Ben Barrett (Page 103)

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A second half equaliser from substitute Rhys Murphy saw Yeovil Town come from behind to get a draw against Maidstone United at Huish Park on Saturday.

The frontman, who came off the bench after 64 minutes, reacted quickest to stab home a Jordan Young corner kick with seven minutes of normal time remaining.

Yeovil had fallen behind to a header from another substitute, Maidstone’s Levi Amantchi, with 56 minutes on the clock and the hosts were forced to settle for a point.

Here’s how it went down at Huish Park…..

First half

Manager Mark Cooper made just one change from the midweek win over Truro City as Jamie Sendles-White came in to a five-man back line with Morgan Williams overcoming a dead leg to line up as right wing-back.

Striker Rhys Murphy, who had started the previous three matches of the season, dropped to be the bench with Jake Hyde, Frank Nouble and Jordan Maguire-Drew lining up as a front three.

Having won a free-kick within seconds of the start with the team shooting towards a noisy Thatcher’s Stand, Charlie Cooper hammered an effort just wide of the post.

Hyde had a couple of decent chances soon after. On five minutes, he went through on goal, rounded visiting keeper Lucas Covolan, but could not beat the offside flag, and then six minutes the striker headed a great ball from Maguire-Drew just wide.

The possession was certainly in the home side’s favour but, following those early chances, clear-cut opportunities were few and far between with Bivesh Gurung’s run and shot after 24 minutes easily held by Yeovil manager Will Buse.

Two minutes later, a glorious free-kick delivery from Maguire-Drew found the head of Nouble seven yards out from goal but the big forward got under it and it went over. The best chance of the game by a margin.

The visitors’ best chance of the half so far came ten minutes before half-time when Sam Corne’s free-kick was cleared as far as Gurung whose effort fizzed past the post.

On 38 minutes, Covolan was the difference between Yeovil Town a 1-0 lead. A long throw from Sendles-White found the head of Williams whose effort was superbly turned away by the ex-Torquay United stopper.

Better possession, better chances, but still nothing to put Yeovil Town in the ascendancy.

Half time: Yeovil Town 0 Maidstone United 0

Second half

The second half started in a less controlled fashion for Yeovil Town than the first half and, as it was in midweek against Truro City, the visitors took the lead with just ten minutes after the break.

A corner from Corne was flicked on by winger Lamar Reynolds, Buse pushed it away but straight on to the head of striker Levi AMANTCHI, just on as a substitute, and he headed home the opener after 56 minutes.

Looking back on the chances which the Glovers had in the first half and the visitors’ improved performance, it was a case of what could have been. Can’t argue that there’s not enough goal-scoring talent available to the home side.

Yeovil responded with a treble change on 64 minutes and an attacking one. Olly Thomas, Jordan Young and Rhys Murphy came off the bench to replace Jake Hyde, captain Josh Staunton and Jordan Maguire-Drew with the formation switching to a very narrow-looking 4-4-2 with Sendles-White and Wannell flanked by Williams on the right and Whittle on the left.

A weak effort from Nouble, a shot wide of the post by Worthington, it was all a bit powder puff from the home side, but – if you were in attendance at the Truro game, you know what’s coming next – with seven minutes remaining Yeovil were level. A corner from Young was not dealt with by Covolan and the predator that is MURPHY was on hand to stab home the equaliser.

Moments later Maidstone will be wondering how they did not regain their advantage on 86 minutes. A free-kick in to the box found the head of George Fowler whose effort went over the bar. *loud exhalation of breath*

Seven minutes of injury time added by the referee. With a couple of them gone, a corner came to Thomas whose effort was blocked, broke to Young, again blocked. 

It was all Yeovil in the closing stages, but they were left to rue the missed opportunities in the first half as they settled for a point.

 

Full time: Yeovil Town 1 Maidstone United 1

Match Details

Venue: Huish Park
Saturday, 19th August, 3pm kick-off

Pitch: Excellent
Conditions: Warm and sunny

Attendance: 2,899 (130 away supporters)

Scorers: Levi Amantchi 56 (0-1), Rhys Murphy 83 (1-1), 

Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Alex Whittle 63, Matt Worthington 72, Rhys Murphy 90+4
Maidstone United: Ogo Obi 41, Gavin Hoyte 46, George Fowler 90+4

Yeovil Town (5-2-3) 

Substitutes: Olly Thomas (for Jake Hyde, 64), Jordan Young (for Josh Staunton, 64), Rhys Murphy (for Jordan Maguire-Drew, 64), Zac Bell, Josh Owers.

Maidstone United: Covolan, Hoyte, Ezennolim, Fowler, Corne, Reynolds (for Wanjau-Smith  80), Aransibia, Obi (for Amantchi, 53), Bone, Sole, Gurung (for Kelly, 84). Substiututes (not used): De Graft, Earle, Amantchi.

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Yeovil Town defender Alex Whittle was named as the Glovers’ Man of the Match by the match sponsor on Tuesday night, he was pleased with the 2-1 win over Truro but suggested that the side could have done even more,

Speaking to the YTFC YouTube channel the former York City man said;

“We huffed and puffed first half, I don’t think we were really at it, but towards the last 15-minutes of the first half we started getting in the game a bit, we tweaked the formation a bit, I thought that worked.

In the second half, they hit us on the break and scored, but in the last 20 minutes, we stuck together and came on strong, they were getting tired and we eventually wore them down, and you can’t beat a last minute winner.

“…we eventually wore them down, and you can’t beat a last minute winner.”

You’ve just got to work hard, we had that little bit of quality in the end, we’ve got good players but we’re still learning, we’re still clicking, it’s still early days, but we’re a new team and hopefully we can keep getting the wins.”

Goals from Olly Thomas and Jake Wannell set Yeovil on their way to victory after being 1-0 down, something which Whittle things is partly down the group as a whole working as a unit;

“It’s a good set of lads, everyone is together, that just shows at the end with the last minute winner- we kept going and you’d rather score a last minute winner like that wouldn’t you!?

It’s (settling in at Yeovil) been good, it’s a good pitch, good set of lads, good manager, we try and play the right way, obviously, it’s early days, but I’m hoping we’ll get better as it goes on.

The end goal has got to be promotion, but we’ve got to be in and around it, that’s two home wins now and we need to back that up again on Saturday, Maidstone are a decent team and we’re going to have to play better than we did today.”

 

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I know we were all hoping for an action-packed midweek edition of Loan Watch – ok, well, Gloverscast Ben was – but out of the quintet of loanees, only one made the pitch.

Taunton Town drew 1-1 with W*ymouth in the Claret and Blue derby, striker Malachi Linton wasn’t involved in the match day squad for the Peacocks despite scoring and getting MOTM in their game on Saturday.

It was a night to forget for Dorchester, losing 4-0 to Winchester. Defender Ollie Haste wasn’t in the squad, but striker Benjani Junior was introduced after an hour, with the result already gone for the Magpies.

Shepton Mallet (and thus Charlie Bateson) didn’t have a game, whilst Tiverton lost to a stoppage time goal away at Merthyr Town, Jacob Shore was on the bench, but appears to have not been used (at least from the social media coverage of both sides).

Go again on Saturday, lads.

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Yeovil Town recorded back to back wins for the first time since Darren Sarll’s time in charge of the club on Tuesday night with a comeback win over Truro City at Huish Park.

The Glovers left it late after going 1-0 down in the second half, but goals from substitute striker Olly Thomas and a late header from defender Jake Wannell clawed the three points back from the jaws of defeat.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins, manager Mark Cooper was pleased with the resilience of his side, but knew there was more to come, especially in the final third.

He said: “I think we have to have that in our locker, that we can – not sort of fire – I don’t think we were bad from the edge of our box to the last third, but it just never happened in the last third.

“What we can’t do is give a silly goal away, which makes it even harder, but we need to have that resilience and that spirit to be able to do things like that.”

As the home side went 1-0 down to a Rocky Neal goal just before the hour, the Huish Park faithful became restless, but Cooper was quick to call for unity and support as he backed his side to fight to the end.

He added: “I just think there’s an expectation that we are going to win 5-0 every week, and if we don’t score in the first ten minutes, the unrest starts. What I’m not going to do is get the ball from the back and boot it up to front, because I don’t think over the 46 games that gets you where we need to get, we are going to try and be controlled. The reason we scored two goals at the end was because we wore them out and they made mistakes. The first goal, they get tired and make a sloppy clearance, we play a through ball and Olly Thomas is in, the second goal they switch off at a set piece.”

Jake Wannell and Charlie Cooper.
Picture courtesy of Iain Morland.

“I’m going to try and dominate the football, so apologies for that, but I’m not going to just boot the ball forward.”

Cooper acknowledges that after a decade of heartbreak, Yeovil fans have found it tough at times but wants his side to earn the ‘trust’ of the supporters, and says there’s only one way to do that.

He said: “We got to half-time, the last 20 minutes of the first half, we were turning the screw, we were asking questions of them, stretching their back line and making the pitch big, but like I say, the goal changed the game for them, the fans became increasingly anxious. We have to win the fans trust back, because they don’t trust us at the minute as a club and we can only do that by winning five, six, seven games so that they can start to trust me, us, the players, everybody, that we are on the right path.”

“Once we get that trust, we will be even more dangerous and we will start scoring more goals.”

Bristol City loanee Thomas got the equaliser, his first competitive goal for the Glovers and the manager was full of praise for all of the substitutes that made an impression. Another Ashton Gate player Zac Bell replaced Morgan Williams at half-time with Jordan Young coming on for Jordan Maguire-Drew at the same time as Thomas replaced Jake Hyde on 68 minutes.

Olly Thomas battles for the ball.

“He (Olly Thomas) is a young boy, he is raw, he’s rapid, he scored a goal like that at  AFC Totton (in pre-season) and I’ve been speaking to the squad and the boys that are not starting need to come on and make that impact and give the boys that did start, something to think about. We have to have that competition and that’s what Olly, Youngy and Belly did.”

The final call was for the fans, another 3,300+ attendance at Huish Park, Cooper admitting that this side was still learning, still growing and that success breeds to success.

“I don’t think the group that we’ve got and the experience we’ve got lacks confidence… we’ve got that confidence, other people might not, but like I say, we have to earn that trust and we’re fully aware of that, but we’d like our fans to be with us, go with us all the time and I think that tonight shows that if they do stay with us, the scenes you had at the end can happen more often. That end (Thatchers Stand) was incredible tonight, and they need to be with us.

“We have to keep going, another home game on Saturday, another big crowd, expectancy will grow, but we’ve shown that we can go to the end, I think the most pleasing thing is we can play an awful lot better, the players just said there it’ll be alright once we start playing better, they know, they’re not daft, there’s new players, Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

Mark Cooper was speaking exclusively to BBC Somerset, the interview may differ slightly to the official club’s YouTube interview

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Yeovil Town playmaker Jordan Maguire-Drew has (unsurprisingly) been named in the official Vanarama National League South Team of the Week.

His Man of the Match performance topped off a good week for the former Grimsby Town man, who also signed a new contract at Huish Park.
He assisted Jake Hyde’s opener and generally gave the St Albans’ defence nightmares for 90 minutes, and we loved it!

Congrats, JM-D, here’s to many more.

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It has been confirmed that the newly re-formed Yeovil Town Women will play their first team games in the Somerset County League Division One for the upcoming season.

The Glovers will face sides like Ilminster Town Reserves, Wells City and Nailsea United at that level in a league consisting of ten teams.

The league is scheduled to get underway on September 3rd.

We think a full fixture list will become available HERE at some point, but we’ll confirm that when it is completed.

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Another Saturday of action brings another edition of Loan Watch and we have some goals to tell you about.

Taunton Town played away at Aveley in the National League South and it was the hosts who were comprehensive 4-1 winners, but the Peacocks’ only goal of the game did come from Malachi Linton.

It’s Linton’s first competitive goal in the claret and blue of Taunton, he was awarded the away side’s Man of the Match too on a disappointing afternoon.

Next, to Dorchester where defender Ollie Haste was not in the squad for the Magpies, but Benjani Junior was a substitute. The young striker appeared in the 64th minute, but the Magpies  couldn’t hold out for a win though, conceding a late equaliser well beyond the 90 minute mark, it finished 2-2 againt Harrow Borough.

Striker Charlie Bateson, who was prolific for the Under-18s last season, is currently on a youth loan with Shepton Mallet in the Western League Premier Division. He was on the scoresheet after just two minutes for his loan side who ran out 2-1 winners against local rivals Walton Rovers.

Finally, defender Jacob Shore got just the final five minutes of Tiverton Town’s 5-2 defeat to Hayes & Yeading in the Southern League Premier Division South. The game was finely poised with 70 minutes on the clock, but a second red card for Tivvy opened the floodgates for their hosts who took full advantage.

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Yeovil Town playmaker Jordan Maguire-Drew has said that he only sees good things for the future of the team, and the club as a whole as he rounded off a great week with a Man of the Match performance against St Albans on Saturday.

Speaking to the club’s YouTube channel, he said that the assist, the win and the performance capped off a positive week.

“It’s about winning and getting that first win on the board in front of a great crowd, they were brilliant.

“There’s been a lot of pressure on us this week, because last week was not good enough (against Hemel) by our standards, we had a lot of travelling fans we let down and we’ve put it right.”

“It could have three or four extra goals, but that’ll come and hopefully we can take all the positives into Tuesday”

There was some confusion for the Glovers’ first goal of the game, a JM-D cross may or may not have been touched by Jake Hyde on the way in (Hyde is very much claiming it) but the Press Association and the stadium announcer gave it to the Glovers’ number 10.

However, Maguire-Drew isn’t worried if it is classed as his or not.

“If I score or set one up, so long as it goes in… that’s what I’m there to do, create and score goals so an assist is as good as a goal for me”

JM-D says that the attacking unit are still in the process of getting to know each other and that the bond that the likes of Hyde, Frank Nouble and Rhys Murphy have will only grow as the season grows.

”We should have scored more goals but that’ll come, the main point of today was to get three points and we did that, in front of a great crowd, hopefully we can repeat that on Tuesday”

“It’s always nice to win a game of football, but it’s always nice to do it in front of your home fans and to keep them coming back, because they help us massively – they don’t realise it, but they do”

This past week saw the midfielder sign a new contract at Huish Park, something which JM-D says was an easy decision.

“It’s an easy one really, this club is only going one way, I believe and I wanted to be a part of it, I just want to keep building, to stay fit and keep going and keep building and hopefully we can get that golden prize at the end of the season that everyone is aiming for.”