Ian Perkins (Page 90)

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Charlie LeeCharlie Lee credited Wealdstone’s defensive performance following Yeovil’s 0-0 draw at Huish Park.

Speaking to the BBC, Yeovil Town’s Interim Manager said his side just couldn’t find that little bit of magic to break the deadlock.

“As we say about this group, they run, they try, they give everything and today they just couldn’t unlock a team who, to be fair, were excellent with ten men. That was also a team (Wealdstone) who’s not given up on the season. They put their bodies on the line and they were really hard. Lots of teams have found it hard to play against ten men before, and they were very good at it, so you’ve got to give a lot of credit to them.”

Alex Reid was given a straight red card for a tackle on Sonny Blu Lo-Everton in the 37th minute and the second half saw a dominant Yeovil struggle to break through. Despite early attacking substitutions, a familiar pattern emerged against a team below the Glovers.

Lee said: “Everything that we tried it just didn’t work. It’s a day when you just need that little bit of magic to unlock and the game changes. We just didn’t find that today.

We had plenty of attacking threat on the pitch at numerous times [and] we went very attacking with our formations. We had two defenders on at the end and everyone else playing forward. We’ve got to unlock teams, you’ve gotta find a way and that’s what we didn’t do.

“We’re disappointed that we haven’t managed to score. It’s happened to us a few times, well quite a lot actually,  throughout the whole season, so it’s something that I’ve got to look at and see what we can maybe do better.” 

A growing trend for Yeovil this season has been the lack of goals from set pieces. The Glovers win plenty in promising areas but fail to capitalise on those opportunities. Lee, who was coy on the stats, said: “We haven’t scored enough from set pieces, that’s clear. A set piece today changes the game. They have to come out and you end up getting two and three because you can get them on the counter attack. It’s a group effort, you defend as a team and you score as a team, and we did one really well today and maybe not the other.”

With no midweek action, the Glovers host Boreham Wood this coming Saturday in the final home fixture of the season.

  • The Glovers boss was full of praise for his full backs, Morgan Williams and the returning Jack Robinson, saying: “I thought Robbo was excellent. He was dynamic in the final third, he was a real highlight today. And Morgan just gives everything. Normally they’d be two defenders that you might think about bringing off, but they were producing more than maybe some of our attacking players were.”
  • Lee hopes to welcome Charlie Wakefield back to the side next week. The attacker has missed the last three matches through illness.

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It’s time for the weekly YeoGov poll. This week we want to know if you think Yeovil have underachieved, overachieved (by Unity?) or are about where you expected them to be.

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Last week we asked if you supported the SSDC’s deal to purchase Huish Park.

170 people cast their vote with 118 (69%) saying no, 32 (19%) saying they didn’t know, and 20 (12%) saying yes. There are still things for SSDC and YTFC to clear up on that one then.

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Jack Robinson in action for Yeovil Town.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Yeovil didn’t have enough to find their way through ten-man Wealdstone on Bank Holiday Monday. Here are Ian’s Five Conclusions from the John Lukins press box at Huish Park.

Up until the red card, Wealdstone looked in the mood. The North-London side took control of possession early on and carried themselves with purpose, zipping the ball around Huish Park. They looked comfortable in and out of possession and should have taken the lead in the first half after missing a flurry of chances in the six yard box. They showed that being part time can mean little in the National League and they played like a team well worth their spot in the division.

It was the same old story against a team below us. If Saturday was a similar story against a team towards the top, yesterday’s was the same against a team below us. Once again this Yeovil side couldn’t break down a resilient defence and failed to create anything meaningful. Half chances for Josh Neufville and Jack Robinson alongside pot-shots from distance never overly troubled Wealdstone and but for Grant Smith’s flying save from Jack Cook’s effort, the Stones could have taken all three points.

It was nice to see both fullbacks getting forward. Jack Robinson’s return from injury moved Morgan ‘Mr Versatile’ Williams to fullback and for what feels like the first time in a long time, we saw both Robinson and Williams get high up the pitch and give Wealdstone’s wingbacks something to think about. While we never found a winner, it felt like with fullbacks flying forward we caused more problems than we have in previous fixtures when we’ve been chasing a goal.

Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Despite throwing players forward, we never looked like we’d find a goal. After the red card, I felt like it was a perfect opportunity for Lawson D’Ath, Matty Worthington and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton to take control of that midfield battle and show what creativity they have to offer. Despite flashes of skill from Lo-Everton he wasn’t able to unlock the defence from his ‘number ten’ position. Sonny has definitely grown over his time at Yeovil and he’s come on leaps and bounds from his first outing and with experience he’ll find the right key in those positions. But for now, we’re left with the disappointment of ‘what could have been?’

Can we get this season over and done with? 2021/22 has dragged on and I couldn’t be more ready for it to end and the preparation for the next season to begin. There’s a hell of a lot to sort out in the boardroom, in the dugout and on the pitch and the sooner it’s sorted the better. The crowd at Huish Park was flat, the weather was dull and the football was about as mid-table as it gets. Let’s all get to the beach and figure it out over a Thatchers.

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Morgan Williams. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Morgan Williams admitted this afternoon’s performance at Halifax wasn’t Yeovil Town’s best, but is happy with how first season in mens’ football has gone.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sheridan Robins, the centre back turned left back said: “I thought we did well in spells. Today wasn’t our best game or our best performance as a team, but obviously teams don’t always perform to the best of their abilities. We just dug in deep and it was cruel at the end to concede that goal.”

He added that the afternoon followed a similar pattern to other fixtures this season.

“We’re a hardworking team, we’re a good team. In times this season it’s not quite fell for us. So like we concede in the last five minutes or whatever it was, I think that’s kind of been the story of the season. Conceding late goals and not getting that luck that you need to get in the top six or promotion sides.”

Williams has enjoyed a lot of time in the starting line up this season. Having initially been seen as centre back, he’s cemented himself as the club’s steadiest left-back with some strong performances in an unnatural position.

“I’m happy with my performances over the last few games. For a first season in men’s football, I’m happy with how it’s gone and hopefully next season I can play more games.”

Williams is the only contracted player (that we know of) for next season, and he hopes that some of his teammates stay with the Glovers next seeason and push on.

“We’re all close as friends, on and off the pitch. It would be good to keep the core of the team and push on next season and hopefully get playoffs and promotion.”

He’s a glass half full kinda guy isn’t he? 

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Despite some positives, Charlie Lee was disappointed with his side’s 1-0 defeat at Halifax this afternoon.

Speaking to BBC’s Sheridan Robins, the Glovers’ Interim Manager was proud of his side’s work ethic, but bemoaned their sloppiness on the ball. He also felt there was a foul on Dale Gorman in the build up to the Shaymen’s 83rd minute winner.

Lee said: “As ever I was proud of the work ethic. I think we’re all a bit disappointed with how we played on the ball, it was sloppy, especially in the first half. For long periods in the second half they [Halifax] didn’t know what to do and they didn’t look like creating any changes. If anything we looked like we was going to get them on the counter.

“I think its a foul on Gormo [Dale Gorman]. I think its quite an easy decision to be honest and obviously we’re completely open once he makes the foul, and for a refereeing decision to cost us a counter attack and a goal when we were really solid, we’re a bit disappointed. But, I feel like we probably should have made some of our counter attacks count and then it’s a whole different game anyway,” he added.

Of the penalty incidents in the first half, the manager admitted he didn’t see a foul on Luke Wilkinson, but felt that Reuben Reid should have had a penalty as it would have been a foul anywhere else on the pitch.

Lee said there were positives but he wont find happiness in defeat, adding: “I can tell you in the changing room, they’re not happy with how the game went.”

He also clarified that Grant Smith, who took a nasty tumble in the first half was ‘absolutely fine.’

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We were meant to be speaking with Yeovil Town FC’s owner and chairman Scott Priestnall on this episode. Unfortunately Scott wasn’t able to speak with us but has promised to come on next week.

So you’re stuck with Ian, Ben and Dave winging it and talking about Saturday’s fixture against FC Halifax Town. There are a few laughs along the way!

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Last week we broke the news that we understood that representatives of SSDC and Scott Priestnall were working on completing the proposed deal from December 2020. You can read about it here.

Let us know if you support the proposal, are against it, or don’t know enough about it on the poll below. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below too.

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

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Not many would have thought that Yeovil Town would complete the double over National League big-spenders Stockport County. But that’s exactly what Charlie Lee’s Glovers managed yesterday. Here are Ian’s Five Conclusions from an excellent game at Huish Park.

It was another match which showed how crazy our season has been. I said before the match that it wouldn’t have surprised me if we nicked the game given some of our results against the better sides this season. And boy did we. It felt like Stockport were banging the door down for the entire first half, but we held firm and after a slick bit of skill from Tom Knowles (#DFILWF) he finished brilliantly just before half time. His goal was the springboard which seemed to galvanise the Glovers and Charlie Lee’s side grew in confidence as the match progressed.

It was amazing to finally see a Josh Neufville goal at Huish Park. A quick break and our lockdown hero was in behind the Stockport defence. He showed

Josh Neufville wheels away after scoring Yeovil’s second.

the calmness of a seasoned striker and coolly sent Hinchcliffe the wrong way to send those that were at Huish Park wild. He’s had to play a different game than he did last season. Yesterday he was starved of the ball at points and really had to make the most of his own possession and when it mattered he made it count.

We didn’t let Stockport’s changes count. Dave Challinor made a double substitution at half time and before Crankshaw and Hippolyte has a chance to settle into the game and make a difference, we were 2-0 up. Another change followed swiftly and although Hippolyte scored against his old club, the red card of Will Collar two minutes later meant they had another on-pitch change to make. It felt like Stockport never managed to get going as cohesively in the second half as they did in the first, and we managed to deal with most of their threat comfortably.

Stockport’s own supporters took their side’s momentum. After Hippolyte’s goal a blue smoke bomb was thrown into Grant Smith’s six yard box. County players had swiftly grabbed the ball to force a quick restart, but their momentum was totally lost as a stewards had to wait for the smoke bomb to extinguish before they could safely remove it. Collar’s deserved red card for a dangerously high foot on Dale Gorman shortly after the delay just exacerbated things for County’s evidently frustrated players. Dave Challinor thought the same:

Central defender Max Hunt. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Max Hunt stepped back in supremely. You wouldn’t have known it was Hunt’s first game back after months out injured. The centre back was dominant against the National League’s lethal pairing of Paddy Madden and Scott Quigley. The deadly duo had moments of freedom in the first half, but Hunt was a man mountain, winning everything in the air and throwing himself in front of efforts at goal. His confidence shone through and was clear to see when he executed a textbook Cryuff turn on the halfway line before getting Yeovil on the attack. It was the kind of performance from Hunt which hammered home the urgent need to secure the futures of some of these players.