Ben Barrett (Page 146)

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Yeovil Town fell agonisingly short of the Playoffs in their first ever season in the Football League despite a last day win over Lincoln City by three goals to two.

An 8th place finish was confirmed as, despite beating Lincoln in 7th, other results failed to go the Glovers’ way, finishing outside of the top seven, on goal difference alone.

Yeovil finished 13 goals to the good, but Lincoln, who also finished on 74 points had a goal difference of +21.

On the day, it was Adam Stansfield who came off the bench to give the away side the lead, Jake Edwards would double that lead only to see the Imps peg the Glovers back to 2-2.

But Super Gavin Williams found a winner, which secured the points, but not the 7th place finish Gary Johnson was hoping for.

Yeovil XI-   Collis, Lindegaard, Lockwood, Hugo Rodrigues, Skiverton, Gall, Way, Johnson, Williams, Weatherstone, Terry.
Subs: Northmore, Stansfield, Crittenden, Reed, Edwards.

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The curtain came down on another successful season in League One with a 2-0 away win at Carlisle.

The win, thanks to goals from Jon Obika and Dean Bowditch, meant that the Glovers signed off the season with a six-match unbeaten streak.

Three points on the final day of the 2010/2011 season secured Yeovil a 14th place finish, level on points with Carlisle and Charlton who only finished above the Glovers on goal difference.

It also meant that Sheffield Wednesday finished below Yeovil Town in the final standings whilst Plymouth Argyle, Bristol Rovers and Swindon were all relegated out of the division along with Dagenham & Redbridge.

Dean Bowditch ended the season as the club’s top scorer with 15 goals, whilst on loan ‘keeper Stephen Henderson picked up the majority of the end of season awards.

The Carlisle side that day included both Francois Zoko and Paddy Madden who would both go on to do alright in green and white later in their careers.

Yeovil XI – Henderson, Alcock (Ehmer, 45), Virgo, Ayling, Smith, MacDonald, Upson (Tutte, 22), Wotton, Welsh, Obika, Bowditch (Jones, 70).

Unused Subs – Stewart, Russell, Gibson, Fitzsimons

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Terry Skiverton gave a very honest assessment of how he’s been handling a tough season on and off the pitch at Huish Park.

When asked if the he was still enjoying his roles at the club, the club legend gave a very honest answer: “No, I’m not going to lie, it’s been probably my hardest time throughout my career at Yeovil.”

The club is still processing the shocking loss of Captain Lee Collins who passed away in March as well as trying to negotiate a behind-closed-doors season in a global pandemic.

“Because of what happened [Lee Collins’ passing] and my relationship with Lee within the squad, he was the Captain of the football club, he was number four, we shared the same shirt number, the same roles and responsibilities as a Captain, so no, it’s been really hard to come in every day and make sure we are upbeat and giving energy to the players.”

Skiverton acknowledged his role as a leader within the coaching staff and recognised that he had a part to play in getting his players, colleagues and supporters through a hard time.

“One thing that we do here, is make sure we come up to work, we arrive at work and make sure we are rocking and rolling, so the players know they have staff behind them ready to go. We are all in, we are going to turn up on a Saturday and try and get a result. They need to see that, feel that and they need to know that we are 100% behind them, alongside them, in front of them, and we are leading in the right way as well.”

There’s no doubt the events of the last month have taken their toll on everyone associated with Yeovil Town and it was refreshing to hear a club legend like Skiverton speak so honestly, and openly.

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Yeovil Town Assistant Manager Terry Skiverton took media duties ahead of the trip to Wrexham and he suggested that, despite the injury problems, the Glovers aren’t ready to take their foot off the pedal in the hunt for success.

Speaking to the BBC, when asked about the squad’s fitness status ahead of the trip to Wales, Skiverton said: “It’ll be touch and go, a lot of the players have been in, in doing their rehab. We’ve got a real small group training today [Thursday] and then tomorrow we will do something that’s very, very light and we will have to readjust and get the right squad that travels up so that everybody’s fit.”

With the season drawing to a close and the squad looking very thin, Skiverton – who also doubles up as the Academy Manager at Huish Park – said we might get to see a few new, younger, faces over the coming games.

“We are a little bit down to the bare bones, we’ve got a few of the younger boys that have come up and will be training with us today and maybe surprising by seeing one or two in the squad come Saturday, we will just have to wait and see.”

Yeovil included Toby Stephens in the squad for the game against Halifax who is a regular with the Under-18s, whilst goalkeeper Max Evans has been a regular in the travelling parties and of course, Alfie Lloyd – who has plenty of goals in green and white at youth level – has also made the squad this season.

Lloyd wasn’t part of the Under-18s last fixture following confirmation that he has spent time on trial with QPR recently, so his involvement is unclear.

When asked about how the club are tackling the run in to a season, which looks likely to end in a mid table finish, Skiverton admitted it hasn’t been easy for everyone, but that there’s no sense of throwing in the towel just yet.

“It’s been tough, even today with me coming in today and doing the press, the Manager [Darren Sarll] has been feeling a bit flat. We’ve had two really good performances and two good wins, but to come up short on Monday, we’ve been flat after that. We’ve still got to make sure we’re pushing, we’re playing for our supporters every week, who are right behind us – that’s right at the forefront of our minds. The group we’ve got, with the manager, with the football club, we won’t sacking nothing off, our supporters want to see hard work, determination, character. They want to see us defending well and scoring goals.”

With everyone at the club was fighting for their futures and plenty of players out of contract, Skiverton reaffirmed that the attitude of everyone continues to be hardworking and professional.

The Glovers head to play-off chasing Wrexham on Saturday with a 3pm kick-off.

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As the season draws to a close, clubs up and down the land are starting to formulate their plans for next season with plenty of players being either offered a new deal, or told to find a new club for the new season.

Below, we here at the Gloverscast will keep a list of the former YTFC players who have their decisions delivered to them, Gloverscast Ben will be keeping this list updated throughout the course of the next couple of weeks, if you spot any former Glovers on R&R lists, feel free to tag @benbarrett10 on Twitter and it’ll be added to the list.

We will divide the lists up by division according the league in which they played the 2020/21 season.

Premier League
To Be Completed

Championship
To Be Completed

League One
The MK Dons have announced that former Yeovil striker Kieran Agard will be leaving the club at the end of the season.
Agard famously became the words first ‘Twansfer’ after being scouted on social media after Yeovil manager Terry Skiverton announced he needed the help of Twitter to find some new players!
Agard leaves the Dons as their 3rd highest goalscorer ever.

League Two
To Be Completed

National League

The First National League side to declare their future plans are Dover.
Dover withdrew from the 2020/21 season and saw all their results expunged, including the 3-1 loss to Yeovil on 30th of January, the last time Andy Hessenthaler’s side played.
They have announced they plan to go part-time for next season and as a result, plenty of their full-time players have been released, including former Yeovil Town midfielder, Oscar Gobern.

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MAY 6th 2013

Ed Upson Day will live long in the memory for all Glovers fans.

Yeovil Town, under Gary Johnson, pulled off a miracle by getting promoted out of League One and into the Championship for the first time ever in 2013.

The Play Off campaign saw the Glovers face off against Sheffield United and despite losing 1-0 in the first leg, the story that unfolded on the Bank Holiday Monday of May 2013 will go down in EFL folklore, as Yeovil, once again, came back in the second leg to book their place at Wembley,

Goals from Kevin Dawson in the 6th minute and famously Ed Upson just before full time took the Glovers to the League One show piece for the second time.

The match itself ebbed and flowed, United hit the bar in the first half whilst Paddy Madden missed a glorious opportunity in the second.

Many a tale has been told of this magical day, with over 8000 in the ground and plenty more watching on TV,

Scorer Kevin Dawson said after the game;

“This means everything to the club. I can’t explain what I’m feeling. It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life, unreal.

“We’re now 90 minutes away from the Championship and that’s where we want to be. I’ve never been to Wembley, so I can’t wait.”

Whilst Gary Johnson told Sky Sports; “It’s very special for our club, our town, our players… we’re a little old club in Yeovil and we’ve got ourselves to Wembley, one game away from the Championship.”

Supporters invaded the pitch after the full time whistle with celebrations from all sides of Huish Park still available to watch on You Tube to take us back to arguably Huish Park’s greatest day.

The highlights are below, take six minutes to celebrate the 8th Ed Upson Day celebrations

 

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Former Yeovil Town defender Luke Ayling has reiterated his love for his former club saying it was “the best decision I ever made”.

Speaking to Laura Woods and Adebayo Akinfenwa on the Sky Sports Super Six Podcast, Ayling spoke of how he felt like moving to Somerset made a huge difference in his career

“It certainly toughed me up, it was the best decision I ever made in football.”

“I was playing men’s football at 18 or 19… I was a little skinny lad, a centre half playing centre mid, who wasn’t very good at centre mid then dropped back to right back and found my spot.”

Ayling was brought in alongside fellow Arsenal academy graduate Luke Freeman by Terry Skiverton and would go on to become a fan favourite.

However, his time in Yeovil nearly ended much more quickly than he’d expected after recalling a training ground incident with defender Paul Huntington.

“There was one incident in training, we were playing a game and one of my mates scored, Hunts [Paul Huntington] started shouting and I went back at him. There was a bit of a thing and he said, ‘you’re gunna have to get back in the team you big time Charlie’.”

That wasn’t the end of the situation though.

“So, I was playing centre mid and the ball has rolled to him [Huntington] and I’ve ran 20 yards and clattered him, and said ‘how’s that for big time Charlie’? We’ve got up, had a little scuffle at the time and the gaffer at the time sent me in saying ‘you’ll never play for this club again’ I told him ‘I don’t want to play for this club, I’m done’.”

Thankfully for Glovers fans, a swift chat with his agent and an apology was all that was needed to right the wrong and Skivo soon had Luke in his plans once more.

On his relationship with Terry Skiverton, Ayling said:“I still speak to him now, he gave me my chance, we’re good.”

Akinfenwa asked about the League One Play Off success.

“I knew what us boys actually did, we started well and hit a run and got into the play offs… there was 40,000 at Wembley, it was so good to see all that green and white. There was 22,000 [Yeovil] fans there, there’s only 40,000 in the town of Yeovil. We won it, jumped in the off licence right outside Wembley, went to McDonald’s and got loads of stuff, went back to Yeovil and went to the pub for three days”

Ayling went on to play for Bristol City following Yeovil’s relegation from the Championship and then made a move to Leeds where he is playing his way into the conversations for international recognition under Gareth Southgate and England.

Ayling will always be part of the heroic 2013 Play-Off side who gave so many Glovers fans so many special memories, he scored three times in 185 appearances at Yeovil.

You can listen to the Super 6 Podcast wherever you get your audio on demand and don’t forget to subscribe to the Gloverscast whilst you’re there.

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Yeovil Town defeated Gillingham 2-0 in preparation for the 2007 League One Play-Off campaign.

Manager Russell Slade took the opportunity to rest a few key players with the likes of Arron Davies, Chris Cohen, Nathan Jones and Marcus Stewart all missing from the match day squad.

The visitors still proved too strong though, goals from Jean Paul Kalala – his first for the Glovers – and Wayne Gray enough to separate the sides.

Among the changes made by Slade, a young Craig Alcock made his debut from the bench, whilst names like Daniel Webb and Tom Clarke were also given game time.

Yeovil finished the season in 5th place with 79 points and would eventually fall just short in their quest for promotion with a loss to Blackpool at Wembley.

Yeovil XI – Mildenhall, Lynch, Forbes, Guyett, Lindegaard, Brittain, Kalala, Barry, Welsh (Alcock, 74), Clarke (Webb,57), Gray (McCallum, 88)

Unused Subs – Behcet, Smeeton.

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Yeovil Town bowed out of the Football League on this day in 2019.

Relegation has already been confirmed after a 2-2 draw against Northampton Town the week prior but the Glovers played out a 0-0 draw with Carlisle to officially bring down the curtain on a Football League journey that had begun in 2003.

3418 people were in Huish Park to watch the somewhat drab affair.

Of the YTFC squad on that day, only Matt Worthington and Gabby Rogers remain with the Glovers.

It would also spell the end of Neale Marmon’s temporary stint in charge at Yeovil having taken over from Darren Way once the former midfield stalwart had been relieved of his duties prior to the run in.

As is customary, the end of season awards were also handed out with on loan ‘Keeper Nathan Baxter swooping all five Player of the Season trophies.

Alex Fisher ended the season as the Glovers top scorer with eight goals.

Yeovil XI – Nelson, Worthington, Mugabi, Worthington, James, Santos (Arquin, 70), Gray, Pattinson, Abrahams (Seager, 76), Dobre, Duffus (Fisher, 80)

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Yeovil Town’s Jimmy Smith spoke to BBC Somerset following the Glovers’ 3-0 loss to Halifax saying the team felt frustrated at the outcome of the match,

“[It’s] very frustrating, the conditions didn’t help either, but that was for both teams, but when you’re not getting decisions from the referee, for the majority of the whole game it doesn’t help either”

Smith, who was booked during the game by the official Elliot Swallow, claimed he was headbutted in the build up to that yellow card whilst also bemoaning the refusal of not one but two penalty decisions which could have swayed the game in the Glovers’ favour.

“… I don’t think it’s a pen for them, we should have had a pen… [Tom] Knowlesy gets put in a headlock and the decision goes against him…”

Smith, like Manager Darren Sarll did admit that despite the officiating, the Glovers did make chances, but failed to capitalise on any.

“We had chances to get back into the game, we had free kick situations, we felt we could have scored from them. The score line, I don’t think it is what it shows, but we’re disappointed not to get something out of this game… we had a few chances, in the second half we had five or six and we need to put them away, no excuses.”

 

Read the match report here