March 2025 (Page 4)

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A first win in five (in emphatic style no less) saw Yeovil leave the Midlands with all three points in a 3-0 win at Solihull Moors. Let’s see what the rest of the league got up to…

We begin at Aldershot Town, where Ebbsfleet United were confirmed as the first team to be relegated from the National League, following an entertaining 3-3 draw. The bottom placed side actually went into half-time 3-2 up, but a second half penalty by Tyler Frost ensured the points were shared, and sent the Fleet down to the National League South, ending a two year spell in the top flight of non-league football.

Hartlepool United ended Boston United’s six match unbeaten run with a big 4-1 win at home, ending their own torrid run of eight games without a win. It was a momentous day for the top of the table, with plenty of teams dropping points, two of which were former title contenders Forest Green Rovers and York City. The Gloucestershire outfit were handily defeated 3-0 away at AFC Fylde, while the Minstermen came unstuck in Essex, falling to a 2-1 defeat against an impressive Braintree Town side.

The playoff chase continues for Southend United, as they won 2-1 at Eastleigh to sit one point outside the post-season spots, while Oldham Athletic looked to close the gap on those above with a 2-0 win against fellow playoff hopefuls FC Halifax Town. Tamworth spoiled the party for Frank Nouble’s Gateshead as they left Tyne and Wear with all three points in a 2-0 win, while points were shared between Maidenhead United and Rochdale, and Sutton United and Dagenham & Redbridge.

There was late drama at Grosvenor Vale, as Kallum Cesay scored a 95th minute winner for Wealdstone, as they defeated Woking, while Barnet continued their march to the National League title with a 1-0 win against Altrincham in front of the DAZN cameras, courtesy of another Rhys Browne goal.

 

National League results – in full

Sutton United 1-1 Dagenham & Redbridge
AFC Fylde 3-0 Forest Green Rovers
Aldershot Town 3-3 Ebbsfleet United (Ebbsfleet are relegated)
Braintree Town 2-1 York City
Eastleigh 1-2 Southend United
Gateshead 0-2 Tamworth
Hartlepool United 4-1 Boston United
Maidenhead United 1-1 Rochdale
Oldham Athletic 2-0 FC Halifax Town
Solihull Moors 0-3 Yeovil Town
Wealdstone 1-0 Woking
Altrincham 0-1 Barnet

National League table

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Non League Day across the lower leagues up and down the land has been the end to a busy week for the Yeovil Town loanees.

… that is apart from Jordan Thomas, who had a watching brief from the bench as Torquay secured a 1-0 win over Bath City in front of over 5,000 people at Plainmoor.

Will Buse couldn’t do anything about a single Chippenham penalty as his W*ymouth side lost 1-0, the Terras sit 13 points adrift of safety in 23rd. 

 

No Corey Koerner for Sherborne, he was busy making his Senior Men’s Professional Debut (not a bad Saturday!), but The Zebras have still been more than accommodating recently,

In midweek, a young Zebras side including FIVE young YTFC Players (including Blake Watts and Koerner) got a 3-0 win over Fareham Town, on Saturday, Jaydon Biss, Joe Crisp and Morgan Alexander were all in the mix again, 

Morgan Alexander scored from the bench scoring in a thrilling 3-3 draw against Millbrook.

Jacob Shore picked up 90 minutes twice this week for AFC Wellington, in a 1-1 draw in midweek and a 1-0 defeat on Saturday.

Jacob Shore – Pic C/O AroundWelly & AFC Wellington

Both George Geraghty and Sol Padmore were in the squad for Bridport as they won 3-2 over Stoke Gabriel and Torbay Police FC (catchy name, that)

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The positivity expressed in Friday’s podcast (listen again here if you need to) turned out to be well placed as a comfortable 3-0 win at Solihull Moors put ten points between Yeovil Town and the National League Premier relegation places. Dave was one of the 244 ‘proper fans’ in the away end at Damson Park and here are this thoughts.

What a win: I’ll be honest, it was not so much the departure of Frank Nouble announced pre-match that knocked the positivity, it was more the absence of Brett McGavin from midfield and no re-emergence for either Jake Wannell or Michael Smith in the squad. But, the positivity was well placed. From the off, we were the better side, the players showed commitment, energy and attacking intent. The result speaks for itself. Yes, Solihull were poor (to be polite) but our players stood up, whilst the home side’s folded.
 
Yeovil Town celebrate Ciaran McGuckin’s goal.
 
A big three points: Three goals, a clean sheet and a good performance, all will delight manager Mark Cooper. But make no mistake, the three points are the most important thing. We moved about Solihull who dropped down to 17th and, even though there is still a five point gap between them and Wealdstone in 18th, that is a big psychological blow. Meanwhile we’re one point off the magic 50 point mark. Solihull fans will be worrying about getting sucked in to the vortex at the bottom (read the comments on their social media posts screaming for the sacking of manager Matty Taylor – it’s not just Yeovil fans afterall) whereas we can sleep easier. You can dismiss that way of thinking as ‘negativity’ if you wish, but if we’re thinking it, players will be thinking it. This was a big three points.
 
Super Sonny. Just Josh: For me it was a dead heat in our Man of the Match between Sonny Blu Lo-Everton and Josh Sims. Everything came through Sonny who was at his imperious best in midfield making things happen with such energy. And Josh Sims looked the player we had hoped we had signed when he arrived earlier in the season. Driving runs, taking players on, I imagine Solihull’s defence will be having nightmares about him. That was what we needed to see from Sims and let’s hope there’s more where that came from. Don’t believe me? Look again at a the first two goals and it’s the two of them which make them happen, whilst the corner which led to the third was down to this combination as well.
 
 
Watch out Brett: Take a bow, Alex Whittle. If you haven’t had the opportunity to watch his finish for the third goal, make sure you do. An absolutely inch perfect finish over his old team-mate, Ollie Wright, in goal for Solihull. I wonder if he’d done that in training earlier this season, he seemed to know exactly what he was doing. If you thought our Goal of the Season competition was purely for the McG’s (McGavin and McGurk), think again. This one is a serious contender. Whilst I’m talking defenders, credit has to be given to the defence for keeping a clean sheet. Ten goals conceded in the past four games, they did what they needed to against a blunt Solihull attack, but they did it well.
 
Now to take it home: Next weekend’s game at home to AFC Fylde is another great opportunity. I have been lucky to see a lot of us away from home this season, but I appreciate that form at home has not been as great to watch. Again, dismiss it as negativity if that works for you, but the statistics do not lie. Fourth from bottom (19 games/21 points) for home form,  sixth (20 games, 28 points) away. Now we have a great opportunity to take the kind of positive play we saw at Solihull back to Huish Park. Fylde will be buoyed by their own impressive result – a 3-0 home win over Forest Green Rovers – and we need to be on our A game against them. Let’s take this positivity in to that game and get more crucial points on the board.
 

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It was victory in Solihull for Yeovil Town this afternoon. Goals from Josh Sims (maybe?), Ciaran McGuckin and Alex Whittle lifted spirits following the departure of Frank Nouble earlier in the day. Mark Cooper spoke to BBC Somerset’s Josh Perkins following the match and here’s what he had to say.

Josh Perkins: Mark, it must be said, what a performance from your team.

Mark Cooper: The boys were fantastic. Followed on from a really spirited performance last Saturday. And you know, we asked them for the same endeavor, the same spirit, same commitment, and we showed that again today. And if you do that, you end up sometimes getting a little bit of luck. And we were worthy winners today. And yeah, it feels good.

Josh Perkins: I said on commentary that. I think especially away from home, that’s your best performance of the season. Would you agree?

Mark Cooper: We’ve won some, we’ve won quite a few games away from home, and we won at Wealdstone, we won at Fylde. We’ve won some entertaining games away from home. But in terms of that, we were never really in danger today. There was one at the end, that when you’re 3-0  it up you switch off a little bit. Apart from that, we were really comfortable, and our organisation was really good, and we looked solid. Compact.

Josh Perkins: The pick of three goals, really, is Alex Whittle’s. We’ll get to his. The first goal. Josh Sims will, will claim it, I’m sure goes down as an own goal. But just your thoughts on that Josh Sims/ own goal and Ciaran McGuckins goal as well, because that was taken well.

Yeovil Town celebrate Ciaran McGuckin’s goal.

Mark Cooper:  We’ve had to change the way we play because we haven’t got how we worked all preseason to play. We’ve got most of those players missing. So we’ve had to change to a 4-3-3, and that’s then about getting the ball to your wide players. And the work has been me screaming at the two wide players every time they get it to take people on. Simsy [Josh Sims], the last couple of games has been good. We’ve needed that from him, because he’s had a slow start for us, and I spoke to him about it, and he’s got so much ability. But, if he can keep that going and get better and better then we’ve got a real player there. But his goal was great, and then a great move for Ciaran’s goal. He needed that. Like I said to you before the game, if in January, Frank had gone and I’d have said we were bringing Ciaran in to replace Frank, everyone would have been cock-a-hoop, but because he’s had a stop-start time since he came back, it’s, ‘why have we done this? Why have we done that?’ So I’m really pleased for him. He got horrendous tackle in the first half, had to go off for that.

Josh Perkins: Good finish from him. And Alex Whittle, what a finish from him. I immediately saw him wheel away in celebration to the technical area and to you just talk me through that.

Mark Cooper: “The best clearance I’ve ever seen. I’m pleased. He’s a good character, and that’s a great finish for him. It’s one of them that either flies in or ends up on the runway at the airport down the road. But no, really pleased. I’m really pleased for fans. 240 proper fans, again, travel three hours, and they cheer the team on from start to finish. No negativity. And it’s really good. Maybe it’s a coincidence, when the fans get behind you, you can win a game.

Josh Perkins: Well, I noticed Khan as well, and his his reintroduction to Yeovil. I thought he played really well today.

Mark Cooper: Yeah, he’s a good footballer. Understands the game. He knows where to be, with the ball, without the ball, and, yeah, really pleased.

Josh Perkins: Just away from this game and in terms of injuries, I know you’re probably sick of hearing this, but any any closer to seeing the likes of McGavin and Wannell?

Mark Cooper: Brett McGavin, I don’t think we’ll play again this season. Horrendous tackle last Saturday against York. So Brett, that’s another key starter we’re missing, but we’re not allowed to mention that. Are we? One thing I have learned is that at Yeovil it doesn’t matter what you’ve got to be available. If you had eight under 12 players, you’d still be expected to win, and that’s the deal. So I’d just like to say thank you to the Chairman. He’s been steadfast in the support for players and staff. A proper Chairman, that’s what you need. He lets us get on with the job. He understands the situation we’re in.

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Life without Frank Nouble began in impressive style as Yeovil Town cruised to a 3-0 win over a Solihull Moors side they leap-frogged in the National League Premier table.

A bizarre first half own goal from the home side’s Alex Whitmore following a great run and cross from Josh Sims gave them the lead before the break, and a quick fire double from Ciaran McGuckin and Alex Whittle sealed the three points.

The result ended a run of five defeats for Mark Cooper’s men and put a ten point gap between them and the division’s drop zone with teams below them picking up valuable points in the battle at the bottom.

First half

The surprise news pre-match was the departure of experienced striker Frank Nouble whose departure to Gateshead was announced ahead of kick-off and made his debut for the North East side the same day.

His exit and the absence of midfielder Brett McGavin in the squad adding to an extensive injury list at Huish Park, left the Yeovil side with a youthful looking starting XI against a Solihull side equally in need of points to pull away from the scrap at the foot of the division.

In the 26th minute, we took the lead but no-one in the away end can honestly say they thought we did. Josh Sims made a jinking run in to the box and fired a ball across the face of goal where it took a deflection off Alex Whitmore and past Ollie Wright. OWN GOAL but in the away end we were politely applauding a corner. 

Yeovil Town defending a first half corner.
 
A Finn Cousin-Dawson off target shot with three minutes of normal time remaining, before a good interception in midfield by Charlie Cooper saw him present Ciaran McGuckin with an opportunity to run through on goal but the young striker’s effort was pulled wide of the post.
 
In between it had been a battle between two poor sides neither of which wanted to make a mistake – well, no more than the mistake which led to the opening goal. But, 1-0 up in a game which both sides need the points to take them away from the bottom end of the table, we will take it.

Half time: Solihull Moors 0 Yeovil Town 1

Second half

The second half started with Yeovil seemingly sensing blood from their hosts and on the attack. First Lo-Everton almost picked out McGuckin inside the box, but the ball was just over his head and then great play between Sims and Lo-Everton (a regular theme of this game) saw the latter play a low ball in to the box. Cooper threw himself at it and the ball flew wide with McGuckin in a better position to take the opportunity.
 
But the second goal came five minutes of the second half played and it was Lo-Everton and Sims again. Sonny’s super pass picked out Sims (what has he had in his half-time water bottle?) and the former Southampton man dribbled forward and fizzed a great ball in to McGUCKIN who doubled the visitors’ advantage with a superb finish from inside the area.
 
Yeovil Town celebrate Ciaran McGuckin’s goal.
 
Great forward play involving Sims and Lo-Everton and a chipped ball to the back post almost found McGuckin before being seen out for a corner. From the resulting corner, the ball looked to have been cleared by Solihull, Cooper’s follow up shot was blocked and it  landed to Alex WHITTLE on the edge of the box. The full-back spotted his old team-mate, Ollie Wright, off his line and tried a chip from the edge of the box which beautifully floated in. What a goal.
 
Suddenly the game was dead and buried and a poor Solihull team looked unlikely to trouble Yeovil, who threatened more going forward with Lo-Everton and Sims at the heart of everything.
 
There was a nice moment for young defender Corey Koerner who made his professional debut replacing Lo-Everton with three minutes of second half injury time played. The teenager is a product of the Yeovil Town Community Sports Trust system who is now captain of the club’s Under-18s. Great evidence of what an effective youth system can deliver. Well done, Corey.
 
There was one opportunity for the home side to add a consolation goal. A long ball forward was flicked on by Manny Duku, Holmes got the better of Whittle, ran it around Aidan Stone in goal and got a shot on target and Finn Cousin-Dawson was there to clear on the line. Clean sheet maintained.

Full time: Solihull Moors 0 Yeovil Town 3

Match Details

Venue: Damson Park
Date: Saturday 22nd March, 3:00pm kick-off

Competition: National League Premier Division

Scorers: Alex Whitmore o.g. 28, Ciaran McGuckin 50, Alex Whittle 56

Pitch: Surprisingly green for this stage of the season 
Conditions: Gloomy but dry

Attendance: 1495 (244 away supporters)

Bookings: 
Solihull Moors: Jamey Osborne 19, Reece Hall-Johnson 45+1
Yeovil Town:  Alex Whittle 12, Kyle Ferguson 81

Referee:Sebastian Stockbridge

Yeovil Town (4-3-3)

Substitutes:  Harvey Greenslade (for Ciaran McGuckin, 59), Ryan McLean (for Josh Sims, 75), Lewys Talley (for Otis Khan, 90), Corey Koerner (for Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, 90+3), Marcel Lavinier (not used), Matt Gould (not used).

Solihull Moors: Ollie Wright, James Clarke (for Jon Bostock, 46), Robbie Cundy, Manny Duku,  Reece Hall-Johnson, Frankie Holman (for Brad Stevenson, 55), Joe Newton (for Finley Holmes, 80), Marcel Oakley, Jamey Osborne (for Szhem Hall-Whyte, 71), Oliver Tipton (for Joss Labadie, 87), Alex Whitmore.

Substitutes (not used): Aaron Flahavan, Jack Wells-Morrison.

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Otis Khan makes his second debut for the Glovers this afternoon replacing outgoing Frank Nouble in the starting line up.

Brett McGavin also misses out, with Finn Cousin-Dawson nudging into midfield leaving loan duo Frankie Terry and Kyle Ferguson make up the heart of the defence.

Alex Whittle skippers the side, Kyrell Wilson is the unlucky 6th loanee.

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Frank Nouble has signed for Gateshead until the end of 2025/26 season, finally departing Huish Park nearly two weeks after Mark Cooper confirmed Nouble’s intention to leave.

The forward’s departure was confirmed in a statement by Yeovil Town posted at 12pm on Saturday ahead of the 3-0 win at Solihull Moors, which said: “Yeovil Town Football Club can confirm that Frank Nouble has been approached by Gateshead and has expressed his intention to pursue this move. While we are disappointed with his decision, we respect his right to make it. The club would like to make it clear that it has always prioritised the best interests of the team and its supporters.

“Nouble’s departure comes at a time when we are focused on strengthening our squad and continuing to build a competitive side for the remainder of the season. We thank Frank for his contributions during his time with the club, but our priority is to continue striving for success and to ensure the best interests of Yeovil Town Football Club and its loyal supporters.”

In response, the 33-year-old posted on his own Twitter/X account posted at 7.32pm on Saturday, saying: “There are some great people at YTFC, to the supporters, home and away for the last 2 years unreal!! thank you so much. A trophy in the cabinet too. Unfortunately my desire to stay at the club wasn’t reciprocated so on to the next. Take care.“

The contradictions between the two statements clearly underline a difference of opinion in the reasons behind the departure of the former West Ham United and Wolves forward, who played the full 90 minutes for his new club in a 2-0 defeat at home to Tamworth.

Frank Nouble. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Rumours about Gateshead’s interest and an impending takeover were confirmed by Cooper before the 3-0 defeat to Boston United on the 11th of March. Cooper said: “Apparently it is a potential new owner that is coming in to Gateshead that has agreed a deal with Frank, the deal has not gone through because of that. We were told (on Monday) it was agreed and I think from what we have heard now the deal has fallen through. Frank’s made his wishes clear, he wanted to move on and that is fine, he has done well for us and been a big part of what we are trying to do. But his future is elsewhere.”

Frank was part of the Glovers National League South winning side, and leaves Huish Park having scored 14 times in 80 appearances in green and white, including three crucial goals against Tamworth, Maidenhead and Southend United last month.

We’d like to say a huge thanks to Frank for his commitment whilst in the Yeovil shirt and his efforts in the community with his academy that has made a huge impact to youngsters in Yeovil.

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Yeovil Town are back on the road in search of points to pull them away from the relegation mire at the foot of the National League Premier table and travel to a Solihull Moors side…..*checks notes*…..in search of points to pull them away from the relegation mire at the foot of the National League Premier table

Form Guide…

After two wins on the bounce in the middle of February, the Glovers’ form has dropped significantly, with no win in their last five fixtures. Yeovil’s only point during this period has been a 2-2 draw at home to Southend United.

The caveat would be that the Somerset side has predominantly trams in the playoffs over that period, as well as the 3-0 loss at home to a resurgent Boston United, one of those sides looking to swap places with them below the dotted line.

Last time out for the Glovers was a spirited 1-0 defeat to promotion-chasing York. Yeovil rarely threatened but can’t take confidence in the fact they didn’t concede more than the one goal.

Mark Cooper.

Solihull’s form hasn’t been particularly glamorous either over the last five games with just the one win, they have drawn two games as well alongside two losses.

In their last league game, they drew 1-1 at Hartlepool United, another club in crisis off the field which is impacting them on the field, on North-East coast. Their goal coming through striker Manny Duku, who has proved a vital boost since joining on a short-term deal at the start of the month following his departure from Hednesford Town in February.

The loss of manager Andy Whing, who departed the Midlands to join League Two Barrow in January, has turned Solihull’s season from one looking to once again compete for play-off places, to looking over their shoulder at the relegation zone. Since his replacement, former Portsmouth and Bolton Wanderers player Matty Taylor quit Wealdstone to join them, they have won just once, the 2-1 home win over bottom club Ebbsfleet United a fortnight ago – with Duku on the scoresheet twice.

Key Players…

Yeovil – Brett McGavin

We have said his name a lot this season and for good reason, McGavin is our top scorer. As a team that has lacked goals in all areas, McGavin has popped up with a few important ones and some just sublime ones too.

The wonderfully haired midfielder does more than just score goals however, alongside Charlie Cooper, he controls the midfield. In recent games it might not have clicked for the pair but we have seen what happens when it does, we win.

All we can hope is that injury which saw him limp off against York last weekend was not as serious as it looked.

Brett McGavin is helped from the pitch. Picture courtesy of Debs Curtis.

Boston United – Manny Duku

The centre forward has been a lightning rod (almost literally, he’s 6’2″ tall) since arriving at Damson Park at the start of the month.

Having departed Northern League Hednesford Town (where he’d scored 19 times this season) the previous month, the former Dutchman has scored three in as many games. His double at home to Ebbsfleet a fortnight ago proved the difference to lift the gloom over Matty Taylor’s reign, and he equalised to grab at point up at Hartlepool last weekend.

If Yeovil are going to get anything from this one, they will need to pay him close attention.

 

That’s what he said…

Yeovil manager Mark Cooper spoke positively about his hopes of the return of some the club’s missing injured players including defenders Jake Wannell and Michael Smith

On their next opponents, he added: “They’ve had lots of change, obviously, change of the Manager [who] went to the EFL to Barrow, done a great job.

“They brought in Matty [Taylor] from Wealdstone. It’s always tough, when you go into a team that are used to a manager’s way, you have to try and change and adapt to the way you want it.

“They’ve had a turn around of players, they’ve had some injuries, so it’s been tough, but they’ve had a little run, I think, three unbeaten. Like I always say, there’s never any easy games at this level, never. And we’re expecting a really tough game, but I’m sure they would have watched us against York, and they’ll be expecting a really tough encounter as well.”

Solihull Moors boss Matty Taylor.

In his pre-match interview, Matty Taylor said he expects to be going again with the same group of players which earned Solihull a point up at Hartlepool last weekend. But, he was pleased to see some fringe players get minutes in the 4-1 defeat at Tamworth in the Birmingham Senior Cup on Tuesday night.

The manager said: “It’s been a week where we’ve been able to rest players that needed a rest because we have had a few injuries and managed to get minutes in to players that needed it on Tuesday night, so the majority of the boys have done all the four training sessions we have had this season.

“We know it is going to be another difficult game. Our form has been better, unbeaten in three, but we have to start getting clean sheets. We know Yeovil are not on the run they would want to be on, but we know they have some very good technical players, they have a very good, experienced manager in Mark Cooper.”

 

We’ve met before…

The two teams have met 12 time throughout history with, the first game only being played in November 2016 when Darren Way’s Glovers crashed out of the FA Cup in a second round replay at Damson Park – on penalties! Out of those 12 fixtures, Yeovil have come out on top only three times, with Solihull winning four and there being five draws.

The most recent game between the two was back in September at Huish Park, when Solihull won 1-0 with Connor Wilkinson, who is injured for the return fixture this weekend, scoring the only goal.

Don’t I know you?…

There are a couple old Glovers in The Moors squad with some being more recent than others.

Ollie Wright will be a name you all know. The goalkeeper spent the majority of this season on loan at Huish Park before Southampton decide to recall him then send straight back out on loan again. Weird we know.

Ollie Wright returned to Southampton at the start of February.
Picture by FRANK REID

 

 

Tahvon Campbell is a name that maybe familiar to the older match preview reader. The striker joined Yeovil first back in January 2016 on loan from West Brom. He returned to Yeovil in the august of the same year, again on loan until January 2017. Across his two spell Campbell played 42 games (still his most capped club) scoring three goals. That said, he has missed most of this season through injury, so is unlikely to feature.

Who’s been naughty then…

No one is suspended for the game.

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