Ben Barrett (Page 114)

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Midweek Loan Watch fans, rejoice!

It was a fairly quiet Tuesday night for the Glovers out on loan, Sherborne, Leamington and Truro didn’t have games, but some did get some match action.

As the headline suggests we start in Gillingham where both midfielder Sam Hodges and goalkeeper Rob Hollard were praised for their performances in a 1-1 draw with Odd Down AFC.

Hollard in particular pulled off a number of important saves for his side… including this one, handily caught on social media.

Another side who drew 1-1 were Plymouth Parkway who took on Beaconsfield, Toby Stephens started on the bench and was brought on for the final few minutes to help sure things up in midfield.

As for our friends over the border in W*ymouth, they won 2-1 (boooo!), Will Dawes came off the bench with 15 minutes to go to in the fixture against Hampton and Richmond Borough.

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Mother Nature has finally relented in her quest for an unofficial winter break in the British football calendar and that means it’s time for another Loan Watch.

Sadly, results didn’t go quite to plan for the cohort of Yeovil Town players plying their trade elsewhere.

Let’s start with the two that didn’t play:

Ollie Haste was an unused substitute as his Truro City side won 1-0 a huge top-of- the-table clash in the Southern League Premier Division South at leaders Weston-super-Mare, who included a certain Reuben Reid in their line-up. That result moves Paul Wootton’s side to within one point of the table toppers.

In the same division midfielder Toby Stephens also had a watching brief as Plymouth Parkway pulled off a shock with a 4-0 home win over fifth-placed Poole Town. Despite the win, Stephens’ loan club remain in the relegation zone.

On to to those who did get some game time, striker Ollie Hulbert made his long-awaited Leamington debut, having joined the National League North side a fortnight ago – but sadly his side were on the wrong end of the result against second-placed King’s Lynn Town.

Hulbert had chances to find the net, but an inspired goalkeeper in the Linnets net kept him and his side at bay.

Onto our seaside ‘friends’, who also lost, W*ymouth were 2-0 down before they brought on Will Dawes at half-time against second placed Oxford City. The game ended with a 3-1 defeat for the seagull botherers who remain second-from-bottom of the table.

To North Dorset, where there was finally some match action for young goalkeeper Rob Hollard as well as Sam Hodges having arrived at Western League Division One side Gillingham Town. Hollard started in goal, Hodges was used from bench. The Gills went down 3-1 against Bishops Lydeard.

Finally, at Sherborne where the Zebras were on the wrong end of a 90th minute penalty, Barnstaple Town winning 1-0.
Both Benjani Junior and Jake Graziano were in the Sherborne starting line up.

Let’s hope for some better results… as well as more match time for the Glovers’ loanees in midweek.

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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper said he believes his side will continue to improve after seeing them pick up their first away win of the season with a 2-0 victory at Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday.

A first half penalty from Jordan Maguire-Drew and a stunning second from Matt Worthington was enough to earn the Glovers the points against a home side who played more than an hour with ten men after defender Harry Phipps was sent off for giving away the spot kick.

Cooper said he believed his side could have done more to press home their one man advantage, but he was confident that “the process” he has started with the squad would bring that.

He told BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins: “I’m pleased the fact we’ve got three points we played some really good football at times. We didn’t control the game as much as I’d like when we had a numerical advantage, but that will come we’ve just started the process.

“We got that little bit of luck (with the penalty and sending off), we scored the penalty, it’s key when you get the penalty and they’re down to ten men that you score it.

“That then makes it a difficult spell for Dagenham and then I thought we controlled the game in the first half, after that we we didn’t let them get near our goal and we probably could have killed the game off.”

Having gone in at the break a goal to the good, the home side, who remain in the National League play-off places even after the loss, came back in to it in the second half with substitute Paul McCallum causing problems for the visitors’ defence.

Cooper added: “I was pleased with a lot of aspects of the game, I think you could see that we worked on the control and trying to pass the ball a lot more and our positional play that was really good.

“In the second half, (it was) a little bit end to end for my liking, we had a great chance to straight after half time, Andrew (Oluwabori) should score really to make it 2-0 but while it’s one nil there’s always a chance for the opposition. But we we’re, quite comfortable.“

The manager handed starts to recent signings striker Jordan Young and midfielder Charlie Cooper along with on loan Chesterfield winger Jack Clarke and all three impressed in a more potent attacking display in the first have.

The manager added: “I though they were all good I thought you could see that they’ve improved us. Jordan Young looked sharp, electric, in the first, Clarkey was silky and Charlie showed he could control large parts of the game with his
with his passing. So I thought they all added to the group.“

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Goalscorer Matt Worthington is aiming to continue his rich vein of scoring form after netting his third in five games to seal a 2-0 win at Dagenham & Redbridge at the weekend.

The Yeovil Town midfielder found the net just once last season and drew a blank in the 2020-21 campaign but has been playing in a more advanced position since the arrival of Mark Cooper as manager.

It was his forward run which won the penalty after half-an-hour which was put away by Jordan Maguire-Drew to give the Glovers the lead in Essex.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the match, Worthington said: “(Scoring goals) is something that I wanted to add to my game, especially this season.

“I need to get more goals, especially in the position I’m playing – an advanced role in midfield- the gaffer has given me licence to get forward and long may it continue.”

Matt Worthington. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Worthington was part of a three-man midfield alongside Charlie Cooper and loanee Jack Clarke who were handed their first starts and impressed in the first half, linking up well with the front three of Jordan Young, Andrew Oluwabori and Maguire-Drew.

He added: “I think they’re (the new additions) brilliant, with Coops at the bottom of the three, we were solid in the first half, we felt more secure, it allowed me and Clarkey to push forward. It was a good performance.

“Second half, they were definitely throwing bodies forward and it was just nice to get that second goal and secure the 3 points.

“Paul McCallum (who came on for Dagenham at the start of the second half) is a good player, he’s effective, when we came out I said to the lads that they’d be looking to hit him, he’s effective, he gets the flicks on so we need to track the runners.

“I think the defence were brilliant, they dealt with all the threats all game. Morgs was brilliant, Bevs, Staunts and Recks were brilliant all game.“

The win keeps Yeovil five points off the National League’s relegation places, and nine points adrift of Dagenham who still occupy the final play-off place – and the win must have lifted Worthy who used ‘the p word’ quite explicitly.

He said: “I didn’t realise we had not won away this season until a couple of weeks ago and obviously it’s something we have to change, we have to win away if we want to get up to the play-off spots.

“That pressure now is off us that we’ve won our away game and hopefully we can take it into the next couple of games.“

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The Football Association has confirmed the a two-match ban for Glovers’ defender Jamie Reckord.

Reckord picked up his 10th yellow card of the season in the 79th minute of Yeovil’s 2-0 win against Dagenham on Saturday.

Reckord will miss back to back home games against Wealdstone and Maidstone.

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Yeovil Town brought in Republic of Ireland Under-19s international defender Edwin Agbaje on loan from Ipswich Town  until the end of the season.

The 18-year-old, who plays on the eight side of midfield in the Portman Road youth set-up, bolsters the Glovers defensive ranks ahead of the weekend’s game at Dagenham & Redbridge.

Speaking to the Glovers’ YouTube channel, he said: “When I heard about the move, straight away I was open to it.

”Yeovil is a big club in this league, with a good history of playing in the top leagues.

“I wanted to come over straight away and get that experience of men’s football, at the right club, at the right time for me.”

Yeovil manager Mark Cooper told ytfc.net: “Edwin is a young lad who arrives with a lot of potential.

“He’s impressed so far in training, he’s got a clear determination to do well in the game and that will bode well in his time here.”

Agbaje was a key part of the Ipswich side which made it to the FA Youth Cup semi-final in 2020-21, and captained the club’s Under-23s in the Papa John’s Trophy tie with Cambridge United in October. They lost that match to a goal from another ex-Glovers’ loanee, Lewis Simper, having played with ten men from the 17th minute.

He also came off the substitutes’ bench for the final two minutes of a 3-0 FA Cup with for his parent club over Bracknell Town in November.

Welcome to Huish Park, Edwin!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Yeovil Town have been linked with a move for Rangers’ attacker Josh McPake.

The former Scotland Under-19s international has been told his future lies away from Ibrox and FootballScotland.co.uk say that the Glovers and Gateshead lead the way for his signature.

They say: “Gateshead and Yeovil are preparing offers for McPake that could see him head for the English National League and try and kickstart his career in England.”

McPake has been with the Glasgow side his entire career with loan spells at Harrogate Town, Tranmere Rovers and most recently on loan at Scottish Championship side Queen’s Park where he scored three goals in 18 appearances during the first part of the season.

New Rangers’ manager Michael Beale is said to be freshening his squad up during the January window, and a permanent move is preferred for McPake as opposed to a loan deal.

Watch this space, I guess.

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It’s not just the Yeovil first team getting frustrated at the weather, so are the legion of loanee Glovers. It’s time for another chilly edition of Loan Watch.

So…Plymouth Parkway (Toby Stephens), Gillingham Town (Sam Hodges and Rob Hollard), Sherborne Town (Benjani Jnr and Jake Graziano) and Leamington (Ollie Hulbert) all saw their games called off.

However, Truro’s home game against Merthyr Town did go ahead at Bolitho Park, Plymouth. Paul Wotton’s side drew 0-0 against their Welsh opposition, but Ollie Haste was an unused substitute.

Which means the only Glover to actually see a competitive game was Will Dawes, who joined W*ymouth, the team second from bottom of the National League South.

He started on the bench for (have we really got to mention them every time for a month!?), but was introduced as a 76th minute substitute.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t prevent the Seagull botherers from going down 2-1 to Chelmsford City. Yes, truly unfortunate that.

Wait… so, do we want a Dawes hat-trick in a 4-3 loss every week? I feel conflicted.

For the record, goalkeeper Max Evans‘ one-month loan at Bedford Town officially came to an end in midweek, but he hadn’t played for a few games, we assume he’s back at Huish Park and probably has been for a while.

Plenty of sides are going to try and get games in midweek so there will be (weather permitting) a midweek Loan Watch to look forward to.

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Yeovil Town have bolstered their midfield ranks with the resigning of Jack Clarke on loan from Chesterfield.

Clarke, who had joined the Glovers for a short stint during the 2020/21 season, returns for the rest of the current campaign.

The midfielder hasn’t played for Spireites since 4th October when he played 75 minutes in 3-2 defeat to Dagenham & Redbridge.

Clarke will wear the number 30 shirt and is available for the Tuesday night game against Barnet.

Welcome Back, Jack!