A big win on the board and 2025 is off and running (albeit slightly later than ideal), Chris Fox joins Ben and Dave to chat about the 3 points earned against Tamworth, the game against Maidenhead and few other bits as well, including your #GCQs
Goalkeeper Aidan Stone said the potential of helping Yeovil Town back in to the Football League is what attracted him to the club.
The stopper, who was part of the Port Vale side which won promotion out of League Two in the 2021-22 season, arrived at Huish Park at the start of the month and replaced loanee Ollie Wright following the youngsters return to Southampton.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah about his start to life in Somerset ahead of this weekend’s trip to Maidenhead United, he said: “It has been brilliant, I have hit the ground running with games coming thick and fast. To be straight in to the team is a good thing because every player wants to play games. Towards the end of the transfer window my agent gave me a call to say the Gaffer (Mark Cooper) had expressed his interest and, once we had a conversation, it was something I wanted to get sorted. I have moved my family down South last year, so being closer to home was a priority. I always remember this club being in the Football League and players I know spoke highly of the club, so it was that which made me interested. I wanted to be part of the journey of taking the club back in to the League.
“It has been good so far. It is always hard coming in to a team midway through a season, but the boys have been brilliant. Jake Wannell and I share a car and it is has been good to make a relationship there. We are chatting about the club, different formations and everything to do with football.”
Asked about his early experiences of playing at Huish Park, the 25-year-old said: “It is an atmosphere which can grow, but that is down to our performances. I like to think that if we can put in performances like we did (in the home win over Tamworth) on Tuesday night, the support will only continue to get better. The club got promoted last year and you would snatch your hand off for a mid-table finish, but we do not want to settle for that. We are better than that, there’s a great group of players there with a lot of ability. It is about using the momentum, when I was at Port Vale I think we were 12th and went on an amazing run and ended up getting promoted, so you never know what can happen in football. I think if we can be in and around the play-offs, that would be an amazing achievement.”
The Glovers travel to Berkshire this weekend on the back of a 2-1 home win over Tamworth on Tuesday night, a match which saw them come from 1-0 down at half-time to claim their first victory in more than two months.
Stone echoed the words of his manager Mark Cooper saying that the victory had to set the benchmark for the club’s remaining matches in the National League Premier Division.
He said: “It is always important to get a win whether you are in good form or the run of form we were in before I joined. What is important is whether we can build on it and take that momentum in to the remaining 15 games and finish the season strongly. If we continue to use the momentum and togetherness we showed on Tuesday night and we will see where it takes us. At half-time we spoke about getting forward and getting shots off, but we knew that eventually there would be balls coming in on top of us and it was how we dealt with that. In previous games we had not been as good, but on Tuesday night we were top class. Now we need to show that every single game, that has to be the benchmark. We have shown we can do it for 45 minutes at least, but it has to for 90 minutes going forward.
“I played against Maidenhead (during a loan spell) at Boston earlier in the season. They manage to find the form to get out of trouble every season, so it will be a tough game for us, but if we show what we showed in the second half the other night (against Tamworth) I think it is going to lead to a positive result for us.”
Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has said the fight which his players showed in the midweek win over Tamworth has set the benchmark for how they have to attack the rest of the season.
The Glovers travel to Maidenhead United on Saturday looking to build on their first win in more than two months and will do so without loanees James Plant, who has been ruled out for the season with a hamstring injury, and Kofi Shaw, who returned to Bristol Rovers in midweek.
The boss also said he expects defender Morgan Williams to be missing for another six weeks with his hamstring injury, whilst midfielder Jacob Maddox is not expected to be available for the weekend with a foot injury.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah about the 2-1 win at Huish Park on Tuesday night, Cooper said: “When you have gone a while without a win, it is a relief to get one. When you work so hard as a group, the frustration builds and once you get over the line and get those three points, it is a relief and it was a good changing rooms after the game and rightly so because we worked hard against a tough team. Society is about everything having to be now, you are not allowed to make mistakes and you have to win every game, but the message is clear – you have to start with giving everything and, if you do that, the ability comes through in the end.
“The other night, we were front foot for the whole game, we had to stand up and be counted and in adversity and dark times, you learn a lot about people. You certainly learn about yourself, as a manager, you learn about which of your players are going to stand up, pick the flag up and march forward and which are going to not do that. The other night we had some warriors who picked the flag up and march straight down the middle and we have to keep doing that.”
The boss picked out forward Frank Nouble‘s performance against Tamworth. The 33-year-old netted the winner just before the hour mark, his first goal in almost a year. His manager said: “Frank is a good pro, he never misses a training session, he always puts himself out there and when you are a forward and you do not get the goals that your play deserves, however, you dress it up, it plays on your mind. It is not a lack of confidence, it is a moment in time, but we all knew it would end. He led the line superbly well the other night and that is what we need from him. He made the opposition defend the other night, but there was another 12 of them out there.”
Shaw was not available for the midweek win having been recalled by Bristol Rovers the day before and came off the substitute’s bench for his parent club’s 2-0 defeat at Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday night.
On Shaw, Cooper said: “It is a big loss because he can play in a number of positions, he can play as a high midfielder, as a number ten. He has just turned 18 years old and we had to be careful about the environment we put him in. He got an awful lot of minutes with us and Bristol Rovers were delighted with his progression. It is good for him because he went and played League One football the other night and I do not think he would be doing that if he had not had such a good time with us.”
Plant limped off after 64 minutes on Tuesday night after becoming the latest Glovers’ player to fall foul to the hamstring curse which has already taken out striker Aaron Jarvis, defender Williams and Plant who suffered the injury in his first loan spell at the club.
The boss said: “It is not the same hamstring he did before. Morgan Williams we have lost with a hamstring. I have my own theories why that is…… It is really frustrating because he was a top player for us, he has an unbelievable work ethic, he goes past people, crosses the ball, he can play in different positions. We have not been able to train on grass for three months, we just train on a quagmire and I am sure that has an impact on the injuries we are picking up. It is not an excuse, but it is something we are trying to solve.”
Yeovil travel to Maidenhead United in the National League Premier Division this weekend with their hosts riding high following a 1-0 midweek win at promotion-chasing Oldham Athletic. In their last three games, the Berkshire club beat Southend United at home and earned a point on the road at Hartlepool United.
Cooper does expect to have on loan Swindon Town midfielder Sean McGurk, who missed the win over Tamworth with an injury, available for that match, but is expecting another tough encounter.
He said: “It is a tough game because they have some physically big players, they play five at the back who are tough and have two lads up front who are a threat in (Shawn) McClousky and Tristan Abrahams. The other night (against Tamworth) we had to deal with untold numbers of balls in our box which we had to head, cleared and blocked and we will have to do that against (at Maidenhead) on Saturday. The work-rate and the endeavour has to be the same, that has to be the starting point. You have to match whatever they bring and we have to do that on Saturday. They are a team which fight and stay in the league every year, so it will be a tough game.”
Yeovil Town will have a repeat referee in charge on Saturday, we’ve already seen Mr Callum Walchester once this season… actually, we’ve almost seen him twice.
Mr Walchester was the man in the middle for the Glovers’ 1-0 win over Braintree back on August 17th.
Morgan Williams bagged the only goal of the game, with Messrs Jarvis and Nouble bagging themselves a yellow card in the game.
He was also scheduled to be in charge for our 0-0 draw with Sutton United in September, but he was replaced late on by Paul Johnson.
That Braintree fixture represented his first game in the middle for the Glovers, and the record books show that he’s only refereed our opposition on one occasion too.
A 0-0 draw with Bromley in January 2024.
Overall this season, he’s officiated in seven National League games, dishing out 36 yellows and 1 red, but it is worth noting that 11 of those (…and the red) came in the same game, a feisty encounter between Braintree and Fylde.
Callum has been an assistant referee in a Wembley final in 2017 so has already clocked up a vast amount of experience on the National League circuit.
He will be assisted by Tim Walker and James Hurst, Tommy Breen is the fourth official.
2025 is off and running for Yeovil Town, a first win of the year secured on Tuesday night with a 2-1 win over Tamworth.
Ben was watching on the stream and here’s what he made of it.
….AND BREATHE.
“That is the sound of relief” (Prior, D, 2025, Yeovil Town Radio) on the highlights as the final whistle went on Tuesday evening.
He was not wrong either, that winless run has crept into ‘months’ rather that being referred to in terms of ‘weeks’ or ‘matches’.
Whilst, as I said on the podcast, I’m firmly ‘Cooper In’ and had been throughout this tough period, it was certainly a monkey that needed to be shaken off the back sooner, rather than later.
Even I, usually happy to bounce around the dining room upon the conclusion of a successful outing for the Glovers, just took a deep breath, slouched back in my chair, and quietly closed the laptop. I think this run has tested the emotions of everyone associated with the club; fans, players and staff all needed that.
CHARACTER
…and boy did we have to earn it. It was an incredible game of two halves.
The first, whilst not ‘poor’ from the Glovers, was certainly wracked with nerves. You could see it, in every pass, every clearance, every bobble of the ball that went against us (or absolute stone wall penalty not given for us…).
That’s perfectly natural and understandable. It was a bold team selection, one that perhaps had to work for the better (more on that it a bit), but it provided the team with the players to react to the gut punch of going a goal down.
There were moments in the first half of genuine quality – mostly from Kyrell Wilson – even if some of his final decision making and execution left a little to be desired.
The second half was a whole different game. Jerry Gill said that he didn’t expect Mark Cooper to stick a rocket up them during the break, whether he did or not, only a select few will know. But whatever he did, it worked.
We came out of the box quickly in the second 45, started on the front foot, unlike against Rochdale and Dagenham recently, we kept the ball in the Tamworth half and soon the Thatchers Stand did it’s thing in response.
It was attacking, fluid, brave, all the things that have deserted us in recent weeks. Yeah, the goals had an element of luck to them, but you make that luck with your own desire and threat.
EXPERIENCE
You may have heard me on the podcast saying we needed a ‘grown up’ in attack, and how we had to get the ‘Guv’nor’ back and in full pomp.
Well, like a broken clock is right twice a day, I think I may have been right on this one.
Charlie Cooper is so key to the midfield, everything, and I mean everything, goes through him. That’s dirty work that McGavin, Wannell, Lo-Everton and the wing backs, just didn’t have to do, so they could spend their time concentrating on their own roles.
He needed a huge slice of luck for the goal, but he took the game – and that specific moment – by the scruff of the neck and said, ‘well, might as well’.
It was on target, it could have been a Glovers’ boot that deflects it beyond the keeper or a Tamworth one, I don’t care who it comes off, it went in. You miss 100% of shots you don’t take. (Gretsky, W, 1983) and having seen more than a few halves of football where we’ve recorded 0 shots on target. I love it.
The Guv’nor got his first Huish Park goal in over a year, but he did exactly what I wanted him to do, he got his legs pumping and got the Tamworth defenders turned facing their own goal.
His passes kept the attacks moving, his presence felt by all in green… and in white. More of that please Frank.
Of course Sonny gets his own mention too, I imagine he can’t move today, but for a lad that’s been out of the side for so long, 76 minutes was a cracking effort. He kept it simple, he kept things moving and hopefully we’ll see more of that to come over the next few weeks, we might have to…
HAMSTRUNG
There was a visceral noise that came from Jerry Gill as the clock struck 65 minutes, and off camera, James Plant hit the deck holding his leg.
Jerry knew, James knew, he’s going to be out for a while. Possibly a reoccurrence of a hamstring injury that curtailed his first loan short he might be out for a few weeks, maybe more.
Mark Cooper would have loved to have turned around and signaled for Kofi Shaw. But he couldn’t.
Shaw did come off the bench on Tuesday, but for Bristol Rovers away at Wycombe. That leaves us a little light in that area now, hopefully Sean McGurk’s problems won’t keep him out for too long, but with Sonny getting back to fitness and a little cameo from Harvey Greenslade which certainly impressed me, there might not be the panic to recruit, but there’s definitely room for a loanee now.
After the game, Mark Cooper said he’d be asking the Chairman – who was in the room – for some more money, suggesting there’s wiggle room to expand the squad a bit.
FOUNDATIONS
‘Don’t get too high with the highs, don’t get too low with the lows’ (Obama, B, 2015).
It was just one game, one very good half of one game, actually.
That’s not to say we can’t enjoy it, of course we can, the relief was palpable, but I also appreciated the talk after the game of building on it to go again, on Saturday, then the following week and the following week.
We’ve been through a tough patch of results against some of the lesser teams, after Maidenhead on Saturday it’s a trio of play-off chasers in a row before we host Boston in mid-march.
Some of those games will need every bit of the character we showed on Tuesday night, maybe even more. Just six more home games are on the schedule, every ticket purchased is important, every win vital to encouraging sponsors to take up advertising boards next season and players to come to Fortress Huish, it’s vital we get it right at HP.
A much needed win at Huish Park under the lights, but also the catalyst to end the season strong – maybe upset a few big boys along the way?
Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has hailed the performance of his players in tonight’s 2-1 win over Tamworth at Huish Park.
The boss admitted it had been “a difficult few days” after last weekend’s home defeat to Wealdstone extended their run without a National League win to more than two months.
Having fallen behind just before the half-hour mark, the Glovers turned in an impressive second half display which saw them pull level courtesy of a deflected Charlie Cooper strike before frontman Frank Nouble’s first goal in almost a year sealed the win on the hour.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman after the game, the manager said: “We had to work really hard after Saturday. The chairman (Martin Hellier), myself, the players to try and turn the negativity around and it had to start with desire and commitment and I thought the energy players provided to the stadium was incredible. To go 1-0 down in what could be a toxic atmosphere makes it an even greater performance, the players were top draw tonight.
“They are a really difficult team to play against, they have got points off the big teams and you know what is coming with ten minutes to go. They brought (long throw specialist Tom) Tonks on who is a good player with a missile of a throw which you know you are going to have to defend it. But the start of the second half was key, we got that goal and it gave the Thatcher’s the impetus and they drove us on.
“It has been a difficult few days and we showed a united front which is important. In today’s day and age, the way society and social media works, everything is about ‘now’ and you have to have everything now. People have to have everything now, but sometimes it takes time to build. We are trying to build this club back in, the owner has put an incredible amount of money in that he is never going to get back and we are trying to make it better.
“It is not going to happen overnight, but when you have a group of players with that commitment and show in negative times that they can do that, you know we can have a really good end to the season and put things in place where we can just do everything better, but it takes time.”
Cooper praised the performance of Nouble who was brought back in to the starting line-up having come off the bench towards the end of Saturday’s defeat. His winning strike was his first goal since the 1-0 win at Braintree Town in National League South on March 24th last year.
The boss said: “Frank is a proud man who has scored goals and to go that long without scoring would play on anyone’s mind, but even if you take away his goal, his performance was top draw. We had some eight or nines out of ten tonight and we have to do that more and more. It is about how do you bottle that desire to get that feeling of pure relief, but real pride at how we responded to get the win.”
One negative of the evening was the sight of on loan Port Vale midfielder James Plant limping off shortly after Yeovil’s second goal with what the manager said appears to be a hamstring injury.
Cooper added: “Aaron Jarvis is probably the best number nine in the league in my opinion, Morgan Williams is a top centre back, Sean McGurk is a top player, Jacob Maddox, they are big misses for us. James Plant has done his hamstring now, it looks like, so I am going to have to ask the chairman for some more money – which I know he is pleased about! But that happens to every club, sometimes you get injuries and sometimes people step up.”
Frank Nouble’s first goal of the season saw Yeovil Town pick up their first win in more than two months against a battling Tamworth side at Huish Park.
The Glovers fell behind when Rohan Maher stabbed home just before the half-hour mark and the home side failed to create anything approaching an effort on the visitors’ goal.
But, they were handed an equaliser through a slice of luck when Charlie Cooper’s effort took a deflection to go past Jas Singh in the Tamworth goal and then just before the hour mark Nouble’s shot across the keeper flew in to the bottom corner to earn the win.
They had to scrap for it for the remaining half-an-hour with Tamworth bringing on long throw specialist Tom Tonks, whose missiles in to the box caused problems, but Yeovil held on for the win that their second half performance deserved.
Venue: Huish Park
Date: Tuesday 18th February, 3pm
Competition: National League Premier Division
Scorers: Rohan Maher 28 (0-1), Charlie Cooper 50 (1-1), Frank Nouble 59 (2-1)
Pitch: Hard and bobbly
Conditions: Cold
Attendance: 2,649 (119 away supporters)
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Ciaran McGuckin 80
Tamworth: Arjan Raikhy 82
Referee: Dale Baines
Yeovil Town (3-4-2-1)
Substitutes: Ciaran McGuckin (for James Plant, 64), Harvey Greenslade (for Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, 77), Josh Sims (for Kyrell Wilson, 90+5), Dom Bernard (not used), Lewys Twamley (not used), Matt Gould (not used).
Tamworth: Jas Singh, Matt Curley, Kennedy Digie, Ben Milnes (for Ben Milnes, 60), George Morrison, Tom McGlinchey (for Kyle Finn, 84), Haydn Hollis, Munashe Sundire (for Arjan Raikhy, 71), Ronan Maher (for Beck Ray Enoru, 71), Ben Crompton, Jordan Ponticelli (for Dan Creaney, 60),
Substitutes (not used): Alex Fletcher, Nathan Tshikun.
Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has said it is time for the club’s experienced players to “stand up” as they go looking for their first National League win in more than two months at home to Tamworth tonight.
The boss has made four changes from the 2-1 defeat to Wealdstone at Huish Park last weekend with Sonny Blu Lo-Everton making a surprise return to the line-up alongside Charlie Cooper, who has returned from suspension. Experienced defender Michael Smith and forward Frank Nouble are also back in the starting XI.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman ahead of the game, Cooper said: “We have not got a lot of choice, but we have got with a bit of experience. If you look at Aidan Stone, Michael Smith, Jake Wannell, Charlie Cooper, Brett McGavin, Sonny, Frank Nouble, you would class them all as experienced players. It is time for our boys to stand up.
“We have four fresh faces in the team, but if you take (Aaron) Jarvis and Morgan Williams out of any team at this level and it is going to really hinder you.
The boss revealed that on loan Swindon Town midfielder Sean McGurk was out of the squad with “a sore thigh“. Defender Morgan Williams (hamstring), midfielder Jacob Maddox (foot) and striker Jarvis (hamstring) are also missing.
Cooper revealed that the club learned that Bristol Rovers would recall midfielder Kofi Shaw late on Monday afternoon. The 18-year-old is named among the substitutes for his parent club’s League One fixture at Wycombe Wanderers tonight.
He said: “They have got loads of injuries. They are really pleased with the amount of minutes he has got and the way he has developed, it is good to keep that relationship with clubs like Bristol Rovers and Bristol City and try and get their best loans.”
The Glovers drew 0-0 at Tamworth back in October when defender Morgan Williams was sent off after 71 minutes. The Midlands club is a familiar one to Cooper, who began his managerial career at The Lamb Ground in 2004, spending three years in charge there.
Speaking of his time, the Glovers’ boss said: “It was a good start for me, there were really good people there who looked after me. I did not have a clue what I was doing – some would say I still don’t – but I really enjoyed it and it gave me a really good experience of working with tight budgets.
“They have done really well. The manager, Andy (Peaks), has done a great job. It is a tough place to play (at Tamworth) on their 3G surface and we played really well there when we had ten men for a long time, but we played really well. But you know at stages in time game you are going to have to defend balls in to your box and that is where at the moment we have to be a lot better, defending our box and penetrating theirs.”
