David Coates (Page 6)

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Yeovil Town fell to a humbling defeat at bottom club Truro City as they were sunk by a first half goal from striker Tyler Harvey on Boxing Day.

In front of 568 away supporters, the game’s only goal came after goalkeeper Jed Ward had kept out Truro’s Connor Riley-Lowe’s header with a fine stop, only for calamitous defending to allow Harvey to grab what would prove to be the winner from the resulting corner on 18 minutes.

The Glovers failed to offer much to test former goalkeeper Aidan Stone in the home side’s goal as they dominated possession for large periods of the game but offered very little going forward.

The nearest Yeovil came to a breakthrough when Jake Wannell’s header came back off the bar with a minute of normal time remaining.

First half

Manager Billy Rowley made two changes from last weekend’s 2-0 home defeat to Forest Green Rovers with Port Vale loaneee James Plant and striker Tahvon Campbell replacing Aaron Jarvis and Harvey Greenslade, who both started the first encounter between the two sides in Cornwall on the bench.

It was quite clear from the start that Truro were going to look to hold Yeovil inside their own half as much as possible and look to grab opportunities as they game. The Glovers seemed keen to keep possession and draw their hosts on to them, but this was not a trap which the Tinners were falling for.

The game’s first opportunity fell to the home side after just four minutes when a high ball over the top beat the Yeovil offside trap (assuming there was one) and fell to Dom Johnson-Fisher who laid it off to Tyler Harvey and his shot was well blocked by Jed Ward and Kyle Ferguson.

Two minutes later, Brett McGavin put a free-.kuck in to the box which dropped to Finn Cousin-Dawson whose effort was deflected well.

Those two opening chances aside, there was not much to separate the two sides in the opening 15 minutes. We played our usual ‘keep ball’ but again without the kind of speed or accuracy necessary to be too effective.

With 18 minutes gone, more nervous defending allowed Truro to put the pressure on and Ward had to pull off a great save to keep out a header from Connor Riley-Lowe. The second corner was headed up at the near post by Tahvon Campbell and a scramble inside the box landed to Tyler HARVEY who turned it home. An absolute shocker of a goal to concede.
Just after the half-hour mark, Campbell held the ball up and laid it off to James Plant whose effort went over the bar before the home side had an effort with six minutes remaining until half-time. Daly lost out to Johnson-Fisher who broke to the edge of the box and fired a shot which comes off the outside of the post.
Yassine En-Neya put a chance over the bar with two minutes of the half remaining before Campbell fired a tame effort in to the hands of Stone on the stroke of half-time.
The possession stats will have looked impressive for the visitors, but we did very little with it due in part to a lack of bravery to press for any kind of advantage and Truro’s happiness to stick to their game plan of keeping us where they wanted us.

Half time: Truro City 1 Yeovil Town 0

Second half

There were no personnel changes from either side at half-time and the game settled in to a very similar pattern to that which we had seen in the first half.

On 51 minutes, a rare moment of desire going forward saw James Plant get away down the left, beat his man and got a cross in which found Josh Tobin in the middle but his header was over the bar. Then four minutes later it was Plant again cutting in from the left and firing in a shot which was deflected over the bar. All the threat was coming through the Port Vale loanee.

Quick play saw McCormick find Tobin who tried to play in Campbell inside the box, but his effort was deflected wide before Johnson-Fisher put a shot in to the gloves of Ward after an hour.

On 65 minutes, Aaron Jarvis and Harvey Greenslade replaced Tahvon Campbell and Josh Tobin. Four minutes later Andrew Oluwabori replaced Plant and moments after coming on he was released down the left and got a ball in only for Stone to claim it easily.

With the game drawing to a close, Jarvis had two opportunities flashing one wide of the post for a corner from which he did well to hold off a Truro defender and try a low shot which took a deflection and go out for another corner. At best these were half chances, but still better than we had been offering up until that point.

At the other end, we were (again) indebted to the reflexes of Jed Ward who did superbly to keep out a volley from Lirak Hasani with nine minutes remaining before a minute from time a corner found Jake Wannell at the back of the box and his header came back off the crossbar and was scrambled away.
When the final whistle sounded, Stone, who had been reminded about his less than impressive spell at Huish Park by the travelling fans, celebrated with added fervor to add a final indignity on a miserable Boxing Day for the Glovers.

Full time: Truro City 1 Yeovil Town 0

Match Details

Venue: Truro Sports Hub
Date: Friday 26th December, 3pm kick-off

Competition: Enterprise National League Premier League

Scorers: Tyler Harvey 18 (0-1)

Pitch: In pretty good condition for this point of the season

Conditions: Absolutely freezing

Attendance: 3148 (568 away supporters)

Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Andrew Oluwabori 84
Truro City: None

Referee: Ross Martin

Yeovil Town (3-5-2)

Substitutes: Aaron Jarvis (for Tahvon Campbell, 65), Harvey Greenslade (for Josh Tobin, 65), Andrew Oluwabori (for James Plant, 69), Josh Sims (not used), Max Jolliffe (not used), Dan Ellison (not used), Matt Gould (not used).

Truro City: Aidan Stone, Connor Riley-Lowe, Will Dean, Tom Harrison, Yassine En-Neya, Tyler Harvey, Dom Johnson-Fisher, Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lirak Hasani, Ryan Law, Shaun Donnellan.

Substitutes (not used): Dan Lavercombe, Zac Bell, Billy Palfrey, Luke Jephcott, Max Kinsey, Aidan Marsh, Cole Deeming.

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UPDATE – 4.45pm – 23/12/25 – It appears all the AWAY standing and seated tickets for this fixture have SOLD OUT. The option on the ticket portal will no longer allow you to purchase tickets for the away supporters’ area.

Screenshot

Yeovil Town’s Boxing Day visit to Truro City has been designated an all-ticket affair with just 250 tickets available for the fixture.

The Cornish side announced on 23rd December that all seated tickets had sold out for the game and there were now just 250 tickets available in the entire stadium. You will need to buy a ticket for attending the fixture.

For full details on how to buy tickets for the day, visit our article – HERE.

For all other details relating to the Boxing Day match, check our Huish Hugh Ciderspace Away Travel Guide to Truro – HERE.

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Defender Kyle Ferguson did not feel Yeovil Town showed enough of themselves in their 2-0 home defeat to Forest Green Rovers on Saturday night.

The 26-year-old, who was named the sponsors’ Man of the Match on a rain-soaked night at Huish Park, agreed with his manager Billy Rowley that the Glovers were not brave enough to take on the visitors who played the final 25 minutes with ten men.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah after the game, Ferguson said: “I don’t think we gave a good showing of ourselves and what we can do especially when you compare it with the last three games, but that is something that is going to happen, there is going to be bumps in the road. It is still a relatively new team, still teething really, but now we just need to bounce back in the next game.

“I think we could keep the ball a bit better, me included, be a bit more calm, be braver. The conditions were not great, but I don’t want to use that as an excuse because it is the same for both teams. Sometimes this happens and as players we just need to have to make sure it does not happen again next week.”

Yeovil fell behind after they were cut apart by Forest Green’s wide players and striker Temi Babalola slotted the opener after just quarter-of-an-hour, before an unfortunate own goal for goalkeeper Jed Ward on the hour mark sealed Rowley’s first defeat in charge.

The visitors had midfielder Harry Bunker dismissed for a second yellow card five minutes after extending their lead, but comfortably saw out the final minutes.

Ferguson added: “Everyone knew at half-time that we had not been good enough, the Gaffer came in and had words with us and that lit a fire under us, and we came out wanting to prove a point. Then they get the second goal and it is a lot harder, once they got a man sent off, I think we could have pushed a bit harder and kept the ball a bit better, but it was just one of those days, we could have played for ages and still struggled to score.”

Kyle Ferguson | Photo by Gary Brown

The Scotsman has been an ever present since Rowley came in as manager having missed the previous two matches after an apparent fall out with the previous manager.

Asked about his return to the side, he said: “When the new Gaffer came in it was a clean slate for everybody which I was happy about because I had missed out previously, but that is football. I just kept my head down and kept working hard and then gone straight back to work to show what I can do and with a few games on the bounce now I am enjoying my football again.”

Yeovil now travel to bottom side Truro City, who had a long trip for a 4-0 defeat at York City on Saturday, before back-to-back league home games against Eastleigh on 30th December and Braintree Town on 3rd January.

Ferguson added: “It is a great chance to bounce back, we are lucky that the games at so close together because everybody just wants to play football when you have just lost. It is a quick turnaround because we can get back in and put things right.“

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Yeovil Town manager Billy Rowley said it was “tough to watch” his side fail to put their mark on the game as they went down 2-0 at home to Forest Green Rovers on Saturday night.

The Glovers went down to a first half strike from visitors’ striker Temi Babalola and then goalkeeper Jed Ward scored an unfortunate own goal with an hour gone to hand three points to the visitors, who were reduced to ten men when Harvey Bunker got a second yellow card on 65 minutes.

But, despite playing 25 minutes with a one-man advantage, Yeovil never threatened to reduce the deficit and Rowley admitted their attacking play needs work.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah after the evening kick-off, he said: “It was a tough watch for a lot of it. I was obviously respectful of Forest Green coming in to the game and we focused on us trying to imprint our style on to the game, but I didn’t think we did that. I thought we were poor on the ball, I don’t think we were brave enough in certain moments.

“We value Aaron Jarvis a lot here, he’s tremendous in the air and I think at certain moments it is really important that we do use that strength, but I think at times we over-use that and there are too many bodies around him and it becomes a bit predictable and easy to defend against. Aaron gets three men against him and he battles and gives away fouls and it kills momentum, it kills the rhythm of the game. That is something we are going to have to learn so we use that at certain times. It was a tough game tonight but one I felt we should have played better in.”

Aaron Jarvis | Picture courtesy of Gary Brown

The defeat ended a run of three wins for Rowley since taking over at Huish Park and he identified the lack of attacking threat carried by his side as a weakness – but insists that the answer does not lie in the transfer market.

He said: “I don’t think we can ever doubt the passion and desire of this group of players, they wear their heart on their sleeve and they give everything and you can see that. It is now Darren (Simpson, assistant manager) and my job to try and provide them with the training, ideas and clarity to help them score more goals because that is obviously something we are lacking.

“It would be obvious for people to say ‘sign a centre forward’ but I do not think that is the problem, I think we need to create better chances and use the ball better in certain moments and understand what we are trying to do. I think that is just a bit muddy at the moment, I am not sure we have a lot of clarity in the final third or the opposition’s half and that is something we are going to have to work hard on.”

The Glovers travel to bottom club Truro City on Boxing Day followed by a home match with Eastleigh four days later and then a visit from Braintree Town on 3rd January.

Rowley said he would not allow the defeat to trouble him too much over the festive period, and focus on the upcoming opportunities to pick up points.

He said: “I am not someone who gets too down when we lose or massively up when we win. I have always said ‘when you lose you end up learning a lot about people’ and about styles of play we want to work on, so it gives me a lot of fuel about what this team needs and what we need to work on in training. We will take this one on the chin, we have a busy period coming up and we need to prepare for that, so we are not going to be too down about this result. (Forest Green) are a team which are second in the league, and 20 points ahead of us in the league so it was always going to be a tough test, but I am just disappointed we did not show our qualities.“

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Striker Harvey Greenslade has said he is enjoying life under new Yeovil Town manager Billy Rowley and is looking forward to a busy festive period in the next few weeks.

The former Bristol Rovers player has started the last two matches and played the first hour of last weekend’s FA Trophy third round win over Maidstone United before being replaced by loanee Andrew Oluwabori ahead of the game’s penalty shoot-out.

Speaking to BBC Somerset reporter Jack Killah on Thursday, he admitted he is enjoying the style of play being implemented by Rowley and believes it will give him more opportunities to score. The 21-year-old has not netted since scoring in the FA Cup defeat at Hemel Hempstead Town back in October.

Greenslade said: “We made it hard for ourselves against Maidstone, they are a tough team and a bit different to what we normally play in the National League, but three on the bounce is nice.

“In possession we are getting on the ball more, the Gaffer has got a new way of playing which we like and I feel like we will only get better. I think the fans can see that progression from the first game he came in (the 2-1 home win over Boston United) to the last one, I feel like it has improved massively. It has been very good and we have enjoyed coming in to training.

“I feel I will get more opportunities. For me it has always been about scoring and creating goals and the new way we are trying to play, I feel like there will be more chances for players like me, Macca (Luke McCormick), get on the half-turn and feed Jarv (Aaron Jarvis) and JD (James Daly) down the line and I feel like the goals will come – and hopefully soon.”

Harvey Greenslade has featured in every match under new manager Billy Rowley. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Yeovil face their biggest test since Rowley’s arrival when big-spending Forest Green Rovers come to Huish Park this weekend for an evening kick-off with the match being broadcast on DAZN. The Gloucestershire side, who are managed by former Wales midfielder Robbie Savage, have not lost in the league since October.

Asked about what he expected the atmosphere to be like, Greenslade said: “I think it will be rocking! Three wins in three, I feel like the fans can see we are turning a corner in terms of the way we play. I like coming to Huish under the lights and I feel like we can put on a good show for them.

“They may be undefeated (since October in the league), but we are still Yeovil Town – we are still a good team, still a big team. Why can’t we be the ones to beat them? We played there at the start of the season and they are obviously a very good team, but I feel like now we are also a good team.

“We need to be calm and ready for the challenge, we know it is going to be a test, but so was Hartlepool. We are excited to play them because you always want to play against the better teams and prove what you have, so all the lads are excited to have that test.

“Winning at home is the best feeling for a player, it certainly is for me anyway! It needs to be a fortress, we need to say ‘this is our house and no-one is coming here and getting three points’, we should be insulted if that does happen and in the past it has been easier for teams to come to Huish Park and pick up a few points.“

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Midfielders Josh Sims and James Plant have both been back in full training for Yeovil Town ahead of the visit of high-flying Forest Green Rovers to Huish Park this weekend.

The pair have both missed the last two games through injury, but manager Billy Rowley confirmed they had both trained all week and would be available to face Robbie Savage’s side.

He also confirmed forgotten man midfielder Jacob Maddox, who was signed from Forest Green Rovers by former boss Mark Cooper almost a year ago, would be back in full training next week having not featured since February due to injury.

Speaking to BBC Somerset reporter Jack Killah on Thursday, Rowley said: “I think (Alex Whittle) is the only one who has not trained this week, so we are in a decent and we are happy with where we are at squad-wise. I have said a couple of times we may look to add one or two here and there but that is not something I am actively looking at.

“Whitts will be available over the Christmas period, I imagine he will go out on the pitch and do some bits on Saturday and will be back in full training and available next week.”

Forest Green Rovers arrive in Somerset for an evening kick-off in second place in the National League Premier Division, tied on 46 points with leaders Rochdale and third-placed Carlisle United albeit with Rochdale having played three games fewer.

Managed by former Wales midfielder Robbie Savage, the Gloucestershire outfit have spent big again this season as they look to return to the Football League and Rowley is under no illusions that it will be his toughest test since arriving in the Huish Park hot-seat.

He said: “They are obviously a very good team with some serious talent in their roster. We have watched them all week and seen a lot of their work and it is something we are trying to focus on. We want to be respectful of the qualities of our opposition, but we also want to try and imprint our style on the game, so it is about trying to find that balance at the moment.

“They are a good side and have some serious talent, so we are going to have to defend well for spells but we also want to look at trying to cause them some problems in their half as well. Sometimes you can be too respectful of your opponents and sometimes in the week building up to a game, you end up talking too much about the opposition. They are a great team and Robbie (Savage) has done a great job and they are right up there for a reason, but we want to be focusing on how we can hurt them and score some goals and excite our fans.”

Josh Tobin celebrates with the fans after his goal against Maidstone United. | Picture by Gary Brown

Loan signing midfielder Josh Tobin made the perfect start to life in green-and-white coming off the bench in last weekend’s FA Trophy third round win over Maidstone United at Huish Park last weekend. The Bromley player, who signed until the end of the season ahead of the match, came off the bench to score an 89th minute goal on his debut.

Rowley said: “He is a great character and it is just like him to come in and slot straight in with the boys from a personality perspective and I had no doubt he could step up to the level. He has been through a few injuries this season with hamstrings and tendonitis in his knee, but he seems fine and he’s trained brilliantly. It might take him two or three weeks up to speed, but his talent is obvious.”

But, the Glovers have lost the services of Watford loanee Leo Ramirez-Espain who impressed against Maidstone, but was recalled by his parent club. The manager admitted the decision was a surprise to him despite that appearance being the only minutes he had got since joining.

Rowley said: “It was a little bit of a surprise. I had some good chats with Leo last week and he is a great lad, he always trained well, it was just difficult to get him in. I felt Maidstone was a good chance to bed him in and he did really well, he was composed and helped us build up the pitch and then out of the blue he was called back. We wish Leo well, we have some cover in that position with Josh (Tobin), so the timing was good for us.“