Ben Barrett (Page 119)

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Captain Wilkinson

Yeovil Town defender Luke Wilkinson has said that he is desperate to add to his goal tally for the Glovers to take the pressure off the forwards and to boost his own performances.

Speaking to the Gloverscast before the Eastleigh game Wilko said it had been too long since he last found the net himself.

“I don’t think I’ve gone this long in my career without a goal, I’m a bit disappointed in myself actually. I think it’s so important, especially from set plays because we get so many throughout the season, we need to start capitalising on them”

“Some of the deliveries we get are absolutely brilliant, but we’re not getting on the end of them.”

“That’s a massive thing, the gaffer has brought it up as well, and we need to start attacking these set plays a lot better and making the most of them.

Wilkinson, who’s last league goal came over a year ago – the last gasp winner against Torquay on January 2nd 2021 – simply said “fingers crossed” with a wry smile when asked if he fancies breaking that streak at the weekend.

There was plenty of praise for Ben Barclay who has come into the club on a short term deal with all eyes on Eastleigh, Wilkinson said he would be trying to add their formidable front line, including new recruit Brett Pitman to the long list of strikers who the Glovers have kept quiet.

“It builds confidence as a defensive unit against these players whoare banging in goals left, right and centre every other week, then they come up against us and we keep them quiet, it obviously does build confidence… it’s not just us at the back either, the midfielders work so hard when we are in the defencive shape and obviously Granty (Smith) behind us as well”

 

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Yeovil Town have announced the return of striker Olufela Olomola on loan until the end of the season.

The 24-year-old joins from League Two Hartlepool United for what will be his third stint at Huish Park.

Striker Olufela Olomola in action during his loan spell with Yeovil Town.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

He will go straight in to the squad for tomorrow’s visit to Eastleigh bolstering the squad which has scored the fourth lowest number of goals in the National League this season.

Speaking following the move, Olomola said: “I’m happy. I’m delighted the deals been done and I can’t wait to get going. 

“Darren Sarll was very enthusiastic about getting me down here. I want to make an impact on the team, help climb up the table and get some wins.”

He will take the number 10 shirt vacated by Joe Quigley when he joined promotion-chasing Chesterfield last season.

The former Southampton youngster has played just 14 times since joining Hartlepool following his release by Scunthorpe United at the end of last season, scoring once.

His last League start for Hartlepool came in mid-September and he has mostly been used off the bench since moving to the North East.

However, he is well-known to Yeovil fans having scored seven times in 28 appearances for Darren Way’s Glovers whilst on loan from Southampton in 2017-18.

Having been released by the Saints in summer 2018 he joined Scunthorpe before returning for a second another six-month loan spell at Huish Park where he scored three times.

Since his time last spell for Yeovil, Olomola has had a successful loan spell at Carlisle United from Scunthorpe, where he struck five goals in League Two.

He had a further loan spell at Carlisle United in 2019-2020 where he scored five times in League Two.

Following his release by Scunthorpe in the summer, he went on trial at Hartlepool where he impressed then-manager Dave Challinor enough to earn a contract.

Welcome (back) to Somerset, Fela.

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Yeovil Line Up vs Weymouth

Yeovil Town have the fourth worst goal scoring record in the National League this season. Not one of our 26 matches so far this season has seen more than three goals scored.

As of Wednesday, February 9, our record against the current bottom six, reads: Played 6, Won 0, Drawn 4, Lost 2.

We need some goals. So if Glovers manager Darren Sarll has quite a lot on his plate taking on multiple roles, I thought I’d step up to the scouting department and do my bit.

Following the 2-1 defeat to Wealdstone Sarll said he would ‘ask the question’ to try and get a ‘spike’ or a ‘character’ onto the pitch.

So I got out the notepad and pen, headed off to the ‘Free Agent’ section of Transfermarkt, set the filters to ‘has boots, will travel, play for little, has hit cows arse with banjo at least once’ and had a scroll…

It wasn’t all 45 year old washed up nobodies, there were even some names I’d heard of.

I’ve tried to be realistic, assume we have a maybe a couple quid and an out of date bovril to pay a player from the Joe Quigley sale and here’s who I have found.

We will start with former Tottenham, Morecambe and YEOVIL TOWN striker, Shayon Harrison.

Shayon Harrison in one of the 15 appearances he made in 2017. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Remember him? His one contribution as a very young loanee from Spurs was one of the goals in *that* 3-3 draw with Exeter back in 2017 (shudders)

He was released from his Morecambe contract at the end of last month having only played a few games for them and you’d assume would be open to offers on a short term basis.

He at least knows the area, knows what to expect and can probably take a short term deal knowing he wouldn’t be confined to deepest, darkest Somerset forever.

Next up a young lad by the name of Brandon Barker, a one time Man City youth prospect who spent a short stint on loan at Oxford from SPL champions Rangers last season and did score a few goals.

He has represented England at youth levels and has been let go of his deal from Rangers on the final day of January presumably to allow easier access to other deals either North or South of the border.

Yes, Yeovil is a LONG way from Glasgow, but how about it for 3 months, make a name for yourself and alert a few EFL clubs for the new season?

Ok, this next one is very much pie in the sky, but you know, I’m straw clutching.

Remember Jerome Sinclair? All the talent in the world as a youngster at Liverpool and Watford and was meant to be destined for greatness.

But, unless ‘Greatness’ is a small suburban area just outside of the Bulgarian city of Sofia where he was last seen on loan in 2021, it never really happened.

Of course, at just 25, he’s probably setting his sights much higher than the middle of the National League, but he and Sarll would have crossed paths at Watford as he bounced around between the first team and reserves… fancy doing your old gaffer a favour, Jerome?

Hylton and Yussuf ? TomKingPhotography

And finally, Jermaine Hylton is on the list, only 28, plenty of games (and not a shabby amount of goals) at the likes of Motherwell, Ross County and Solihull Moors

He was released from his deal at Newport earlier this year and needs a new club.

Rewind back to 2018/19 he and a certain Adi Yussuf scored nearly 30 goals between them for Solihull as they finished in the National League play-offs, have a word Adi, get the band back together!

There are forwards out there, and of course I know it seems the money has run dry and the questions the Manager refers to seemingly never get answered the way he’d like, but I enjoyed the process of seeing what is out there, even if nothing really comes of it.

…and don’t worry Darren, I don’t charge scouting fees.

 

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Yeovil Town slumped to a 2-1 defeat to Wealdstone on Tuesday night. Darren Sarll said he was ‘angry and frustrated’, Josh Staunton said the team had ‘let everyone down’. The Gloverscast has asked one of BBC Somerset’s finest co-commentators, Marcus Duncomb what he thought… here are his Five Conclusions.

Reuben Reid. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

We could really do with some more goals. This one is somewhat obvious but it’s the main thing which is holding us back. In our 26 league games this season, we’ve only managed to score more than one goal in six games – the last time we did so was away at Wrexham in November. While it’s all well and good having a solid defence (not last night mind you…), you cannot rely on scoring one goal a game to win you matches. The more concerning factor is that it wasn’t like we had missed opportunities against Wealdstone. Reuben Reid was fairly ineffective and his replacement Adi Yussuf had a similar impact on the game. I heard there’s a striker Chesterfield have just signed who they don’t seem to be starting – wonder if they’re willing to loan him out yet?

I wonder if it might be time to start playing some full-backs. Morgan Williams has been one of our most consistent performers this season but, through no fault of his own, I wonder if we need to begin playing a back four of two centre-backs and two full backs rather than three centre-backs and one full-back. When we’re defending a lead or trying to keep a clean sheet, Williams is perfect for that role. Similarly when playing against a big side, you can see why Sarll puts him at full-back. However, when chasing an equaliser and struggling to create chances (as has been the case more often recently), I think it’s worth having a natural full-back there who can take on players and put quality balls into the box.

Lawson D’Ath. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz

We needed a playmaker to unlock Wealdstone’s defence. Throughout the game, as soon as we brought the ball to the halfway line, Wealdstone’s back five would drop deep onto the edge of their penalty area and their midfield trio would be just in front. At this point our midfield would pass it around and be unable to find that crucial pass. Sarll has said previously that it doesn’t suit his side to have more of the ball and that was evident last night. I think we missed someone like D’Ath last night to orchestrate play for us.

Defensive errors are starting to creep into this team. When a team is built on its defensive stability and ability to win games by not conceding, there can be no room for errors. We saw it with the goal we conceded against Weymouth and both goals against Wealdstone were really poor goals to concede. If you concede goals like those then you have to go up the other end and make amends by scoring a few. Unfortunately, this team never looked like doing so and the only way we scored was by being gifted a penalty.

Finally, and this isn’t exactly a revelation, but we are mid-table team. Before the season I think pretty much everyone predicted a mid-table finish this season. The pre-Christmas run gave us some great memories and away days, but what it also gave fans was a tiny glimmer of hope to sneak into the play-offs. Sarll said during that period that his players were playing at levels much higher than they should and that fans need to manage expectations. Unfortunately, the way of mid-table is that if you go on a good run, you should expect it to be balanced out by a not so good run later on and that is exactly what has happened this season.

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Yeovil Town captain Josh Staunton.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Yeovil Town midfielder, Josh Staunton spoke to the club’s YouTube channel after the defeat to Wealdstone saying the game was a “really hard one to look back on“.

Staunton was speaking to club media manager Sam Collard after the game and admitted it’ll take some time to get over a defeat of that nature.

He said: “We looked completely disjointed probably from start to finish, the goals were very bad timing for us, we found ourselves in the game, but we weren’t playing well, we had no harmony”

“Second half, we mounted and effort, but to be honest, we let everyone down.”

Speaking out conceding just before the half time interval, Staunton said they had no one other to blame but themselves.

He said: “We were probably the masters of our own downfall, we were guilty for the two goals we conceded were poor goals and to be honest, they just summed the performance up.”

Looking forward, he admitted that it won’t be easy, but that the team knew what they had to do as they prepare for a trip to Eastleigh on Saturday.

Staunton added: “This will be a hard one to let go, because we were so devoid of any flow or creative spark, it makes it very difficult to galvanise a group… we’ve got to focus on the next one and hopefully we can move on from this, find some sort of flow, some sort of rhythm to our play and push forward.”

 

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Yeovil Town manager Darren Sarll told BBC Somerset he is dealing with a lot of “anger” and “frustration” following his side’s 2-1 defeat away at Wealdstone.

Speaking directly after the final whistle, the boss gave a frank and honest interview on how he saw the game.

He said: “(I’m) very disappointed for our travelling supporters, because they’ve come so far tonight, I think it’s very hard for any coach to defend any performance when the fundamentals of any game are not met and we had a unique habit of just giving the ball away.”

Sarll said on a couple different occasions that he felt his side played too many long passes and failed to show their optimum level of technical ability.

“Two of the worst goals (to concede) I’ve ever seen, by the way, and then you chase – and we’re not a great team at having a lot of the ball and creating lots of chances, we haven’t got a lot of creativity or that individual ability in the final part of the game to do something out of the ordinary, it’s an indefensible performance in my eyes”

Sarll said he’s left his players know in no uncertain terms how he felt, and said he was frustrated at his sides couldn’t figure out how to break down an ever increasingly defensive host.

“We did our absolutle best to take any momentum out of the game after that (Dale Gorman’s goal), we went from scoring goal – a bit of a razz – there was a bit of a melee and then we did our best to have a goal kick, which we will kick again on their head, then we give away a throw and not defend that properly and then we will give away a free kick where we are trying to fight and jostle our way back into the game… they take the sting out of the game”

There was praise for the introduction of Sonny Blu Lo Everton, but the manager highlighted the absence of Lawson D’ath who he did want to “break” with so many games in quick succession but he reiterated that he needed to find reinforcements on and off the pitch.

Sarll said: “This needs a spike in the changing room, it needs some characters, it needs some players, I’ll ask the question because it does need some freshness in there.

“I think some of the young ones are being worn down by a campaign, some of them are at the 25/26 game mark where they probably haven’t been before.”

“I definitely need to look at the structure of the coaching staff, who and how we replenish the position left by Terry (Skiverton) because I think that can be a big one at times”

Yeovil Town will hope to have a “spike” or two added before the away game at Eastleigh on Saturday.

 

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Dale Gorman.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Yeovil Town midfielder Dale Gorman says the 0-0 result against Solihull Moors was a fair result after two solid defensive sides kept each other at arms length.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Ian Randall he said that the Glovers knew what was coming and dealt with it well.

He said: “It was a tough battle out there, to be fair, we knew what they would bring today and we matched it throughout”

“I thought we were very accountable today, each and every one of us.”

“These games are going to be tight games and one goal could win them, Charlie (Wakefield) has had that chance in the first half, we’ve had a few sniffs and on the other side we’ve made some terrific blocks and I think a 0-0 is a fair outcome of the game”

The Northern Irishman was asked about the performance of the returning Lawson D’Ath who played over an hour replacing the injured Jordan Barnett and was confident that with a little extra quality that draws will turn into wins soon.

He said: “I thought we did well, that’s three game where we are unbeaten and that’s a clean sheet against a side that’s up there and that’s something you can’t throw away easy”

“At this stage of the season, when you’re playing teams above you, you can’t lose to them or the gap gets too big, we took a point, we move on to Tuesday.”

“Them 0-0’s will hopefully turn into 1-0’s, 2-0’s hopefully, it’s important we didn’t lose today… we’ve got our game in hand on Tuesday, away at Wealdstone, we need to back up today with a win there to put some pressure on the teams above us.”

The Glovers travel to Wealdstone this Tuesday, with the hosts 20th in the table having not played since the 29th January and with only two wins over bottom side Dover in the last 10 league games.

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Glovers’ ‘keeper Grant Smith

Yeovil Town Goalkeeper, Grant Smith has praised the defensive unit that has proved so strong this season.

The Glovers have conceded just 25 goals during the league season, one of the best defensive records in the division.

speaking ahead of the Solihull game, the a Number 1 was proud of the team’s efforts.

“We don’t concede many chances, a lot of the games where we’ve kept clean sheets, I’ve barely had a save to make, we work very hard on that.”

‘Shakira Hips’ Smith said that whilst he used to set himself targets for clean sheets that was no longer the case as he preferred to keep his focus elsewhere it did admit to the Gloverscast, he’s been known to celebrate a save like a goal and enjoys a scrappy 1-0 win more than most.

“For a goalkeeper, nothing beats a 1-0 win, everyone would love to win four or five-nil and have an easy win, but when you walk off the pitch at the end of the game having dug in for that last 30 minutes, they’ve been throwing absolutely everything at you and you’ve kept a clean sheet, it makes you feel like you’ve done a god job”

“That one on one save in the Stevenage game, I did celebrate it like a goal, I think it comes down to an important save at an important time, it wasn’t necessarily an unbelievable save, it was just an important moment in that game.”

Smith praised Luke Wilkinson for his consistency, Morgan Williams for his flexibility in different roles and Ben Barclay for the way he’s settled into the side but finished by saying that the side were up for the challenge of keeping Solihull’s front men out.

“It’s a good challenge, everyone wants to challenge themselves against the best in the league… But we take it for face value and give them all the respect”

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Yeovil Town manager Darren Sarll said his side deserved to win the game against W*ymouth after coming from a goal down to secure a point.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins, Sarll admitted the first half needed improving on, but that his side probably deserved to take all three points.

He said: “After that second half there’s only one team who deserved to win the game, in terms of goal mouth entries – they had one good chance in the second half – but apart from that they’ve had the mistake that we’ve made (for the goal) and one very good chance [in the] second half. 

We’ve had multiple entries and I said to them, you need to take heart from the second half, but understand we have got to make it like that for 90 minutes.”

Adi Yussuf forced the ball goalwards for the Glovers’ equaliser, and could have won the game with the final kick of the game, but couldn’t quite send the manager “flying down the touchline” in celebration.

“I thought we deserved to win the game”, continued Sarll, “just for oohs and aaahs, I thought we deserved to win the game because our intent early on was to win the game and we have to be a lot more composed and try and bring out – and try and bring out – those creative instincts in the players.”

There was praise for the constant threat offered by Charlie Wakefield who was described as the “find of the F-ing century” as well as the introduction of Reuben Reid who both posed a threat for the hosts, as well as the returning Lawson D’ath.

“His footballing intelligence is excellent, really excellent, I loved having him back out there, he does give us that genuine opportunity to play with two midfielders like when [Josh] Staunton is available, and he gives us a way, a vision – he can pick a pass and pick someone out.

When you’ve got receivers like Wakefield, Adi and Reuben and Tom Knowles you need someone who is going to be able to distribute the ball.”

Yeovil are back in action hosting Solihull Moors on Saturday kicking off at 3pm

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Yeovil Town left/right/centre back Morgan Williams has been named in the official Vanarama Team Of the Week

Williams was part of the Glovers defence which held out for three vital points against Woking.

Williams joins the likes of Andrew Dallas from Stockport and Halifax’s Billy Waters in the team.

Congratulations Morgan!

https://twitter.com/vanarama/status/1488183990871810049?s=21