Ben Barrett (Page 121)

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Yeovil players celebrate Charlie Wakefield’s FA Cup winner in Round 2

Here’s a conundrum for you.

How do you cope with the injuries and illness that the Glovers have had this mid-season, in ‘COVID World’ whilst having a squad as small as Yeovil Town’s, and yet at the same time have multiple selection headaches with multiple options in different positions?

That’s exactly what manager Darren Sarll has not just up front with Joe Quigley, Reuben Reid and Adi Yussuf seemingly vying for one spot, but also now in goal.

First choice Grant Smith has been nothing short of fantastic between the sticks this season, and his post-match red card at Torquay on Boxing Day threw a spanner in the works for the upcoming games including last weekend’s FA Cup tie against Bournemouth.

With the greatest of respect, the loan keeper from QPR, Dillon Barnes, was far from an adequate replacement. The 87th player to take his place between the posts for us since the end of the Second World War (we think) but not one to stick in the memory.

Dillon Barnes vs Bournemouth

Errors against both Torquay and the Cherries at key moments were killer blows in big matches and the team suffered.

Barnes is not a bad ‘keeper, far from it in fact, he has played plenty of EFL games and a contract at a Championship club is a clear sign that he has qualities.

But he was clearly rusty, thrown into two big games with players he’d barely met and maybe, couldn’t quite get up to speed in time.

The Glovers’ regular back-up keeper Max Evans, with not a lot more than a single FA Trophy game behind him, had the potential to be a rabbit in the headlights in those games too, and I totally understand Sarll’s choice to get in a loan keeper.

Max Evans

Evans will get his chance against Needham Market, but I am sure glad Grant Smith is back. A reliable pair of gloves has been the mainstay of successful Yeovil sides, see Tony Pennock, Chris Weale, Steve Mildenhall and Marek Stech in previous years.

We’ve had some great on loan goalkeepers – Begovic, McCarthy, Henderson, Steer – and some high quality back-up keepers down the years, haven’t we? Gareth Stewart, Ben Roberts, even Wealey himself for a time. Malcolm Rigby, anyone?

Grant Smith might need to keep his composure and his hips slightly less thrusted at times, but his absence has only solidified his value to the group. 

Check out the Gloverscast Column in the Western Gazette every week and come back for more daily Gloversblogs here on Gloverscast.co.uk 

 

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Alex Bradley in conversation with manager Darren Sarll.

Have you seen Alex Bradley?

The former Finland youth International turned a loan deal from Lincoln into a permanent one back in January of 2021.

It’s probably safe to say the next year hasn’t quite been what he imagined.

At the time he said; “My ambitions for the rest of the season are to play as many games as I can to the best of my ability and to help the team achieve what we are all capable of.”

“To reach the play-off spots is doable and it’s up to us as a squad to make that happen. I hope we can have a very successful remainder of the campaign and get this club back to where it belongs.”

Those play off spots of course never materialised, and the reasons for that are complex and in no way, shape or form down to Alex.

In total, the defender/midfielder played 24 times in the 2020/21 season for Yeovil, mostly from the start and mostly at right back.

He was rarely absent through injury and only got sent off once right at the end of the season away at Aldershot.

Alex Bradley is sent off at Aldershot Town

Now, this season feels a very different story.

He has played in nine league games so far.

That’s less than half of the matches, what’s more alarming is that’s he started NONE.

Using Soccerbase as a guide his nine sub appearances in the league have come in the following minutes of matches; 89, 76, 89, 86, 87, 88, 75, 81 & 89.

He did get nearly half an hour vs Yate Town in the FA Cup and started the Trophy game against Woking but was taken off after 73 minutes.

All of this means his last completed match was the defeat to Stockport on the final day of last season.

I’ve been scratching my head as to what’s changed and why Bradley has been left out in the cold so often.

…and before you all start screaming “he’s clearly fallen out with the manager”…

I’m not going to putting that forward as an argument, there’s no evidence to suggest that and there might be more to it.

Yeovil signed Mark Little and then Dan Moss both would have been ahead of him in the pecking order for the right back shirt that he occupied so regularly last season.

But at Lincoln, he was predominantly a midfielder, playing as such in an EFL Cup game against Liverpool shortly before heading to Somerset.

The Glovers have moved to a 4-3-3 system this campaign for the most part and with the success of Gorman, Staunton and Worthington as a trio there means there has been little need to tinker with that – despite the little Mitch Rose experiment of which we shall not mention again.

It was suggested that he might be more suited to a standard right side of midfield position, recent talk of a return to 4-4-2 might have fuelled some excitement in the 22-year old of a potential return, but suggestions after the Southend loss are that a tactical switch might be on the scrap heap already have probably quashed that.

Alex Bradley. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Has he just been unlucky then?

He’s done nothing wrong in his mini cameos, but even then he came on in multiple different roles.

He played left wing at Stockport replacing Tom Knowles, he played on the right of the front three for a few seconds against Stevenage in the cup tasked with just killing time and being a nuisance.

He went into a defensive back line made up of about 7 players at Solihull and at Wrexham too.

Maybe he has just been biding his time, a little like Morgan Williams who had to snaffle a chance as an emergency left back when the opportunity came.

Others, like Matty Worthington have had unexplained time out the side and come back to be a mainstay in the team, so I don’t think his time at the club is coming to an end either.

It’s all a bit confusing and this weekend’s game against Needham Market might show us exactly where he stands in the respect of his involvement.

Despite Darren Sarll suggesting not much will change, he’d likely make a slight alteration or two.

We still expect Max Evans to play in goal (well, we don’t think Dillon Barnes is going to play) and with a potential reshuffle of putting Staunton in defence and with Worthington recovering from illness it might give Bradley some space in midfield.

Or will the early departure of Moss and the slow integration of Little back into the side offer him the chance back on the right side of defence?

What do you think? Has Alex Bradley been unlucky? Will he get a chance this weekend? Let us know!

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Grant Smith. Picture c/o Mike Kunz

Glovers’ goalkeeper Grant Smith spoke to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins following Yeovil Town‘s 2-1 defeat at Southend United and said that the game just didn’t get going for the visitors.

“We struggled with their shape, we couldn’t really adapt to certain things they were going, we tried to change it a little bit, but we just couldn’t get going”

The former Chesterfield stopper was back in goal after a two match ban and said on a personal level it was good to be back, but that the team was focused on putting right a poor run of results.

“I think the main thing for us is trying to keep our heads, trying to keep it at 1-0, when we keep it a 1-0 we are always in the game, one chance, like today you never know what can happen, it can quickly change.

“When it goes 2-0 and 3-0, sometimes it’s over.

“Bringing Quigz (Joe Quigley) & Reubs (Reuben Reid) on we wanted the ascendency to go in our favour, but unfortunately we got caught on the break… that’s football

“We gave it a good push at the end, but it wasn’t enough

“Every game we play, we want to win and come Saturday (the FA Trophy match at home to Needham Market), it’s a big, big chance to put it right.”

The ‘keeper said he had only himself to blame for his enforced absence recently and that he’d learn from the experience of missing out on the big games and ended by saying he and the side were “never too high when we win and never too low when we lose”

I’m sure Gloverscast listeners will have spotted that phrase used once or twice.

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Yeovil Town boss, Darren Sarll spoke to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins following the Glovers’ 2-1 defeat at Southend United and said that his side looked ‘fatigued‘ both mentally and physically.

The manager said: “It lacked balance, when I think of the story of the game, when I think of the front four first half in the comparison to the opponent’s front three, that part of the pitch looked so unbalanced.

“We actually playing the system better, then we made the changes with the centre forwards as we had no real route to goal… then we whacked it at goal, for a good 20 minutes, everything was ‘whack, whack’ which shows some mental fatigue and shows some players out of form

“For the last eight minutes of normal time, plus the extra time, there was a bit of balance and we found the time when to pass and when to play into the front, and then I thought we looked a threat.”

Yeovil had a goal ruled out through Max Hunt which Darren Sarll said “maybe” could have been given on another day, but despite the late rally, Southend held on.

The second Southend goal, scored by Tom Clifford has left the gaffer with his biggest headache.

He said: “The biggest disappointment is the second goal, it is like a car crash and that probably does show mental fatigue. 

“I don’t want to throw the chaps under the bus, because they’ve been outstanding as we know, but that’s a huge learner.”

Sarll said that the performance in the first 20 minutes was tough to decipher the formation, or the roles of the players and that comes down to him.

“That’s really disappointing as a football coach… I know what they’re trying to do, they’re trying to start a run, trying to get that winning feeling, but that kind of ‘razz’ and that confusion, the chaos in their mind. That leads to silly decisions.”

Ruben Reid comes on vs Bournemouth

Reuben Reid‘s late consolation goal wasn’t enough as the Glovers now go four games without a win and will head in to Saturday’s game against Needham Market searching for that winning formula.

Sarll confirmed that he would be reluctant to make too many changes as the Glovers seek progression in the FA Trophy.

“We have to feel winning again, this isn’t ‘participation football’, this isn’t grass roots football, and we have to try and taste winning again, we will give them the rest they need… and we might need to give them a bit longer, we do need to find that footing now.”

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Yeovil Town’s exit from the FA Cup at the hands of Championship leaders Bournemouth was captured by the BBC TV cameras.

The Cherries won 3-1 and the highlights, including Joe Quigley’s 2nd half goal can be viewed below or via the Emirates FA Cup YouTube channel.

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Yeovil Town’s match away at Chesterfield has been chosen for live TV Coverage on BT Sport.

The match a the “Technique Stadium” (fka, the Proact/b2net Stadium – catchy) on February 26th will now take place at the later time of 5:20pm.

The Spireites have won the last three head to head meetings, including a 3-0 win in North Derbyshire back in March, but Yeovil did win there back in 2019 thanks to goals from Myles Hippolyte and Rhys Murphy.

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Ben Seymour in action
Credit:Weymouth FC Flickr

Former Yeovil Town loanee Ben Seymour has been speaking to DevonLive about his battle with COVID, his run in the Exeter team and his loan spell at Huish Park.

He said that whilst it was nice to play a few games, it could have been better.

“Looking back, it was a good loan to get minutes,”

“But when I was there, I was playing as an attacking midfielder and not a striker, so not my position, but I got some game time and played some minutes.”

The Grecians’ front man said when he arrived at the end of September, alongside defender Jordan Dyer, the Glovers were not in a great place, having lost back to back games against Chesterfield and Boreham Wood.

“They were in a tricky patch when I went and they were down in the dumps, but good to see they have finally picked up and shown what they can do.”

Seymour played four times for Yeovil, starting against Maidenhead in a 0-0 draw, coming off the bench in a defeat to Notts County and in a draw against Altrincham.

He also played in the FA Cup tie against W*ymouth and was one of two Glovers to miss their penalty as the Green and Whites progressed.

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Dale Gorman scores his penalty vs Weymouth
Credit: Weymouth Flickr

Yeovil Town midfielder Dale Gorman has been speaking ahead of the Glovers’ FA Cup tie vs Bournemouth and says that a quick start could be a good way to get at their Championship opponents.

“We look to start every game fast, and that’s been key to our success recently.”

Yeovil have scored a divisional best six goals in the National League this season, conceding just one in the league during the opening 15 minutes of games so far, whilst the Cherries are yet to find the net away from home in the first quarter of an hour on in the 2nd tier.

“It might be a bit different (vs Bournemouth) with the way they set up, we don’t know that until we encounter it tomorrow, but look, it’s something that we’ve talked about and something we’ve got into a routine of doing over the past two or three months”

“So, we will be looking to start fast tomorrow and be focused and be ready to do our jobs”

Yeovil have scored a divisional best six goals in the National League this season, conceding just one in the league during the opening 15 minutes of game, 

Gorman said that returning to working under Darren Sarll means he’s now enjoying his football again and is proud to play for a ‘great club‘ like Yeovil.

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Dion Pereira in action against Notts County.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Luton Town midfielder and former Yeovil loanee Dion Pereira has joined League Two side Bradford City on loan.

The ex-Watford man was at Huish Park towards the start of this season, playing 90 minutes in a 2-0 loss to Notts County in October.

Following that single performance he was not seen in a match day squad again, with Luton boss Nathan Jones citing a slight injury the cause for his return whilst Glovers’ manager Darren Sarll said the player was “massively fatigued” following his appearance.

On October 22, Sarll confirmed the player would not be returning to Yeovil.

 

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

Josh Staunton is the most important player to the future of Yeovil Town Football Club since Terry Skiverton.

That’s a statement isn’t it? I’ve said it, heck I’ve written it down for you the humble reader of the Gloverscast.

You’ve read the headline, you’ve taken the click bait and now you’re waiting to see what I have to say for myself.

Well, I stand by it.

Skivo hung up his playing boots in 2010.

Since then, the Glovers have been okay, been very good and been utterly rubbish sometimes all at the same time.

We hung around in League One, got out of League One, fell back through League One before treading water in League Two and eventually well, here we are a non-League club again.

During that time, there are maybe only a couple of standout moments and teams, the main one of course being winning promotion to the Championship.

I’d argue that, of course, the 2013 team was full of these incredible players, but for me, it felt like a team who had won the Lottery. Marek Stech in goal, Ed Upson, Paddy Madden, Luke Ayling, Joe Edwards, Sam Foley, Jamie McAllister and so on and so forth.

How many of those players, honestly, at that point in time had their next five years planned out at Huish Park? Arguably, none.

We’d have wanted them all to stay but they were snaffled up, pushed out, on too much money, sold for big bucks, given opportunities at clubs they could only dream of playing for just a few months before that group got together.

Josh Staunton rises highest to a header. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

My argument here is that if you said to me, Josh Staunton has signed a deal at Huish Park until the summer of 2026, I’d not only believe you and I’d know we’d be able to build maybe more than group around him. The last player we could honestly say that with… Terry Skiverton.

Skivo marshalled our 2003 side out of non-League, he led the rampage through League Two, and even that incredible 2007 side to the League One play-off final against all odds..

The Yeovil sides that dropped out of League One with a whimper or sleep-walked out of League Two had a couple of good players and maybe if I’d have written this at the moment of relegation in 2019, this blog would have had a similar feel to it about Carl Dickinson – but he wasn’t exactly reaching his peak years.

Then there’s that first non-League side.

I’m still staggered Darren Sarll found the group he did in less than a month after being appointed, but knowing that group as we now do, I’m not surprised he galvanised them to a play off spot.

It wasn’t to be for Stuart Nelson, Luke Wilkinson, Dicko, Lee Collins, Charlie Lee, Rhys Murphy and Co., and, of course, only one of those names still plays for us.

Yeovil Town defender Luke Wilkinson.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Wilkinson isn’t exactly old at 31, he’s got a few more seasons left in him at this level, he could probably give the EFL another crack if the chance came along.

But, here again, Josh Staunton is just 26.

His best five or six years are just starting now.

He’s a leader, a midfielder, a central defender, he’s fronted up to the media after losses, and is right now the first name on the team sheet as something of standard setter.

Gloverscast CEO Ian spoke of how his arrival off the bench in the FA Trophy game against Woking from the bench– to protect the already booked Luke Wilkinson – helped change the game. We noticeably missed him in the only 45 minutes he wasn’t on the pitch.

His comeback story from being given a “20% chance of playing again” last season is, quite frankly ridiculous – even our Hollywood friends in North Wales wouldn’t write that script.

The idea of loyalty in football to the level Skivo has shown Yeovil is all but gone, it would be bonkers to think any player from this generation would be with this club until 2042 in some way, shape or form.

But in the following scenarios at the end of this season, with the next four or five campaigns in mind, does this current Josh Staunton not make every single one of them better?

  • We don’t go up, we fall short by 15 points finish 12th and have to rebuild with most of the squad leaving this summer.
  • We don’t go up, we lose the play-off final on penalties, we have to pick up this dejected young squad who would have never felt football anguish like it before.
  • We do go up, (yay!), but our best players are snapped up by rich non-League clubs and those more geographically suitable to their families.
  • We do go up (yay, again!) and we keep the bulk of this squad together.

In each of those four scenarios, Josh Staunton provides the on or off the pitch leadership we haven’t really seen since… you guessed it, Skivo.

So, yeah, sure we’ve all made fun about how much I think of Josh this season and how much we clearly missed him last season.

But if we turn the year with a new owner, or start to plan for 2022-23 counting every penny in just the same way we have this campaign, the first signature we should aim for is that of our number 32.

Not just short-term either, let’s set our stall out early as he is likely to be the mainstay of this side well beyond Wilkinson, Reuben Reid and Mark Little – the three elder statesmen of the group.

Staunton has (at time of writing) played just 24 league games for us, he’s about half way to playing more games for us than any other side in his career.

He can lead this side for 100 more games easily, maybe into the Football League and certainly through rocky patches ahead.

There will not be many 26-year-olds at this level with 150 games already behind them and playing at the level where 150 more are perfectly feasible.

Sign him on. He’s the present and future of our team, we cannot throw this chance away.

It has always taken a certain type of player to play for Yeovil. We’ve heard the stories of Staunton joining the other injured players last season in playing a key role in getting the side through the end of the campaign and we’ve seen him don the captain’s armband on a few occasions this term too.

Qualities are not always easy to define, but you know what I mean. We’ve had loanees that ‘get it’ and some that don’t, we’ve had plenty of permanent signings come and go without so much as a shrug of the shoulders, we’ve had short term flashes of brilliance… we haven’t had all those positive attributes wrapped up into one person, one leader who can shape what this football club looks like for the next generation… since, you know who.

I cannot stress this enough, Josh Staunton is the most important player to the future of Yeovil Town Football Club since Terry Skiverton.

Editor’s note.

I have gone back and forth with writing and publishing this, I’m fully expecting a level of ridicule and outrage, but the reason I’ve gone with it, is that, I want to start the chat about getting contracts sorted beyond this season and quite how our squad looks in the medium to long term and I believe Josh Staunton has every attribute Skivo had and we should everything in our power to harness that.

If Staunton isn’t the most important player to YTFC, why? Who else has affected us (or will affect us) on the pitch in that same time frame?

Let us know!