A Friday night in Barrow, a Monday afternoon at Huish Park.
We sing the praises of all those in Green and White (in the stands and on the pitch) on the latest edition of the Gloverscast, three voicenotes, some GCQs and Ben’s chat with Jos Barker all packed into this episode!
I promise you, we’re not making this up.
Jos Barker has made three out of a possible four Enterprise National League Team of the Weeks.
(In the only one he didn’t, Luke McCormick made the cut)
The Glovers were winners away at Barrow and highlight saves from Kennedy Digie and Xavier Benjamin at either end of the 90 clearly caught the eye of the panel.
He was also named in the Non League Paper XI.
Referee Matt Scholes makes his first appearance in the middle for a National League fixture this season when he takes charge of the home game against Tamworth.
Scholes has been in charge of Premier League Two games this season, including a 5-0 win for Man Utd’s youngsters against their Ipswich Town counterparts; Leon Elliot for the Tractor Boys saw red after two…. needless challenges within just a couple of minutes of one another midway through the second half.
It’s not his debut at the level though, he’s took charge of eight National League games last season dishing out 25 yellows, one red and awarding three penalties.
It is his debut as the main official for Yeovil though, the only other time we’ve given him a parking space at Huish Park was when fourth official in the 1-1 draw between the Glovers and Forest Green in April of 2025.
He has a single youth international game under his belt, a 2-0 win for England under 19s against Italy at St Georges Park in 2021 and has spent the majority of his career in the National League North.
He will be assisted by Dave Middleton with Steven Plane flying down the other touchline (sorry), Ashley Allen is the fourth official.
Yeovil Town FC (First Team) v Tamworth (First Team)
National League – Premier
Referee: Scholes, Matthew
Assistant Referee: Middleton, David
Assistant Referee: Plane, Steven
Fourth Official: Allen, Ashley
Just a quick Saturday round up as Dan Ellison was once again on the losing side for his adopted Salisbury, who ended the game with nine men,
Ellison started in the heart of defence once more remaining an ever present and yet to miss a minute of action. Much like against Hemel last week, Salisbury took the lead, but ended up on the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline, this time against Maidstone.
Jaiden Bartolo (50th min) and Yacoue Traore (94th min) both saw red for second bookable offences with the winner coming with the last action of the game, deep into added time.
It was quite some Friday night for the Glovers who came from behind to grab a 2-1 win over recently relegated Barrow.
Ben was in the press box for the BBC and here are his five conclusions on a heady night in Cumbria.
Energy. Effort. Desire.
I’m knackered after the nearly six hours of driving to cover less than a 200-mile round trip – I can only imagine how the 80-plus people who got home at 5am on Saturday must feel! I’m was exhausted just watching at the energy, effort and desire from the Glovers.
It’s perfectly acceptable to give a good Barrow team the majority of the ball especially on their own turf, but the more I see of this side, the more convinced I am that you will not out work this new look Yeovil side.
It is world away from us even 12 months ago, it’s so refreshing to see that basic desire to run through brick walls for each other, for the manager and the fans.
We would have lost that game last season.
And the season before, and the one before and probably plenty of previous seasons before that!
But here’s the thing we would have shut up shop and taken the point after the equaliser in those campaigns too. We wouldn’t have sent the central defenders up for that late free-kick.
That’s a mentality thing. That was rolling dice and saying we can take the risk of losing a game to try and win it.
Replacing quality with quality.
Oh no, Ryan Jones is on a yellow card…that must mean we have to play someone else out of position to fill the gap… oh, wait. We have Mason Obeng and James Daly ready and raring to go!?
Oh no, I hope Joy Mukena has to be careful in the second half on a yellow. Actually let’s just bring on the vice captain, or a highly thought of loan signing in Ayina. Jack Kingdon and Dan Ellison aren’t even in the squad!
With all due respect, the days of putting square Finn Cousin-Dawson-shaped peg in a round hole because he can do a job, are behind us.
Unbeaten and confident.
I don’t think we’ll go 46 games unbeaten, although I’ve been wrong before. But if a new group with a 15 new faces could have hand-picked a start to the season, there would have been a lot of people choosing to keep a 0 in the L column for as long as possible.
What we’ve got is a group that is determined to keep it that way but, also a group learning how to stick together when (if?) the first defeat comes. That might be the biggest personality trait I’ve spotted. Together.
The Green does sometimes rub green.
You earn your own fortune, right?
Barrow had chances, plenty of them, but they probably will say Mukena was lucky to stay on the pitch – for what it’s worth, I think the distance he and Alex Reid were from goal puts enough doubt in the referee’s mind re: DOGSO. It wasn’t a free kick for our winning goal, but Amos committed half a dozen other cynical fouls and got pulled up on none through the game, so we might have earned one going our way.
These moments are the fine margins that haven’t gone our way in those first two games. For as much as we deserved something from the game, we deserved something going our way.
Who was your Man of the Match for the Glovers away at Barrow?
With the swift turnaround between games, voting for this closes at KICK OFF in the Tamworth game on Monday
Yeovil Town gave Gateshead a bit of a thrashing last weekend, but two-goal hero Luke McCormick has NOT been named your Man of the Match.
Ryan Jones‘ sparkling performance down the flank was too good to ignore for a third of you, who have him voted over both McCormick and full back Archie Davies who was third in your vote.
Ten different players got votes in total, with Zain Westbrooke and Charlie Lennon both knocking on the door of the podium spots.
| DATE | OPPONENT | RESPONSES | 1ST (Votes / Percent) | 2ND (Votes / Percent) | 3RD (Votes / Percent) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUGUST | |||||
| 08.08.26 | Scunthorpe | 130 | JORDAN NORVILLE-WILLIAMS (91 / 70%) | Mason Obeng (16 / 12.3%) | Jos Barker (12 / 9.2%) |
| 15.08.26 | Carlisle United | 152 | JOS BARKER (71 / 46.7%) | Jordan Norville-Williams (34 / 22.4%) | Zain Westbrooke (14 / 9.2%) |
| 22.08.26 | Gateshead | 168 | RYAN JONES (57 / 33.9%) | Luke McCormick (42 / 25%) | Archie Davies (24 / 14.3%) |
| 28.08.26 | Barrow | 174 | JOS BARKER (114 / 65.1%) | Jordan Norville-Williams (35 / 20%) | Luke McCormick (10 / 5.7%) |
| 31.08.26 | Tamworth | 156 | BRETT MCGAVIN (87 / 55.8%) | Luke McCormick (24 / 15.4%) | Jos Barker (10 / 6.4%) |
| AUGUST PLAYER OF THE MONTH | 780 VOTES | 🥇 JOS BARKER (8 PTS, 2 MOTM) | 🥈 JORDAN NORVILLE WILLIAMS (7 PTS, 1 MOTM) | 🥉 LUKE MCCORMICK (5 PTS, 0 MOTM) |
|
| SEPTEMBER | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- |
| 05.09.26 | Southend United | 47 | JOS BARKER (12 / 25.5%) | Archie Davies (10 / 21.3%) | Luke McCormick (8 / 17%) |
| 12.09.26 | AFC Fylde | 88 | RYAN JONES (47 / 53.4%) | Luke McCormick (13 / 14.8%) | Archie Davies (10 / 11.4%) |
| 15.09.26 | Aldershot | 110 | RYAN JONES (49 / 44.5%) | Archie Davies (17 / 15.5%) | James Daly (13 / 11.8%) |
| 18.09.26 | Solihull Moors | 127 | RYAN JONES (52 / 40.9%) | Zain Westbrooke (18 / 14.2%) | James Daly (16 / 12.6%) |
| 26.09.26 | Kidderminster Harriers | 157 | JOS BARKER (80 / 51%) | Ryan Jones (17 / 10.8%) | Johl Powell (15 / 9.6%) |
| 29.09.26 | Worthing | 112 | BRETT MCGAVIN (38 / 33.9%) | Ryan Jones (35 / 31.3%) | Jordan Norville-Williams (21 / 18.8%) |
| SEPTEMBER PLAYER OF THE MONTH | 641 VOTES | 🥇 RYAN JONES (13 PTS, 3 MOTM) | 🥈 JOS BARKER (6 PTS, 2 MOTM) | 🥉 ARCHIE DAVIES (5 PTS, 0 MOTM) |
|
| OCTOBER | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- |
| 03.10.26 | Boston Utd | 175 | JOHL POWELL (47 / 26.9%) | Jordan Norville-Williams (37 / 21.1%) | Ryan Jones (29 / 16.6%) |
| 10.10.26 | Wealdstone | 150 | BRETT MCGAVIN (136 / 90.7%) | Jack Kingdon (6 / 4%) | Johl Powell (3 / 2%) |
| 17.10.26 | Leatherhead (FAC4Q) | 62 | JOHL POWELL (17 / 27.4%) | Archie Davies (9 / 14.5%) | Jordan Norville-Williams (8 / 12.9%) |
| 20.10.26 | Leatherhead (FAC4QR) | 112 | JACK KINGDON (74 / 55.2%) | Slavi Spasov (20 / 14.9%) | Ryan Jones (16 / 11.9%) |
| 24.10.26 | Altrincham | 86 | JOHL POWELL (35 / 40.7%) | Jordan Norville-Williams (14 / 16.3%) | Slavi Spasov (13 / 15.1%) |
| 27.10.26 | Hornchurch | 109 | SEB NAYLOR (50 / 43.5%) | Jack Kingdon (16 / 13.9%) | James Daly (14 / 12.2%) |
| 31.10.26 | FC Halifax Town | ||||
| NOVEMBER | |||||
| 14.11.26 | Boreham Wood | ||||
| 21.11.26 | Forest Green Rovers | ||||
| 24.11.26 | Eastleigh | ||||
| 28.11.26 | Harrogate Town | ||||
| DECEMBER | |||||
| 05.12.26 | Hartlepool United | ||||
| 09.12.26 | Wealdstone | ||||
| 19.12.26 | Boston United | ||||
| 26.12.26 | Sutton United | ||||
| 28.12.26 | Woking | ||||
| JANUARY | |||||
| 02.01.27 | Altrincham | ||||
| 09.01.27 | Hornchurch | ||||
| 16.01.27 | |||||
| 23.01.27 | Carlisle United | ||||
| 26.01.27 | Eastleigh | ||||
| 30.01.27 | Scunthorpe United | ||||
| FEBRUARY | |||||
| 06.02.27 | Forest Green Rovers | ||||
| 13.02.27 | Kidderminster Harriers | ||||
| 17.02.27 | Worthing | ||||
| 20.02.27 | Solihull Moors | ||||
| 23.02.27 | Aldershot | ||||
| 27.02.27 | Gateshead | ||||
| MARCH | |||||
| 06.03.27 | Barrow | ||||
| 09.03.27 | Tamworth | ||||
| 13.03.27 | Southend United | ||||
| 20.03.27 | AFC Fylde | ||||
| 26.03.27 | Woking | ||||
| 29.03.27 | Sutton United | ||||
| APRIL | |||||
| 03.04.27 | FC Halifax Town | ||||
| 10.04.27 | Boreham Wood | ||||
| 17.04.27 | Hartlepool United | ||||
| 24.04.27 | Harrogate Town | ||||
Referee Ross Martin takes charge of the Glovers when they head to Barrow on Friday night.
The middle man is more used to taking charge in the EFL these days, but has been a regular in Yeovil games over recent seasons.
This season, he has taken charge of two league games – both ended in away wins… just saying – in League One as well as an EFL Cup tie between Crewe and Accrington where he awarded the hosts a 7th minute penalty.
He has taken charge of six Yeovil Town league games in his career, the green and whites have won five and drawn one (a 2-2 vs Eastleigh in the 24/25 season, if you’re wondering)
The most recent occasion was a 1-0 home win over AFC Fylde in March 2025, Harvey Greenslade’s late winner the story of that one.
As far as I can tell, he’s only been in charge of one Barrow game, a 0-0 draw against Shrewsbury in October 2025, he cautioned two of the home side’s players that day.
Jordan Brooks and Mark Cunliffe will be his assistants and Jacob Veira is the fourth official.
Barrow AFC (First Team) v Yeovil Town FC (First Team)
National League – Premier
Referee: Martin, Ross
Assistant Referee: Brooks, Jordan
Assistant Referee: Cunliffe, Mark
Fourth Official: Viera, Jacob
It’s not the sort of thing we keep data on, but between the Non League Paper and the official Enterprise Team of the Week, Yeovil Town have had a representative in all bar one of the six possible XIs this season – possibly some sort of record?
Skipper ‘Super’ Luke McCormick and his two goals of course make the cut in both this week following on from Jos Barker in weeks one and two.
Dan Ellison and his Salisbury side blotted their perfect defensive record with a 2-1 defeat at home to Hemel Hempstead.
The hosts actually went ahead in the 17th minute before an 83rd and 92nd minute double whammy took the points and the clean sheet away from Ellison and Co.
Local scout Callum Hallett was at the game and reported that the loanee was strong in the duels, and aerial clearances were top notch, and didn’t deserve to be on the losing team
Elsewhere, Liam Nardiello who has been seen in the new Under19s set up during their pre-season came on for, and scored a second goal in Sherborne’s 2-0 win on Saturday.
Nardiello was one of three young Glovers who regularly featured in match day squads last season and got a few minutes of National League action.
