August 2025 (Page 10)

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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper was satisfied with a point from the opening day stalemate against Hartlepool United at Huish Park.

The Glovers put in an improved performance in the second half after a drab opening 45 minutes and had a great chance to win it through substitute striker Ben Wodskou with seven minutes remaining.

Cooper said the arrival of Wodskou and fellow forwards Junior Morias and Tahvon Campbell brought added life to his side, but was pleased with the solidity his side showed to keep a clean sheet.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah after the match, he said: “Last year we would have lost that game. I think you saw the impetus the forwards (Junior Morias, Tahvon Campbell and Ben Wodskou) brought when they came on and we kept it solid behind the ball and had some good chances. You saw Junior and Tav’s quality when he came on and Ben had a great chance, they gave us a lift when they came on. 

“When you look at our bench, we have people who are going to improve us or not make us worse and that has not always been the case. It was a cagey first game of the season, players getting their breath but it was important we did not lose. The fans kept going, they got behind the boys brilliantly and we need to keep that spirit among the club.”

Junior Morias looks up for a pass.
Junior Morias in action against Hartlepool United. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

The opening 45 minutes belonged to the visitors, who ran out 1-0 winners at Huish Park on the opening day of last season, with Yeovil indebted to new goalkeeper Jed Ward, who has joined on a season-long loan from Bristol Rovers, to keep them in it.

Cooper gave four debuts in his starting line-up with Birmingham City youngster wing back Byron Pendleton and midfielders Luke McCormick and  James Daly named alongside Ward.

The manager said: “You could tell we have some new players and the first half was very scrappy and we never really got going, but our back three and our two midfield players looked really solid which they have to do. We waited for the forwards to spark which they did in the second half when we looked more of a threat and we had some really good chances and looked like we would go on and win it. But if you are not going to win the first game, you do not want to be beaten and we will take a point and move on.”

The next test sees Yeovil travel to big-spending Forest Green Rovers who picked up a point of their own on the road at Solihull Moors on the opening day. The Gloucestershire outfit, now managed by footballing gobshite Robbie Savage, played against ten men after Solihull’s Darius Lipsiuc was sent off after just six minutes. 

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Josh Sims misses out on a 50-50 ball to Hartlepool keeper Harvey Cartwright.

Yeovil Town and Hartlepool United played out the only goalless draw of the National League Premier Division’s opening day at Huish Park.

But it was familiar story of the Glovers not taking the chances which came there way with a glorious opportunity for young loan striker Ben Wodskou with just seven minutes remaining.

The first half belonged to Hartlepool with the home side indebted to new goalkeeper Jed Ward on a couple of occasions, they showed more attacking intent after the break, but could not find the goal.

First half

Yeovil lined up with three central defenders in the shape of captain Jake Wannell, Morgan Williams and Alex Whittle with summer signings James Daly and Byron Pendleton, signed on a season-long loan from Birmingham City, playing as wing backs. New owner Prabhu Srinivasan was in the Thatcher’s End with the home supporters at kick-off and the National League season was underway.

The opening ten minutes did not muster a clear opportunity for either side with Charlie Cooper’s free-kick in to a defensive wall the closest Yeovil got troubling visiting keeper Harvey Cartwright.

Hartlepool were definitely the more attacking and physical in the opening exchanges with Yeovil preferring to sit behind the ball and let the visitors come on to them.  The more things change, the more they stay the same. The rapidity of James Daly and Byron Pendleton, the ‘wingers’ or ‘wing backs’ in the Glovers’ line-up depending on your definition, did not seem to cross the halfway line in the opening 25 minutes.

The biggest cheer of the opening 25 minutes came when the visitors’ Jamie Miley booked for a foul on Finn Cousin-Dawson after 26 minutes.

On 29 minutes, a long ball forward from Jed Ward was flicked on by Aaron Jarvis and a slip by the visitors’ Cameron John gave Josh Sims an opportunity to race towards goal, but Cartwright raced out of his area to get to the ball first. Moments later, Alex Reid flashed one wide for Pools at the other end.

Jed Ward during his pre-match warm up.
Debutant Jed Ward saw plenty of action in the first half. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Reid got himself in to a good position with seven minutes of the first half remaining as he broke in to the box, but shot wide of goal with Wannell sliding in to provide enough of a distraction and a minute later Yeovil were indebted to Whittle as Danny Johnson found himself with a clear sight of goal. The defender put his body in front of the shot.

At the other end there was the occasional break forward and Yeovil got the ball in to the box on a few occasions, but mostly it was Jarvis ploughing a lone furrow with little support up front.  Can’t recall Cartwright having a save to make in the opening 45 minutes.

If you watched us at Huish Park last season, it was like that.

Half time: Yeovil Town 0 Hartlepool United 0

 

Second half

Within the opening two minutes of the second half, Yeovil forced Cartwright in to two impressive stops. On 47 minutes, a high ball in to the box from Cousin-Dawson picked out Daly on the far post, but his header was pushed away by the Pools’ keeper. Moments later the on loan Hull City keeper did superbly to tip another effort over the bar.

More attacking intent in the opening five minutes of the second half than in the first 45 minutes for Yeovil.

On 53 minutes, Ward was called in to action at the other end when Johnson got another sight of goal, but the Bristol Rovers loanee dealt with it comfortably.

He had a far harder task two minutes later when a surging attack from Pools ended up with Reid whose shot was turned around the post by Ward.

Reid had another opportunity when he was gifted the ball by Charlie Cooper, sped towards goal as the Yeovil defence tried to get back before Ward dropped on the ball. After a bright start from the home side, it is the visitors who are taking control again and our mistakes are giving them the opportunity.

In the 63rd minute, Yeovil made their first substitution with Tahvon Campbell replacing Luke McCormick. With his opening two touches, the striker almost got behind the visitors’ defence, denied by a last ditch header from Miley to concede a corner, and then almost got on the end of a Pendleton cross moments later.

Yeovil Town striker Tahvon Campbell cannot quite connect with a cross as Hartlepool keeper Harvey Cartwright misses his punch.
Yeovil Town striker Tahvon Campbell cannot quite connect with a cross as Hartlepool keeper Harvey Cartwright misses his punch. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

On 70 minutes, the attack was bolstered further by the arrival of Junior Morias, replacing Daly. The two substitutes took up the positions vacated by Daly and McCormick with Sims moving to left wing-back/wing.

There was a bit more attacking intent being shown by the home side and after 79 minutes Morgan Williams tried an acrobatic effort which went over before two further changes for the Glovers saw Ben Wodskou and Brett McGavin replace Jarvis and Whittle. Cousin-Dawson dropped in to defence.

The best chance of the game fell to Wodskou after  83 minutes. Sims got past his defender down the left and slid a perfect ball through to the substitute, but his shot was straight at Cartwright who was able to parry it away. Great move, great ball, great position from the Birmingham City youngster, just the finish was missing.

There were some good signs in the closing stages as Yeovil pressed for a goal with Morias showing a hunger to get forward and down the left side, but the points were shared when the final whistle sounded. No-one is getting that bag of potatoes just yet.

Full time: Yeovil Town 0 Hartlepool United 0

Match Details

Venue: Huish Park
Date: Saturday 9th May, 3pm kick-off

Competition: National League Premier Division

Scorers: None

Pitch: Perfect as you would expect on the opening day of the season
Conditions: Dry and bright

Attendance: 3,438 (199 away supporters)

Bookings: 
Yeovil Town:  James Daly 60, Jake Wannell 67, Charlie Cooper 86
Hartlepool United: Jamie Miley 27, Jermaine Francis 45+2

Referee: Rob Massey-Ellis

Yeovil Town (4-2-3-1)

Here’s our guess at the Yeovil Town starting line-up.

Substitutes:  Tahvon Campbell (for Luke McCormick, 63), Junior Morias (for James Daly, 70), Ben Wodskou (for Aaron Jarvis, 79), Brett McGavin (for Alex Whittle, 79), Kyle Ferguson (not used), Harvey Greenslade (not used), Matt Gould (not used).

Hartlepool United: Harvey Cartwright, Jay Benn, Tom Parkes, Cameron John, McNally, Besart Topallaj (for Maxim Pierre Kouogun, 72), Nathan Sheron, Jamie Miley, Jermaine Francis (for Luke Charman, 87), Danny Johnson (for Matt Daly, 72), Alex Reid. Substitutes (not used):  Jack Hunter, Nicky Featherstone, Brad Walker, Adam Smith.

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Mark Cooper speaks to the club's social media following the 3-1 pre-season friendly win at Bath City.

Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has said his side will line-up with a three central defenders for today’s opening National League fixture of the season against Hartlepool United at Huish Park today.

Captain Jake Wannell, Morgan Williams and Alex Whittle will make up that defensive trio with on loan Birmingham City wing back Byron Pendleton and summer signing James Daly playing as wingers or wing backs depending how you want to see it.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah ahead of kick-off at Huish Park, the manager spoke about the line-up, he said: “Like it has done in most of pre-season, it is Whittle, Wannell Williams which on paper is a good back three with a bit of height and a bit of pace there and plenty of tenacity and no little ability on the ball. We have Byron (Pendleton) on one wing and James Daly on the other, I don’t think there will be any quicker wingers in the league than those two today.

“We want to try and be a little bit more solid on the first game of the season, we have got quite an expansive front five with the two wingers (Pendleton and Daly) and the two number tens in Luke McCormick and Josh Sims and Jarvis (up top). So we feel it is important the back three and the two midfield players (Charlie Cooper and Finn Cousin-Dawson) are solid. Brett (McGavin, who is on the substitutes’ bench) picked up a little niggle a few weeks ago so he is, in my opinion, a week undercooked, so we have good options.”

How Yeovil Town will start today’s game…..

Both strikers Junior Morias and Tahvon Campbell are also on the bench for the curtain raiser. Campbell has suffered with a knee problem in pre-season and Morias, whose signing was announced during the week, has not had a full pre-season.

Cooper said: “Tahvon and Junior are still catching up. Tav has missed two weeks of training and Junior only joined us at the start of the week and due to his wife having complications with a pregnancy he has not done loads of training, so we have to be careful with him. But they are definitely have good options off the bench.

“I said at the start of pre-season that we wanted everyone through pre-season and available for the first game and we have done that. I said we might be 90% fit but everybody is fit and we can grow in to the rest and try and use our bench and try and keep away from as many injuries as we can. So to have everybody fit is testimony to the staff and medical team that we have got them through safely.”

Hartlepool have named a number of their summer signings in their starting XI including strikers Alex Reid, who Cooper revealed he tried to sign last season, and Danny Johnson.

Cooper added: “You can judge them on the quality of players they have brought in. They brought Alex Reid in, who we tried to sign last year but he did not want to move, they have Danny Johnson in from Walsall who is a proven goalscorer and throughout the team they have lots of new signings with quality. So they have been backed in the summer and we are expecting a tough game.”

One other new arrival at the North East club is manager Simon Grayson, who is yet to lose a game against Yeovil in his managerial career. The former Preston North End and Blackpool boss arrived at the club in June having been managing in India and Nepal in recent years.

Cooper said: “It is good to see him back, I have known him a long time, he is a Leeds fan as well so he is back from his exploits in Nepal and India and looking forward to the challenge.”

 

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New signings goalkeeper Jed Ward, loan wing back Byron Pendleton, and midfielders Luke McCormick and James Daly have all been handed their National League debuts as Yeovil Town take on Hartlepool United in today’s opening match (3pm kick-off).

On the bench are strikers Junior Morias, Ben Wodskou and Tahvon Campbell alongside defender Kyle Ferguson and midfielder Brett McGavin, who suffered an injury in pre-season, named on the substitutes’ bench.

As ever, the conundrum of whether Finn Cousin-Dawson is lining up as part of three central defenders with Pendleton and Alex Whittle as wing backs, or in a more advanced deep-lying midfield position with McCormick further forward remains to be seen.

Here’s our guess at the Yeovil Town starting line-up.

 

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Welcome back to life as a Yeovil Town fan. It’s been a long and sometimes stressful summer for us Glovers, however here our  first preview of the season with Hartlepool United visiting Huish Park on the opening day.

Form Guide…

Nice and simple this week, in competitive action both teams are equal, as it is the first game of the new season. However, let’s take a look at both teams fared in their final pre-season friendlies.

Yeovil Town

Last weekend’s pre-season friendly result against Somerset rivals Weston Super-Mare was one that wont live long in the memory. Yeovil rarely offered anything up front, which has been an issue since manager Mark Cooper joined the club, and seemingly ran out of ideas by the time the second half kicked off.

The Glovers were then made to pay after a silly challenge from defender Jake Wannell fouled former team-mate Louis Britton inside the box. The resulting penalty was calmly put away by Luke Coulson. Cooper clearly was not happy with the defeat, giving a talking to his team on the pitch after the final whistle.

Players from Yeovil Town and Weston-super-Mare get involved in a major fracas.
The not so friendly friendly at Weston-super-Mare last weekend. Picture courtesy of Michael Stone.

Hartlepool United

The Poolies side did not fare much better in their last game of pre-season last weekend, losing 2-0 at National League North side South Shields, giving up two quick goals inside the first 20 minutes of the game. South Shields broke the deadlock inside 10 minutes as Paul Blackett converted. The second of Blackett’s goals came shortly after, who converted his own rebound.

Manager Simon Grayson fielded a side in an experimental 4-4-2 formation, different to the 3-5-2 they are likely to line up in against Yeovil with first-teamers Jay Benn, Reiss McNally, Besart Topalloj, Jamie Miley and Nathan Sheron all starting on the bench.

Safe to say both teams will be looking to improve on their performances last time out and hit the ground running in the National League Premier Division.

Key Players…

Yeovil Town – Brett McGavin

The Glovers come into the game, after a turbulent off season with a host of last years squad leaving for pastures new. One player who has stayed put is the beautifully bouffant Brett McGavin. The centre midfielder showed last term how critical he is to the team’s performances. Without any prolific strikers in the side, McGavin quickly became a source of goals for the Glovers, contributing seven and assisting three.

Outside of the wonderful goals he scored, the midfielder also brought a presence to the middle of the park, controlling the game and often being the linchpin for starting attacks.

Photo: Gary Brown

Hartlepool – Tom Parkes

The veteran centre half is a stalwart at the lower end of the professional game, having played 339 games in League Two and 106 in the National League ( yes, I am claiming it as a professional league). Now at the ripe old age of 33 Parkes is at the tail end of his career, but still possess the quality to stop forwards from playing.

Reuben Reid of Yeovil and Tom Parkes of Bristol Rovers
📸 Mike Kunz

The former Bristol Rovers and Exeter City player had a brief one-month loan spell at Huish Park at the start of his career, he played twice between December 2010 and January 2011 – including a 4-2 FA Cup defeat for the Glovers against Hartlepool United.

He was confirmed as club captain this week and if the Glovers want to get on the score sheet on Saturday, they will have to get past Parkes first.

The Gaffer….

Simon Grayson will be a name familiar with almost all football league fans. Grayson started at Blackpool, before moving onto Leeds, Huddersfield and Sunderland to name a few.

For the older Yeovil fans, he is a man of great pain, as his Blackpool side defeated the Glovers at Wembley in the 2006/07 League One Playoff Final (it still hurts).

In his 20 years as a manager, Grayson has faced the Glovers 10 times and has not lost a single game. With eight wins and two draws. The most recent was over 10 years ago in the January of 2015, when his Preston North End side drew 1-1 with Yeovil at Deepdale.

Last Time We Met…

The last time the two sides clashed back in December last year, Yeovil fell to a 2-1 defeat. A late goal from Gary Madine sealed the victory after Kofi Shaw had equalised. The first goal of the game came through an Emmanuel Dieseruwerve penalty.

Yeovil also had the pleasure of welcoming Pools to Huish Park for opening game of last season, when the visitors took home all three points thanks to a Jack Hunter goal.

Don’t I Know You?

There are a couple of old Yeovil boys in the Hartlepool team.

Adam Smith – Pools keeper Smith played the Glovers 50 times over the period of two seasons on loan in Somerset.

Tom Parkes – If you thought his name sounded familiar it’s because he also came to Huish Park on loan back in 2010/11. playing two games.

Man In The Middle…

The referee for Saturday’s fixture will be Rob Massey-Ellis. Read all about him here in Ben’s write up.

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Happy season’s eve. The National League starts tomorrow and we’re catching up on the week and taking you through our thoughts on the summer, what we’re excited about, our key players, who’s going to be the breakout star and where we think we’ll finish.

We’ve got a lovely voice-note filling in this Gloverscast sandwich, with gigantic thanks to Mike Hudson, James Graham, Nick May, Chris Fox, Tom Bailey, Gemma Porter, Jonathan Hooper, Former Gloverscast Quiz Champion Rob Manley and Gloverscast Chief Scout, Luca Manley.

Up the Glovers!

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Jake Wannell involved in a coin toss.

Yeovil Town captain Jake Wannell has said it is an “honour” to be confirmed as club captain for the upcoming National League Premier Division campaign.

The defender will lead the Glovers out for the opening fixture when Hartlepool United make the 700-mile round trip to Somerset on Saturday.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah on Thursday ahead of the game, he said: “It is an honour to captain this great club. I think at Rochdale away (the manager, Mark Cooper) pulled me to one side and said he was going to make me club captain…and we ended up losing 4-0 that day, so it was a hard day for me personally! But, on the whole, it is a great feeling to lead the boys out.”

Wannell is expected will start alongside central defensive partner Morgan Williams, who boss Cooper confirmed is expected to be fit despite fracturing his hand, and regular full-back Alex Whittle, who has also been declared fit by his manager after limping off with a groin problem in the 1-0 pre-season friendly defeat at Weston-super-Mare last weekend.

Jake Wannell applauds the Yeovil Town supporters.
Jake Wannell did wear the captain’s armband on a number of occasions last season. Photo courtesy of Gary Brown.

However, there will be some less familiar faces in defence in the shape of on loan Bristol Rovers’ goalkeeper Jed Ward and Birmingham City loanee full-back Byron Pendleton. The captain is confident the new recruits, who are among eight brought in by Yeovil in the summer, will not have a negative impact on the squad. Read manager Mark Cooper’s thoughts on the summer transfer activity – HERE.

He said: “(The summer takeover) has not really affected us as players in pre-season, it has obviously been challenging for the club and for Mark. The takeover happening (at the end of May) means we have a smaller squad which is not always ideal as a player but we will give it a good go and hopefully do well.

“(This division) is a bigger, quicker, stronger league than the ones I have previously played in but otherwise it is quite tactical and Hartlepool will be one of the bigger teams in the league so I expect it to be a roll our sleeves up kind of game and hopefully get the three points.

“(Hartlepool) have recruited well, but on previous experience they have always been a direct team, a big, strong, physical outfit, so it will be a challenge.

“Having a strong back three or four will obviously help. Last season I got a few sendings off, as did Morgs (Morgan Williams) got sent off and we had a few injuries which did not help. If you compare that to the season before that, I think our defence hardly changed. It is the core of the team and if we can keep that defensive unit together, hopefully we can build on it.“

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Defender Morgan Williams will be fit for Yeovil Town’s opening National League Premier Division game of the season this weekend, according to Glovers’ boss Mark Cooper.

The centre half fractured his hand after a collision with a metal fence at the side of the pitch during the 1-0 pre-season friendly defeat at Weston-super-Mare on Saturday, and appeared in Monday’s open training session at Huish Park wearing a plaster cast.

Cooper said he had no doubts the former Coventry City player would be available to face Hartlepool United on Saturday and said that full-back Alex Whittle and midfielder Charlie Cooper would also be available.

He told BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah: “It is a really dangerous area (of the Woodspring Stadium) with a metal fence really close to the touchline which I think three players collided with on the day. Morgs collided with it and fractured on the top of his hand and he has had a soft cast put on, so he will be good to play, he is desperate to play, he will not let a small break in his hand stop him, he is a warrior, so he will want to be out there and we need him to be out there.”

Neither Whittle or Cooper, who both came off against Weston, featured in training on Monday, but Cooper said: “That was just precautionary, they both got knocks at Weston and we did not want to risk him, but they will both be out there training today which gives us a bit more depth.”

The defeat at Weston meant Yeovil finished pre-season with a record of played seven, won four, lost three, but the manager said he was happy with his squad which he has supplemented with eight summer signings – read more about these HERE. 

Cooper said: “It is a small squad which is what we were after, a squad with as much quality as we could get, I still think we are a couple (of players) short, but we will go with what we have got. You never know where you are (after) pre-season, until you get punched on the nose in the first round, you never really know where you are. All the right intentions are there, we have worked hard and we are going to try and put a show on at home against a really tough opposition.”

Hartlepool finished their pre-season campaign with a defeat against National League North side South Shields at the weekend, but have won five and drawn one of their other six matches, including against XIs from Leeds United, Middlesbrough and Scottish giants Rangers.

They are a club in off-the-field turmoil with the club’s supporters in conflict with owner Raj Singh, who this week wrote to all National League clubs asking them not to admit former Sky Sports’ presenter Jeff Stelling, a lifelong Hartlepool fan who stepped down as club president in protest against Singh’s protracted sale of the club.

Cooper said he was not taking too much out of the North East side’s outing against South Shields – and invited the broadcaster to join him in the Huish Park dug-out at the weekend.

He said: “I would not put too much emphasis on the South Shields game, they played a different formation and rested some players. They have got a really experienced, terrific manager for this level in Simon Grayson. He has had real success as a manager, so he knows what he is doing and they will be a really tough, uncompromising team full of good, experienced players who know what they are doing. It is going to be really tough game and we are expecting nothing else. 

“A lot of clubs are in (, I look from a distance and I think Jeff Stelling is going to be sat with me in the dug-out on Saturday! It just seems crazy there is so much stuff going on, but we look like we are settled for now and let’s hope there is a period of calmness and stability with our ownership and, after Saturday, that Hartlepool have that as well.”

Cooper also called on Glovers’ fans to get behind his side as they look to avoid the same result as last season when Hartlepool ran out 1-0 winners on the opening day at Huish Park.

He said: “We need the fans to make it a really difficult place to play for the opposition and hopefully they can get behind us from the first minute because it makes a hell of a difference at Huish Park. The supporters underestimate how much of a part they have to play in this project, they are such a big part because if they are at it, it gives the players such a lift. If they are not and there is a lot of apathy about, it becomes a lot easier for the opposition to play their stuff and make it difficult for us. I always say it, whatever (our supporters’) feelings are, get behind the players during the game and, if they are not happy afterwards, they are within their rights to boo and call us what they want.“