March 2026 (Page 2)

Ryan Jones was on post-match interview duties and he spoke to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman. Here’s every word of the winger’s interview.

Mark Stillman: Ryan, tough afternoon here in Gateshead. Your thoughts on today’s game, please?

Ryan Jones: Yeah, you know, they’re a well organised team, sort of especially in possession, they’ve got good rotations. I think we dealt with it quite well for the majority of the game, maybe just two moments where they sort of broke through a line and created a few problems for us which obviously led to a goal. The ref’s given a penalty which I think is a little bit soft, but they’re the decisions that get made on the day. [we] Can’t change them now. Yeah, I thought on the whole it was fairly even as a 90 minutes goes.

Mark Stillman: In the first half Gateshead started quite well. Yeovil really got back into it. So what sort of messages did Billy give you at the break?

Ryan Jones: We changed shape at halftime just to try to deal with their rotations a little bit better. I think that worked, and it allowed us to sort of counter-attack on them a little bit quicker and get higher up the pitch. And then once we got into the final third, if initially there’s no pass or there’s nothing on, it’s about coming back out, recycling it, and creating another attack from another angle.

Mark Stillman: You played in both of these games, played on Wednesday with 10 men, so it was hard at the closing stages. What was it like then coming all the way up here sort of tiredness point of view for you and the team?

Ryan Jones: Yeah, you know, it’s obviously going to be tiring for us for what, 35 minutes or so with 10 men on Wednesday, which the boys were excellent then. And then traveling up here, it’s a long journey, but that’s football, that’s the league, you’ve got to deal with it and recover as best you can to go again when the next game is.

Mark Stillman: You played regularly sort of last few weeks, this time shifted over to the right with Alex Whittle coming back in. What did you make of playing sort of obviously not on your natural side?

Ryan Jones: Yeah, it’s something obviously I need to get used to. I can do a job, it’s just something that with more repetitions, where you need to be, knowing what you need to do, it can only get better. So yeah, it’s just one of those things. You know, Whits is a good player that side as well. So if I can do a job and help the team in any position then that’s what I need to do really.

Mark Stillman: And finally, a couple of days’ resting up before you’ve another long old journey on Tuesday night of course to Southend United.

Ryan Jones: Yeah, all the boys need to recover right which I’m sure everyone will do. We’ve got a good group. It’s not going to be an easy game, as everyone knows Southend are a big club, good team, they’re pushing for playoffs, so it’s not going to be easy but we’ll go there and give everything.

Yeovil boss Billy Rowley spoke to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman following the Glovers 2-1 defeat at Gateshead. Here’s every word of the manager’s post-match thoughts.

Mark Stillman: Billy, your thoughts on this afternoon’s game please?

Billy Rowley: Initially, disappointing and a bit frustrating. There’s two sides of me here. I want to sort of, lose my temper a little bit, but also the other side of me understands we’ve had a really tough run and we’ve had some good results and wins in the last two games in particular. Leading into this game, we looked into Gateshead since Rob’s come back, he’s done a great job. They obviously beat York here the game before, I think their last previous game to that, they beat Wealdstone here. This is a tough ground to come [to]. They are definitely in a false league position really. It could have been worse today. I think we probably would have taken a draw before the game. We’ve given away a bit of a silly penalty really which has sort of changed the game. But yeah look, disappointed by the result. You never, want to lose games of football but we’ll take it on the chin and we’ll move on to Tuesday.

Mark Stillman: It always felt tough like we said before that Gateshead had the extra day’s rest that play a little bit of a part, you know you had a really good win on Wednesday at Wealdstone but they had an extra day’s recovery.

Billy Rowley: Yeah, [it] definitely does play a part. I’ll keep beating the drum that we’ve got a very, very small squad. Another red card today which is unbelievably frustrating which leaves us another body light. I’m not one to really talk about the referees but I felt like he didn’t really have great control of it for a long period which then led to a lot of players from our team, and Gateshead, blood boiling and just diving into silly tackles and doing some stupid and reckless things, but sometimes these things can be eradicated if the ref’s a little bit firmer and a little bit more consistent really from an early period which he wasn’t. It is what it is.

Mark Stillman: First half, obviously gave Miller Matthews Lewis his first start then he came off midway through the first half was that tactical?

Billy Rowley: He obviously come in Miller through not playing football since January. We haven’t trained loads because of our schedule. So just yeah lacking match fitness, we needed to try to change our press a little bit and get more pressure on the ball. So yeah, feel for him but it was, it was a tactical decision really.

Mark Stillman: I thought Will Merry did well when he came on.

Billy Rowley: Yeah, very good exciting talent. He’s only met the lads yesterday at the hotel. So he’s not trained with us, not really familiar with how we want to play or or anything. So in terms of his individual talent and ability I think it’s there for everyone to see. So I think he’s going to prove to be a decent signing for us,

Mark Stillman Now, suddenly you’re back on the road again doing a thousand or so miles in the last couple of days off to Southend on Tuesday.

Billy Rowley: Yeah back tonight probably one in the morning or so. Rest tomorrow, prepare Monday and then we’ll be at Southend away Tuesday which we’ll be just looking to to go there with you know, decent spirits after the last week or two and and try and get at least a point out of that game.

Mark Stillman: Amazing support I think over a hundred I think Yeovil fans and I’m sure there’ll be plenty of them in Essex on Tuesday night.

Billy Rowley: Yeah, I thought they were excellent today and it goes without saying how much we value their support. We could hear them having a bit of back and forth with with the Gateshead supporters. I want to thank them massively. It’s obviously always devastating and frustrating when you when you come this far and you see traveling supporters and you can’t get at least a point for them. We thank them for their support and hopefully see them Tuesday.