moments of the game.
 
Ebbsfleet had to try and take more control of the second half and with five minutes on the clock in the second period, they had taken more control of the ball.
The Glovers’ first foray forward came through Kofi Shaw, who broke down the left hand side and held off his man, but the loanee was quickly snuffed out of the attack and despite having the ball in a good area, nothing more than a calm cross collection from the home ‘keeper is all Yeovil had to show for it.
 
The game was doing much of nothing, until it sparked into life.
 
Jake Wannell was outpaced down the left hand side, the first half sub Jez Davies, had all the time to find a through ball to Cosgrave who nudged Morgan Williams off the ball and found a cute dink over the on rushing Ollie Wright. 
 
Salt poured into the wounds a few moments later as Jarvis spun Tyler Cordner and immediately grabbed the back of his hamstring. Oh.
 
The former Torquay man had to be helped from the pitch, Josh Sims coming on for him. 
 
61 minutes on the clock and medically, things went from bad to worse. Morgan Williams hit the deck and needed assistance.
 
With the Glovers down to ten men albeit temporarily, Ebbsfleet wasted their opportunity with an overhit free kick.
 
After the restart, the Yeovil team maintained possession and Dom Bernard found a lovely ball over the top only for Mustapha Olagunju to haul Ciaran McGuckin to the floor. Foul, Free Kick. DOGSO. Red Card.
 
Yeovil would face ten men for the best part of half an hour.
 
McGavin stood over the resulting free kick, his set piece hit the wall and McGurk’s follow up shot was turned behind for a corner.
 
Charlie Cooper shot, Morgan Williams headed towards goal, if the previous 30 seconds were a sign of what’s to come, the Glovers would be in the ascendancy.
 
Brett McGavin played a lovely through ball on 68 minutes, a perfect side ways pass was blazed over from 12 yards. Not one that McGurk will want to see again.
 
There was a significant delay off the back of that chance, Tyler Cordner needed to be stretchered from the pitch after twisting awkwardly. We hope he’ll be ok, no-one likes to see that.
 
 
On came Anthony Stewart to replace the former W*ymouth man.
 
After a pause of almost 10 minutes, the game resumed and shortly after, Frank Nouble replaced Kofi Shaw and Jacob Maddox came on for McGurk.
 
With 12 minutes of the normal 90 left, McGuckin committed a foul which invited some rare Ebbsfleet pressure.
 
More subs broke up the rhythm some more, and the hosts were in no hurry.
 
When they did come forward the hosts were able to create crossing opportunities, particularly down Yeovil’s left hand side,
 
McGavin was pulling the strings in the Glovers midfield. He found some room to force the ball into the danger area, the ball found it’s way back out to the former Torquay man, but a wall of red deflected it wide.
 
The corner was followed by an intense spell of Green and White pressure, but Ebbsfleet were happy to camp in and hold on to what they had.
 
The hosts were in their two clear banks of defence, and the Glovers were struggling to pierce through the ranks.
 
Another sub for the hosts, another chance to slow the game down. Only four minutes of normal time left and Harvey Greenslade was thrown into the mix in place of McGavin.
 
Could the visitors put a sustained spell of possession? Could they find a way through? 
 
Frank Nouble did, but Josh Sims opted to pass sideways when it looked more inviting to shoot. 
 
It was pretty much just FC-D in defence for the away side as the clock ticked to 89 minutes.
 
Everyone else was in attacking areas.
 
14 Minutes added on, much to the surprise of those in red and white.
 
The sideways passes continued from the Glovers, trying to find a way through.
 
But the best chance actually fell the way of Ebbsfleet, a long hopeful ball saw Bernard muscled off the ball and Ollie Wright had to be down smart to save.
 
McGuckin had a shot drift wide – there were still more than ten minutes left to go.
 
Cooper found Bernard in the box, he was closed down by exhausted Ebbsfleet defenders. Another attempt to thread the needle was headed away.
Another shot – this time from Maddox – was blocked away.
Another cross, another block, another corner.
 
Time was still on Yeovil’s side, and Jake Wannell was now a permanent member of the attacking unit.
 
But time after time, wave after wave, Yeovil found one Ebbsfleet defender too many in the way.
 
Cooper saw a volley skew wide, the Ebbsfleet gaffer saw Yellow. 
Cooper saw a shot fly high and wide – the Glovers had failed to register a single shot on target in the second half.
 
30 seconds remained when Nouble was muscled off the ball, the front man gave away a foul and that was that.
 

Full time: Ebbsfleet United 1 Yeovil Town 1

Match Details

Venue: Stonebridge Road
Date: Tuesday 14th January- 7.45pm kick-off 

Competition: National League Premier Division

Scorers: McGurk ’38 (0-1) Cosgrave ’57 (1-1),

Pitch: Like running on a non-Newtonian fluid
Conditions: Text

Attendance: 1125 (XXX away fans)

Bookings:
Yeovil Town: N/A
Ebbsfleet United:  Aoraha

Sending Off:
Yeovil Town: N/A
Ebbsfleet United:  Olagunju ’66

Referee: Rob Massey-Ellis

Yeovil Town (3-4-2-1)

Substitutes: Gould (GK), Greenslade, Maddox, Nouble, Sims (for Jarvis ’59), Whittle, Worthington.

Ebbsfleet United: Cousins, Aoraha, Chapman, Cordner (For Stewart), Cosgrave, Dallison, Edser, Kane (for Davies ’26), Moncur (for Samuels), Olagunju, Thomas

Substitutes (not used):  Bingham, Goddard(GK), Manktelow, Odokonyero, 

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Kofi Shaw returns from suspension to take his place back in the Yeovil Town line up for the away game at Ebbsfleet.

The Bristol Rovers loanee is one of two changes for the line up with Morgan Williams back in the fold too.

Frank Nouble and Josh Sims drop to the bench where there’s a return for Alex Whittle.

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Winger Pedro Borges has been recalled from Yeovil Town by his parent club Exeter City with his loan spell due to expire this month.

The former Glovers’ under-18s player returned to Huish Park at the start of November and has made nine appearances but has been an unused substitute in the last two matches.

His last appearance was as a 90th minute substitute in the 2-2 draw at home to Eastleigh on Boxing Day.

Best of luck with the rest of your career, Pedro!

Pedro Borges
Pic: Gary Brown

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Having been pegged back to settle for a draw at home to Woking last weekend, Yeovil Town travel to bottom club Ebbsfleet United looking to get back to winning form on Tuesday night.

Form Guide…

The story of Yeovil’s form going in to this match is very similar to their league position – somewhere near the middle. The Glovers’ 1-1 draw at home to Woking last Saturday means they have not won in their last four matches, but they did pick up wins in the two matches prior to that run.

If you’re a Yeovil fan, you’ll not be surprised to hear our away form looks a lot better than at Huish Park, but if you are an Ebbsfleet fan then form is the same whether at home or away.

The Kent outfit’s only win this season has come on home soil exactly four months to the day – a 1-0 victory over Hartlepool United. But the division’s bottom club has lost four and drawn two of their last six matches at Stonebridge Road.

They have conceded 62 goals in their 26 matches to date, scoring just 19 times.

Key Players…

Yeovil – Kofi Shaw

The Bristol Rovers’ loanee had to sit out the Woking match through suspension following his red card at Forest Green Rovers on New Year’s Day.

But, news that he has extended his stay in Somerset until the end of the season was greeted with unanimous joy by Glovers’ fans who will be hoping he is straining at the leash to take on the division’s leakiest defence.

Kofi Shaw returns for the trip to Ebbsfleet United. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Ebbsfleet United – George Moncur

The on loan Leyton Orient midfielder made an immediate impression having arrived in Kent last week following his recall from a similar loan at Southend United.

He played the full 90 minutes, put in a Team of the Week-worthy performance and scored an 84th minute equaliser to earn a 2-2 draw at fellow strugglers Boston United on Saturday.

At 31 years old, Moncur brings a lot of Football League experience at clubs including Luton Town, Colchester United and Barnsley and, if they can keep him fit and firing, could be crucial as Ebbsfleet look to do the impossible and beat the drop.

That’s what he said…

Player-caretaker manager Josh Wright is hoping another fixture straight off the back of a 2-2 draw at Boston United last weekend will be just what his players need.

The long-serving midfielder, who has been with Ebbsfleet since the summer of 2022, has been in charge since the sacking of Danny Searle in September, but has not made an on-the-pitch appearance since the middle of December.

Speaking at the weekend, he said: “I am a massive believer that games are what you want. They are where you build confidence, you can train all week but it is not the same as games.

“Having a positive result like this and now going back to our patch with our fans, who were are going to need with us, and the beauty of football is that there is always another game coming around quickly and that is even quicker with a midweek game.

“We have to dust ourselves down, recover right (on Sunday) and come in Monday and see what we have got and pick a squad to get another big result against Yeovil.”

There were no words from Glovers’ boss Mark Cooper about the quick turnaround in fixture. What with all the chat about the referee’s performance against Woking there…..errr……wasn’t time!

 We’ve met before…

Back in August it was a late Harvey Greenslade goal which earned Yeovil Town their first win on home soil having survived a scare against Ebbsfleet United.

The Glovers went 2-0 up courtesy of goals from Brett McGavin and Michael Smith before they were pegged back by two quick goals from the visitors, only for substitute Greenslade to secure the three points nine minutes from time.

Prior to that we faced each other back in the August 2019 at Stonebridge Road when goals from Rhys Murphy, Remeao Hutton and Tom Whelan saw Darren Sarll’s men run out 3-1 winners in our first season back in the non-League. The reverse fixture at Huish Park did not take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before that you have to go back to when Ebbsfleet were known as Gravesend & Northfleet in January 2003 when an Andy Lindegaard hat-trick and one from Kirk Jackson saw Gary Johnson’s side to a 4-2 win in Kent.

 

Michael Smith celebrates his goal in front of the Thatcher’s. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Don’t I know you…

It’s fair to say that Callum Harriott probably does not have the happiest memories of his time as a Yeovil Town player. You might remember him as the one sat a good metre away from any team-mate in the Huish Park documentary as we bombed in to National League South.

That’s him hidden behind the flip chart on the left of the picture.

 

Having been one of a number of players signed during the soap opera that was the ‘stewardship’ of Matt Uggla’s SU Glovers in March 2023, Harriott never really showed much other than an equalising goal in a 1-1 draw at Aldershot Town.

Unsurprisingly, he departed quickly after the end of the season and followed Uggla up to York City making just seven appearances last season and six more this season before being released and arriving at Ebbsfleet in at the start of December.

He has started five games for the division’s bottom club scoring on his debut in a 3-3 draw at Sutton United in the FA Trophy, before missing a penalty in a shoot-out which Ebbsfleet lost 4-2.

Who’s been naughty then…

There are no suspensions for either side for tonight’s game.

 

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The Western Counties Floodlight Youth League have issued a statement to the Gloverscast following the recent announcement that Yeovil Town’s Under 18s were withdrawing from the competition.

In a short statement to a number of Gloverscast questions a spokesperson for the league said;

“When clubs are admitted to the League of which there are currently 32 members, they agree to follow the rules which include the mandatory playing of all home matches at their stadiums. No further statement will be issued.”

The Glovers had said the league had rejected a proposed move away from playing games at Huish Park to protect the playing surface.

The young Glovers were 2nd in table at the point of their removal, at time of writing the FA’s Full Time portal has expunged all their results from the table and their fixtures have been removed.

The final league table which included Yeovil Town U18s

This also applies to the league’s cup competition the Roger Stone Memorial Cup.

Yeovil have announced a friendly game on Tuesday 14th January against Portishead as they continue to try and offer competitive football to the young Glovers.

(Yes, the same Portishead that are in the league they’ve just come out of)

 

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Morgan Alexander puts Yeovil Town Under-18s ahead. Picture courtesy of Matt Partridge.

Last week saw the news that Yeovil Town Under 18s have withdrawn from the Western Counties Floodlight League in order to protect the Huish Park pitch, which has been blasted with severe weather over the last few months. The club’s statement said that the league rejected our proposed change of venue for home fixtures forcing Yeovil’s hand to drop out of the competition. I understand that we’d agreed to use a local non-league club for the fixtures. The club has reiterated its commitment to development and is ‘working to arrange high-quality matches against top local league clubs’.

It’s a shame for the club, the kids and the league itself, that surely benefits from having Yeovil in the division, and for whatever political reason the decision has been made, it potentially impacts the future careers of some talented kids. Many of us clamour for that “Green Machine” that produced Chris Weale, Andy Lindegaard, Chris Giles, Craig Alcock and others who came through the academy and part of the first team. As we’ve seen down the road at Exeter, a thriving academy can prove lucrative and create the holy grail; a self-sustaining football club.

Could anyone else not help but get a bit jealous of our National League comrades in FA Cup 3rd Round action? Seeing Dagenham at Millwall and Tamworth take Tottenham (what do we think of Tottenham?) to the limit really hit home. The power of the FA Cup and what it can means for small clubs was very evident.

Distant Glover’s FA Cup commentary

It’s a disgrace that Tamworth’s reward for keeping Tottenham at bay for more than 90 minutes doesn’t see them earn a lucrative replay. That money would be club-changing for Tamworth and while they’ll get some attention, splitting the gate at Spurs would have been the real jackpot. The top teams have got their way though. While they have their multi-million pound training centres with every recovery remedy at their fingertips, Yeovil Town play their second match of three in the space of seven days tonight.

Assistant referee. Picture by Gary Brown

Once again, the officiating was up for discussion following the draw at Woking. There’ve been so many flash points this season, moments in games where you can’t quite believe what your seeing. It would be fascinating to know how other clubs feel about the officiating. Since Hartlepool on the opening day and Tom Parkes’ tackle on Jordan Young, referees have drawn the ire of Mark Cooper. After Gateshead, Boston, Solihull, Sutton United, Oldham, Tamworth, Southend, Halifax, York City, Forest Green Rovers, Woking there have been questions asked about key decisions in matches and comments around the officials. Is there a conspiracy against Yeovil? Are officials going into Yeovil matches with their backs up because of comments made about officials following previous matches? I’m not convinced there is a conspiracy against the Glovers but we certainly see some questionable decisions in our matches.

The ESPN National League Fair Play table from the past six seasons shows there was an increase in yellows per game last season with an average of 1.89 per match in 2023/24 compared to 1.59 in 2022/23. So far this season there’s an average of 2.08 yellows per match. So, either players are getting naughtier or they’re falling foul as the laws of the game change. I’m sure we all long for a fixture where the referee isn’t the topic and it’s all about the performance. However, based on the season so far, I’m sure we’re in for plenty more refereeing conversations.

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I’m rule one-ing this one. What more is there to say about officials that hasn’t already been said? I’m not convinced they were penalties, though. Here are my Five Conclusions from the 1-1 draw with Woking.

We didn’t impose our game in the second half. I thought the first half was even, and we deserved to go in ahead. Everything was in our favour, 1-0, shooting towards the home end (which had been in good voice during the first half) I thought we’d push on and get those three points. But, we never got going. Woking controlled the second half and imposed their game on us. They’re a good well-organised team and far from the side we faced a few weeks ago, but, so are we. As the game wore, to me, it felt like it was more a case of trying not to lose, rather than trying to win until the dying stages of the game.

Sean McGurk. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

What a header from Jarvis. In the first half I thought we looked more likely to create something, especially from the wide areas with Nouble and Sims getting those “bits and pieces’ around the box. Aaron Jarvis had plenty to do with Charlie Cooper’s looping cross into the box from deep in stoppage time. There was only one way that header was finding the back of the net and it was perfectly executed by Yeovil’s number nine.

Dale Gorman, man. We know Gorman’s game well. He did it for us for a season and I think he was generally under appreciated. Now when he returns to Huish Park he gives the shithouse performance of a lifetime and keeps his teams ticking. Somehow he wasn’t booked and his antics saw Cooper carded in less than three minutes. He was at the heart of everything for Woking (alongside former Glover Jamie Andrews) constantly probing and once again left Huish Park being booed.

Dale Gorman. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown

We left it late to make attacking changes. At 1-0, with 20 minutes left and a Woking side that were gaining momentum and made a couple of attacking substitutes we opted to take out Nouble and bring in Michael Smith. Four minutes later O’Brien equalise. It wasn’t until the 83rd minute that we changes things further up the pitch and brought Maddox on for McGurk (my MOTM) and then 90+4 we bring on Greenslade. The tactical change didn’t pay dividends and I’m not sure it had enough time to. 

What is it about the home form? Yeovil have won just four out of the 14 home matches (including W*ymouth) this season, which after the form last season is surprising. I know we didn’t win, but on New Years Day we went to Forest Green and played brilliantly for 75 minutes against a top team. The ability to reproduce that consistently is why we’re in the middle. Last season ‘Fortress Huish’ was a big part of our success and for whatever we’ve not been able to reproduce that. With Gateshead coming to town on Friday, there’s a unique opportunity to give people an entertaining night out at the football and put on a show!