Ian and Dave welcome Marcus Duncomb back to the Gloverscast to talk about the week in YTFC. Ben chats to the Southend Echo’s reporter Chris Phillips to get the low-down on the Shrimpers and we take your questions!
Thanks for listening!
Ben, Dave and Ian talk about Saturday’s draw with Boreham Wood and try reconcile it with a mid-pod synonym search of ‘frustration’.
It was a caveat-ridden performance which saw Yeovil draw (again) against Boreham Wood. Here are Ian’s Five Conclusions from Huish Park…
I’m not sure how we’ve not that won that. Luke Garrad was gushing about our performance in his post-match interview after his side managed to escape with a point. Nathan Ashmore made some good saves and was by far the busier keeper, but we should have put Wood to the sword. Alex Fisher was quickest to react after Ashmore fumbled a fairly routine save from Toure, but that was the only joy we had. Fisher had chances, Touré had a gilt-edged chance in the first half which he should have put away, instead he tried to round the keeper who made a phenomenal stop. We had the better of the chances but in familiar fashion, we weren’t good enough to take them.
We can’t hold a lead. That one might be stating the obvious, but in the ten games so far this season we’ve gone ahead seven times (twice against Altrincham and Chesterfield) and we’ve let the lead slip six times. There’s a pattern emerging that needs to be broken. Boreham Wood’s equaliser in stoppage time was so deflating and there was a sense of inevitability about it. As supporters the expectation that we’re going to let a lead slip is getting a little ingrained. Hopefully we can buck the trend at Southend.
After his impressive performance against Chesterfield, we missed Chiori Johnson. I think most people went into yesterday hoping to see Johnson in at wingback, but an injury in the last kick of training this week forced him out. If, and I think we know now, we’re going to stick with the 3-5-2, Johnson has staked his claim to be the 1st choice in that position. No one has looked particularly comfortable/effective in there until him. Charlie Wakefield made an impact in the second half when Boreham Wood decided to play for a point, but I don’t think anything clicked quite so well as last weekend.
There’s so much frustration at the moment. It was a slow start yesterday and it didn’t take long for the grumbles amongst the supporters seeing the ball go backward for the umpteenth time. When we conceded the equaliser there was a lot of finger pointing and anger amongst the players on the pitch that we’d let another lead slip. At times, Matt Worthington was getting annoyed at his lack of options when he picked up the ball and when Gime Toure turned one too many times rather than look up, Worthy let his feelings be known. We’ve heard about angry conversations in the changing room before this season, and I’m sure there were more of those yesterday. I worry about how sustainable angry conversations are if they don’t start producing results.
Off this pitch, there’s a hangover from last season. After a great performance the weekend before against the top team in the league, you’d have hoped that might have spiked attendance a bit but we’re still hovering around that 2000 mark. I’ve not done a matchday ‘properly’ this season but evidently whatever we’ve added to the day hasn’t brought back folks who might have been thinking about it. There’s only so much over-promising and under-delivering you can take, and boy have we been promised some things.
That’s the conclusions. However, we’re ten games in and we sit in 19th with nine points, the bottom four are all on eight points. I’m not sure how long we can say ‘we’re so close’ or ‘we’re not a million miles away’ until you find yourself cut adrift. I know there’s a long way to go but the start of the season has not been good enough. With inconsistent performances, an inability to hold on to leads, apathy amongst supporters and dwindling gates, we are in serious danger of sleepwalking this season into nothing.
Venue: Huish Park
Saturday September 24th, 3pm kick-off
Conditions: Cloudy and cool
Pitch: Soft and cut up as the match went on
Attendance: 2,146 (65 away supporters)
Scorers: Alex Fisher 39 (1-0), Jack Payne 45 (1-1)
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Morgan Williams 62
Boreham Wood: Zac Brunt 45, Dion Kelly-Evans 77
Referee: Scott Jackson
Yeovil Town : (3-4-3)
Grant Smith
Morgan Williams Josh Staunton Ben Richards-Everton
Charlie Wakefield Matt Worthington Lawson D’Ath Jamie Reckord
Sam Pearson (for Jake Scrimshaw, 80)
Alex Fisher (for Malachi Linton, 80) Gime Toure
Substitutes: Will Buse, Fin Craske, Max Hunt.
Boreham Wood: Nathan Ashmore, Dion Kelly-Evans, Femi Ilesnanmi, Will Evans, David Stephens, Josh Rees (for George Broadbent, 61), Tyrone Marsh, Danny Elliott (for Newton, 54), Dennon Lewis, Jack Payne, Zak Brunt (for George Williams, 85).
Substitutes: Connor Stephens, Jude Murphy.
It was a yet another case of what might have been as Yeovil Town’s search for their second National League win of the season continued with a frustrating 1-1 draw at home to Boreham Wood.
And, it was not for a want of opportunities being carved out by the host, but repeatedly they were denied by visiting goalkeeper Nathan Ashmore.
Ironically it was a mistake by the gloveman on 39 minutes which gifted Yeovil their opener with striker Alex Fisher on the spot to take advantage after the keeper spilled a tame Gime Toure shot, but on the strike of half-time Jack Payne equalised.
The Glovers pushed in the second half and limited Boreham Wood to few chances, but it was another case of so close, but yet so far. Six draws from the opening ten games of the season for Chris Hargreaves’ side.
The opening exchanges were a bit of a non-event with neither side particularly looking to take the game to their opponent with the nearest Yeovil got to carving out a chance came after 12 minutes when a ball over the top set Sam Pearson away, but he was denied by visiting midfielder Jack Payne.
At the other end, Dion Kelly-Evans found himself in a good position before Jamie Reckord’s covering tackle denied him. Can you tell it was a struggle to talk about things happening in the opening third of the first half?
The visitors began to up the ante and the best chance came on 16 minutes with Yeovil temporarily down to ten men with Lawson D’Ath off the pitch getting treatment for a bloodied nose. A well worked move; by the visitors found Femi Ilesanmi who put the ball in to Danny Elliott whose effort went over from close range.
Moments later, Gime Toure broke clear of the visitors’ defence and found himself one-on-one with Wood keeper Nathan Ashmore, but rather than taking a shot he tried to round the gloveman who made a superb stop to deny him.
On 21 minutes, Matt Worthington had a low shot from the edge of the box which Ashmore did well to get down to and turn around for a corner and Wakefield called the keeper in to action again two minutes later.
In a five minute spell after Elliott’s opportunity, it was Yeovil who were in the ascendancy with the game picking up after a slow start. Other than Toure’s chance our efforts were at probably half chances, but there seemed to be opportunity in getting at the visiting defence with some pace.
Having kept his side in the game with some decent stops, it was a mistake by Ashmore which led to the Glovers taking the lead on 39 minutes. Toure fired in a shot from distance which was spilled by the big keeper and Alex FISHER was in the right place to fire home his first goal in his second spell at the club.
The previous weekend, Yeovil had twice failed to hold on to a lead against league leaders Chesterfield and just as the game ticked in to added time at the end of the first half – they did it again.
Matt Worthington swung a leg to make a tackle and the ball broke to a visiting player, the Yeovil defence switched off and the ball broke to Jack PAYNE free at the back post to fire home the equaliser.
The half-time whistle was met with a muted response from the Huish Park crowd frustrated at a seeming inability to hold on to a lead. Cue Ben Barrett’s dog walking puns.
Ashmore was back in action to tip a thunderous strike from Lawson D’Ath over the bar on 52 minutes before Ben Richards-Everton flashed a shot wide from the edge of the box.
A lovely lay-off by Matt Worthington found Sam Pearson whose effort was superbly stopped by Ashmore (yep, him again) who did not know the assistant referee’s flag was up.
There seemed to be a desire to get the ball forward quicker in the second half with any effort to retain possession changed for getting the ball up the field as soon as possible.
With 67 minutes played, a corner found the head of Fisher whose goal-bound header was superbly denied by you know who. Yes, Nathan Ashmore who came to the rescue of the Wood again. How many opportunities do we need? No, you know what, don’t answer that.
With ten minutes of the game replacing, Yeovil manager Chris Hargreaves made a double substitution with Malachi Linton and Jake Scrimshaw replacing Sam Pearson and Alex Fisher, clearly not keen to add to the draws column of the National League table.
But, even with plenty of attackers on the pitch, it was giant centre half Richards-Everton who again found himself in space on the edge of the box to warm the palms of Ashmore.
Six draws from the opening ten matches of the National League season. Remarkable. Not good remarkable, but remarkable.
Ahead of Boreham Wood’s visit to Huish Park, Dave, Ben and Ian catch up on the week, eggs, John McGinn’s rear end and prep for the visit of the impressive Boreham Wood. We speak to Boreham Wood supporter and author Brett Lewis and we take your questions.
Chris Hargreaves broke rule one of the Gloverscast at his pre-match press conference this afternoon, complaining about the officiating during last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Chesterfield.
While he admitted the poor defending was the reason for conceding, he said he felt the Chesterfield were taking freekicks ahead of where they should have been.
He said: “I was consistently trying to pin point where free-kicks were taken and they were consistently incorrect, I can accept two or three yards but I can’t accept 15 or 20 yards. It’s something (officials) have to be better at because it’s unacceptable, if there’s a free-kick taken 20 yards away from where it happened, that’s not good enough.
“I’m not saying that’s why we conceded because we didn’t defend it properly. There are rules in place for a reason and if it’s two yards, I’ll accept it and that’s irritated me to say the least. It’s a small point, but it’s a huge detail where you are talking about a transition of play which changes the dimension of the play. It doesn’t take away we have to do our job from set pieces.”
As Yeovil welcome 5th placed Boreham Wood to Huish Park this weekend, the manager said his side were in a positive frame of mind after Chesterfield, despite the disappointing set pieces.
“We are preparing for another good test against a decent side. We’ve had a good week’s training and some chats about the Chesterfield game and we feel in a positive frame of mind.
“You go through periods where you have chances and have to kill teams off because teams are dangerous especially from set pieces. The disappointment was there were several scenarios where we even concede the corner (from which Chesterfield scored their second equaliser) where we can affect the play and that was something we’ve discussed.
“To put these situations as best we can in practice, it’s different in matches than training but we have run through it a few times. We take a lot of time on set pieces and sometimes an individual can switch off and when they do it costs you. Even though they are riding high, we played well. That was us back to what I want from my team and that’s why I was so disappointed for them. What I need is to rely on people in those critical moments to see something out.” he added.
Hargreaves, who’s searching for his second win as Yeovil boss, said that Boreham Wood present a ‘massive test’ but that his side are in a false position in 19th.
He said: “We need a bit of momentum to get a run going and we know it can soon change. We feel we are in a false position but we are where we are and we have to deal with it.
“We have to make sure we are robust and determined enough to get higher up the league. We go in to every game wanting to win it and it will be no different this weekend. It’s a massive test, but we want those tests, we want to pit ourselves against everybody, but it’s a game to look forward to.”
One player who’s made a big impact since joining the club on-loan from Bournemouth is Owen Bevan. Hargreaves praised the defender and also squeezed in an Hargreaves-ism to keep the youngster on his toes.
“For Owen it’s a fantastic experience, he’s shown he’s got that strength and determination with a bright future. For now, it’s good luck to him but we’ve got to deal with the opposition and there’s players champing at the bit that’s for sure.”
Yeovil have a couple of unnamed injury concerns ahead of the weekend, but Hargreaves is happy with the depth on offer but admitted the club are ‘actively open’ to players joining.
“We are competitive with our training and there may be one or two that are fighting on the edge of it, but we don’t want someone to be a hero and be out for six weeks. We have enough depth for someone to come in and take a chance, but we are still actively open to players coming to the club. The lads know that, we want to be successful.
It’s touch and go but we have players champing at the bit. We will review it (on Friday) in training and a decision will be made.”
Yeovil Town supporters have given the club a below average score across the board in the Gloverscast’s first ever YeoGov Tracker, which measures supporter sentiment across five areas on and off pitch.
219 supporters shared their views on the first month of the season and gave manager Chris Hargreaves a score of 3.37 out of 7 and scored the players performance at 3.60 out of 7.
Off the pitch, the scores were lower than on it, with the average score to the question ‘What would score the ownership/board this month?’ a 2.13 out of 7. With regards to communication the score was 2.32 out of 7 and supporters scored the matchday experience 2.76.
Thank you to the 219 supporters who took part, keep an eye out for the September tracker at the end of the month.
On today’s episode of the Gloverscast, Ian, Ben and Dave talk about the 2-2 draw with league leaders Chesterfield.
The Glovers let two leads slip against the league leaders, but showed a big improvement on their last two matches. Here is Ian’s conclusions from the 2-2 draw with Chesterfield.
Chiori Johnson has waited patiently and taken his chance. Through no fault of his own, Morgan Williams missed out yesterday and patiently waiting in the wings has been summer signing Chiori Johnson. Johnson took his chance and was one of the bright sparks of the game. He provided an outlet going forward on the right and looked the most natural of the players who’ve played wingback so far this season. Jamie Reckord has been our main wide threat before yesterday and as a result we’ve ended up focusing our play on the left, Johnson gave us the opportunity to get it down the right too.
Josh Staunton was solid in the heart of defence. I know there’s still a debate about whether to play him in centre midfield, but his performances in midfield against Scunthorpe and Eastleigh haven’t inspired confidence so far. In the middle of a back three, he’s looked stronger in my view. Wrexham and Dagenham were highlights, and we can add Chesterfield to that too. He got a goal (I think) but he led in typical fashion and was a rock in defence. I think we can put to bed the midfield discussion.
Gime Toure was in the mood. He gambled early on and hassled the Chesterfield defence to earn an early goal and his afternoon was probably his best in a green and white shirt so far. He scared the Spireites back line with his direct running, hunted down loose balls and got himself in a dangerous areas that caused panic amongst the Chesterfield defence. Can he do it consistently? Can any of them? I don’t know, but I enjoyed what I saw from Toure.
We need to find a way to see these games out. We’ve let leads slip against Altrincham, Eastleigh and Chesterfield and got three points from those games rather than nine, which would make us all feel a lot more happier than we are. While we were resilient against Dagenham and hung on, albeit with our backs firmly planted in the wall, against Chesterfield we had a bit of everything but lacked the concentration in key moments. Shortly after the opener, Grant Smith decided to go on a walkabout and wiped out Joe Quigley, giving us a set piece to contend with, which we didn’t. Why he decided to cover Jamie Reckord’s position needlessly, only he can explain. The delivery on the corner for the second goal just seemed to catch the Glovers napping. The flat delivery to the edge of the box, the weak shot, the hashed clearance and poor marking. You can forgive worldies from distance and genuine class, but the equalisers yesterday felt of our own doing.
We need to reproduce these performances against the rest of the league. The drastic improvement from York and Eastleigh needs to be more than a one-off. If this is what we can do, it needs to be the standard. Not just the level for the likes of Wrexham and Chesterfield. In our season preview podcast, Adam Virgo said how the big games look after themselves, it’s the ones you ‘should win’ that cause problems. If that doesn’t sum up our season so far, I don’t know what does. We need to make these passing, pressing, “blood and guts” (Staunton 17:9) performances the norm – not the exception.
