Five Conclusions

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Four goals, top seven (for a few hours) and more than a fair share of entertainment on show at Huish Park.

Ollie Marsh was at the home of football, on Friday night, with the fancy new floodlight and fluid football to brighten it all up further.

Here are his four conclusions on the game… and an important one on the teamsheet!

Where’s Macca?

No matter what happened on the pitch tonight, the main talking point was already decided an hour before kick-off. For Yeovil Town’s talismanic captain to be absent from the squad entirely was a puzzler, and Billy Rowley’s classification of the decision as “tactical” didn’t quell the confusion. It was somewhat comforting to see him watching from the main stand, but the lack of Mac was undoubtedly the evening’s big question mark.

Luke McCormick. Picture courtesy of Indy Pitman/Indy’s Visuals.

Our wingers ran the show
The sub-plot around McCormick did at least open up the opportunity for our other attacking talents to take centre stage, and boy did they. I thought Flyin’ Ryan Jones was outstanding – a constant threat even during the moments we didn’t look at our free-flowing best. James Daly also deserves credit – he seemed to constantly get a good few yards on whichever Solihull defender was unlucky enough to chase his shadow, and he used his pace to perfection.

Spasov again olé olé

Fresh from his first Yeovil goal against Aldershot in midweek, Slavi Spasov was back leading the line, with Ste Walker still absent. I thought it was a difficult game for the Bulgarian, who was struggling to get involved. But it’s two in two (from two… yards) and I don’t mind having a striker who gets in the habit of scoring tap-ins at all. Let’s keep getting behind him, keep singing his song and hope the goals keep coming. I think he has the makings of a bit of a cult striker.

Spasov celebrates – Pic C/o Indy Pictures.

Patience paid off

I was already planning to give Jack Kingdon a line, following the defender’s first run-out since the 20 minutes he got on the opening day at Scunthorpe. Rowley praised him as a model professional, and I thought for a young defender who’s received such little game time, he looked completely on top of the Solihull attack. Then Johl Powell popped up, and turned what should have been a routine cameo into a starring role. His first goal was a McCormick-esque controlled finish that he took beautifully, and he was on the mark to get his second moments later. Another one who’s had to bide his time, I enjoyed seeing him get the post-match fist pumps.

Johl Powell pic c/o Indy Visuals

That’s entertainment.

Another 4-1 scoreline at home – this time with the Glovers on the correct end of it – and another throughly entertaining showing at Huish Park. I thought there were times when we looked a little reluctant to get out of first gear, but when we switched the on button, we ran rings around an almost stunningly uninterested-looking Moors back line. It was such an unfortunate goal to concede and Jos Barker will be fuming to lose his clean sheet in that manner, but the reaction to turn the screw and chuck a couple more on the scoresheet was *chef’s kiss*. DAZN should swing a couple extra quid our way for the entertainment we’re providing.

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A 1-1 draw against the stingiest defence the league doesn’t tell the full story of another rollercoaster evening for the Glovers, Andy Craig was in the away end, here are his Five Conclusions.

We gave it one hell of a go with 10 men. You wouldn’t have seen us deliver that kind of performance from the past couple of seasons.

We probably wouldn’t have even tried to win the game either when Aldershot drew level. But this is a new Yeovil Town side now. We win that game 11 v 11 and were electric until the red card. Then, with one less player, there were periods during the second half you didn’t know which side was playing with 10. We asked for a reaction after last weekend and without a shadow of a doubt got one.

James Daly. Picture courtesy of Indy Pitman – Indy’s Visuals.

Apparently James Daly is still running.
I don’t know what the guy eats for breakfast, but as we saw so often last season, what a serious motor JD11 has on him. He completely embodied the fight in this team to ensure we came away with something on Tuesday evening. As well as putting in a superb performance as a makeshift left back, he crucially got us up the pitch on so many occasions too – where he was also robbed of an assist when setting up Super Luke McCormick. Cheers, ref.

Luke McCormick celebrates with James Daly. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Big moments have killed us recently.
For the third consecutive game we’ve failed to score from a big chance and then our opponents have made us pay by going up the other end and scoring. Ste at Southend to make it 3-1, Archie Davies in front of the Thatchers to make it 1-1 against Fylde and now Brett McGavin, perhaps a tad unfortunate, to make it 2-0 at Aldershot. If we converted these key chances into goals we’d be looking at more than 1 point out of a possible 9. On a more positive note, the buildup for all three chances were delightful passages of play. Liquid Football.

It’s important to remember this is very much a Two Year Project.
You don’t see many National League sides finish 16th one season and get promoted the next. Billy Rowley, Darren Simpson and the vast majority of their new signings are all under contract until summer 2028. Whilst we can all get carried away this season, I’m confident even if we don’t reach the Top 7 come May, we’ll be in a very good position to go for it in 2027/28. However, after an encouraging start to the season it can be difficult to stop us from dreaming… (yes, I have visualised Macca scoring the winner under the Arch).

Long live the cowshed away ends.
Over recent years English football has lost too many of its traditional ‘proper’ grounds, but in our last two away fixtures at Southend and Aldershot we’ve visited the Old School Colosseums. Our travelling support has been excellent at these games – helped by the big barrel roofs to create a rocking atmosphere at both Roots Hall and the EBB Stadium. As the best away ends in a many a league, it’s something The Shrimpers and The Shots need to desperately hold onto for as long as possible.

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Yeovil Town’s unbeaten start to the new season came to an end as they gave up a two-goal lead to suffer a 3-2 defeat at Southend United yesterday. Glovers’ fan Ed Turnbull was in the away end at Root’s Hall and here are his conclusions.

 

For a while it was textbook. For 65 minutes, that was a textbook away performance. We had to weather a storm or two, but we defended doggedly. Whenever Southend breached the first line of defence, there was someone in green on the cover, or a Super Jos Barker™️ in yellow making a solid stop. We didn’t have loads of chances up the other end, but we were clinical when they arose.

Yeovil Town celebrate Archie Davies opener at Southend.

That free-kick killed us. We wilted in the end though. As soon as Darren Oldaker’s expertly-dispatched free kick hit the net, it felt as though 5 and a half games of high-energy football caught up with us. The energy seaped out of our legs, and into Southend’s. You don’t take off the likes of Brett McGavin and Luke McCormick unless you have to, and without them we lacked that vital bit of experience and composure.

We didn’t look after business. Even before Rowley rang the changes, I felt we didn’t keep the ball as well as we’ve shown we can. That is just as much, if not more, down to Southend’s quality as it is a drop in our standards, but for me that is a difference between the strong play-off contenders we currently are, and a top 3 team. We did have good patterns of play at times, but there were too many times we lost the ball in our own half, and that ultimately made life difficult for us.

We struggled after the second half substitutions of Luke McCormick and Brett McGavin. Picture courtesy of Indy Pitman/Indy’s Visuals.

There’s a silver lining. A loss always hurts, but I don’t feel as gutted as I normally would after seeing us lose having been 2-0 up. Maybe that’s just because following Yeovil over the last decade has numbed me to the pain, but I think it’s also because Southend were very good, and we still managed to get ourselves into a commanding position. I know it counts for nothing if you let it slip, but the scoreline at 65 minutes was further proof that we can really achieve something this season.

Onwards and upwards. My (our?) ludicrous dreams of an unbeaten season are over, but if you’d offered me 11 points after 6 games including Scunthorpe Carlisle Barrow and Southend, I’d have snapped your hand off. I’ve seen more than enough from this team to be confident that we’ll soon be back on a winning streak, with a kinder-looking run of fixtures now presenting a perfect chance to make a very good start an unbelievable one.

Picture courtesy of Ed Turnbull.

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The unbeaten start to the new season continued with a 3-2 win over Tamworth in front of the biggest crowd at Huish Park this season and none of 3,945 can say they weren’t entertained. Ollie Marsh was there to witness and here are his conclusions.

Bench builders. We’re currently witnessing a new phenomenon, never before seen at Huish Park, called ‘strength in depth’. It tells all you need to know about the squad Billy Rowley has built that you can look at a team sheet with seven changes on it and still feel like you have a very good starting XI. There would probably be uproar if any other team in the division dropped their red-hot number nine, but Slavi Spasov getting a runout over Ste Walker barely even raised an eyebrow, let alone questions over the decision – and I thought the Bulgarian gave an excellent, battling performance. What’s more, to be able to bring on players like Ryan Jones – who I thought provided the injection of energy that won us the match – off the bench, as well as Westbooke, Norville-Williams among others is a breath of fresh air.

Ryan Jones added energy when he came on. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz

Good but not perfect. It maybe wasn’t as controlled as Billy Rowley would have liked. You wouldn’t want to be a water bottle in the vicinity of our manager when something goes wrong; all it takes is a slightly misplaced pass or cheap free-kick and the Buxton (other water brands are available) gets a battering. The frustration in the dugout suggested that this wasn’t quite as dominant of a performance as our last showing at Huish Park against Gateshead – but when you can dig in and grind out the three points, who cares? It was all smiles and fist pumps in front of the Thatchers post-match, and that’s all that matters.

Me thinks the Lambs doth protest too much. Don’t let any Tamworth fans tell you they were hard done by. The Lambs players, fans and coaching staff were incandescent when Haydn Hollis’ late equaliser was chalked off, but the only crime from the officials was that the decision took so long to make – the experienced defender was clearly a mileoffside when he poked into an empty net. Even if there was an injustice in disallowing the goal, it would have simply balanced out the blatant handball that was missed earlier on…

Luke McCormick celebrates with Brett McGavin. Picture courtesy of Indy Pitman/Indy’s Visuals.

Mac the Knife. Brett McGavin was worthy of his MOTM award. I was intrigued to see how our number 14 would get on without Westbrooke beside him, with the two having formed a decent yin-yang partnership over the past few games. As it turned out, Hayden Muller was equally adept at doing the dirty work, allowing McGavin to proceed at his creative best. He should have got a goal or two (he can blame tired legs for the attempted lob at the end) but that didn’t take the shine off what I thought was a starring performance.

Are you not entertained? That was Yeovil Town Football Club at their brilliant, chaotic best. We’ve seen a few different types of performances from the Glovers this season, and while the dominance of the Gateshead win may be better for the blood pressure, this was the closest we’ve been to Gary Johnson’s ‘you score four, we’ll score more’ football in ages, and I loved it. Cracking goals! Sloppy defending! Late equalisers! Missed penalties! Inject it into my veins. Huish Park seemed to revel in it too, particularly in the later stages, showing no mercy towards the visitors’ misfortune, before becoming a wall of noise to see the boys over the line. UP THE GLOVERS!

Mason Obeng is enjoying himself. Picture courtesy of Indy Pitman/Indy’s Visuals.

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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.

Together. Yeovil Town celebrate with the travelling supporters at full time in Barrow.

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.

Scorer Joe Gubbins celebrates with manager Billy Rowley at the final whistle.

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Ian was at a resplendent Huish Park for the lunchtime kickoff as the Glovers carved through Gateshead again and again. Here are his Five Conclusions…

The first half was as complete a performance as I can remember. The Glovers were scintillating from the off. Breaking forward at pace, perpetual motion from the forward players and it took just 2 minutes for Ste Walker to bag his second goal in green and white. In truth, it should have been four by half time. Ryan Jones hit the bar, Walker couldn’t get his feet untangled, Charlie Lennon caused all sorts of problems and the Glovers had 8 shots on target in the first half. It was probably the first time since Gateshead at home last season that we’d seen such a performance…

Who gets a feeling we’re going to see a lot of Ste Walker doing this in front of the Thatcher’s? Picture courtesy of Indy Pitman/Indy’s Visuals.

The midfield duo are finding their feet. Brett McGavin, who Gateshead clearly hadn’t watched, was given the license to dictate all afternoon. When McGavin is given the sort of time he was afforded he will control the tempo and pick out pass after pass after pass. But, he has had the perfect partner in Zain Westbrooke. Westbrooke is the ever-willing runner who quietly goes about his business. He’s one of those that may go unnoticed during a game, but lose him and it’ll leave an almighty hole.

We’ve got fantastic depth. It’s a testament to the recruitment and the ownership group that we’ve got the most depth I can recall us having in National League, if not further back. The be able bring on Loick Ayina, Mason Obeng, Hayden Muller, Slavi Spasov and Johl Powell and have the levels not drop shows how far we’ve come. They’d be starters in previous seasons and there’s still the likes of Jack Kingdon, Joe Gubbins, James Daly and Joe Haigh that weren’t available or didn’t get on the pitch.

Luke McCormick
Picture courtesy of Indy Pitman/Indy’s Visuals.

Super Luke McCormick. It’s only taken three matches but the skipper looks to be back to his mercurial best. His goals yesterday were calmness personified, in those moments he was the coolest head in Huish Park we needed that to finally put a game to bed this season. We saw that sort of performance so many times before his injury last season and to see it this soon is promising. Chants of ‘Super Luke McCormick’ rang out of the Thatchers yesterday, the chant solly reserved for Super Gav has been passed on.

What is this feeling? Is it confidence? Is it comfort? Have you ever seen such a one-sided highlight package in our favour? There was a moment yesterday where we had Gateshead chasing shadows and it reminded me of us, and how teams come to Huish Park and give us the run around. Yesterday, we were the dominant team and we have set a benchmark now for what we are capable of. Next weekend will be another challenge with two fixtures so close together but for the first time in years, I’ve got confidence in the Glovers.

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The new season got underway at Huish Park in heart-breaking fashion yesterday as Carlisle United snatched a point scoring an equaliser with the final kick of the game. Dave paid a rare visit to Huish Park and here are his conclusions from his view on the Thatcher’s End.

Absolutely gutted: The first emotion I and I am sure everyone of a Yeovil Town persuasion felt at the final whistle was absolute heartbreak. It felt like it was going to be a tall order to keep out even a below par Carlisle side for 25 minutes with ten men following the sending off of Joe Gubbins. But it looked like our heroics had done it right up until Harvey Bunker’s equaliser in the sixth minute of stoppage time. It was de ja vu from last weekend at Scunthorpe, that mixed emotion of positivity at how we had played, but utter heartbreak that we had not got all three points.

The scoreboard at full time was full of ‘so close.’

Heroic defending: For the final 25 minutes with ten men we defending like absolute lions, but our good defending extend beyond that. Yes, granted Carlisle were not great, but our defence made players who are good even below their best, the likes of Regan Linney, David Ajiboye and Georgie Kelly, look average. That was the case last weekend at Scunthorpe as well and that is not just by chance.

Super Jos Barker in goal: We always needed to see Jos Barker in competitive action before we judged him and I’m liking what I see. He’s not afraid to mix it and comes for everything and gets it more often than not. It is only two competitive games, but from the a player who has jumped two tiers of the football pyramid, he has not looked out of place from anything I have seen.

Jos Barker – he came to claim a lot and he got more than he didn’t.

How good is it to have a striker again?: Did anyone else get Rhys Murphy vibes when Ste Walker picked up that through ball from Ryan Jones and coolly slotted it home? In his competitive debut for us, that is the mark of a true striker. I can only imagine what the strikers we had at the club last season would have done in that situation.

So much to be positive about: We are sat here a matter of minutes (seconds in the case of yesterday) away from six points against two sides who will be in the promotion mix come May, and we only have two on the board. But I can’t feel anything but positive about how we have started the season. Seeing us pass the ball quickly and look to move it forward when the time is right is like meeting an old friend after many years apart. Even when we had to move it sideways or backwards, I felt like it was all part of the plan. To hear so many cheers and applause at the final whistle, I know I can’t have been the only one.

Ste Walker celebrates his first league goal in green-and-white. Picture courtesy of Jayden Tate/Tate’s Photography.

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We. Are. Back!

The summer of waking up at stupid a.m. for an advertising/hydration breaks in the middle of a game between two nations we don’t care about is over, we have the proper football! We’re all a little bit (too?) excited and we are off and running with National League action.

Ben was on the mic for the season opener at the Attis Arena here are his key takeaways.

We saw some really nice debuts.

Throwing in so many new faces all at once was something that Billy Rowley had to do, he didn’t have much of a choice. But what he saw was a really positive showing from all his new lads.

I’ll highlight a few, but honestly, I think the vast majority gave a great account of themselves as individuals and as a unit.

Mason Obeng’s goal will rightly take the headlines (and the spuds), but he was a constant threat down the left hand side. If anything I think we maybe under-utilised him during the first half, but the way Archie Davies was getting success down the right, I understood.

Jos Barker didn’t put a glove wrong in goal, one first half save in particular was crucial. Joe Gubbins is going to key at the back and organised things well and kept Scunthorpe’s danger man Danny Whitehall quiet.

Jordan Norville-Williams is going to be a real fans’ favourite. Never gives an inch, runs for his life and adds something in attack and defence equally.

Jordan Norville-Williams is going to be popular with Glovers’ fans. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz

We saw two really good goals.

He meant it. There might have been a suggestion that Luke Brennan’s last gasp equaliser was a bit fortunate, but being in the Press Box right behind it and having him confirm it post match as he walked past the media teams, we saw a genuinely brilliant goal.

No blame on Jos Barker, maybe our defenders could have closed that space down a bit quicker, but sometimes, you doff your cap to a brilliant goal.

Was it better than Obeng’s though? They’re not far apart! A seriously good finish to a seriously good delivery from Ryan Jones’ free-kick.

Mason Obeng puts Yeovil into the lead at Scunthorpe.

There’s more to come.

We didn’t see either Charlie Lennon or Ste Walker at all, both saved for another day as we looked to sure up in the second half, and that’s quite exciting. On loan defender Loick Ayina was there with the group but now we have that thing called ‘depth’ we had to leave him out. That’s bonkers!

At home, having the ability to bring quality players, exciting game changers off the bench at different times should fill the fans with optimism, and hopefully put a little fire in the belly of those who missed out at Scunthorpe.

Stephen Walker was an unused substitute at Scunthorpe. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Permission to believe. 

We would have lost that game at the exact time last season, in fact, my guess is it would have gone the same way as those Hartlepool openers the last two seasons, cagey, dull and eventually a bit of a damp squib.

But we didn’t yesterday. We’re gutted not to win, away at one of the toughest, most physical teams in the league who I expect to be play-off bound once more. That’s not something to take lightly at any point in the season. Plenty will come away from Glanford Park with little more than a Danny Whitehall bruise or six and a total of zero points.

The officials are allowed to be rusty as well, right?

You’ve probably seen the screenshot on social media of the third contentious ‘offside’ call against Luke McCormick by now. If you haven’t it’s below. I don’t think referee Michael Barlow or his friends were really up to speed yet. They are coming back off the break too, but being overly lenient in that game didn’t really do any favours to anyone and they called at least two (possibly three offsides) in the hosts’ favour that clearly were not.

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Well, that’s that. The 2025/26 season is done and dusted and how fitting that it ended with a bit of a bonkers scoreline as the Glovers conceded four first half goals (and scored one) in a 4-1 defeat against Solihull Moors. Here are Ian’s five conclusions from Huish Park…

It was a ridiculous start to the match. Ryan Jones forced the Moors keeper into a great save in the first minute, giving us a taster of some good green and white intent, but a minute later Solihull took the lead from a sumptuous strike that even Jed Ward couldn’t get to. Traffic meant some people were still arriving with Yeovil already 1-0 down and it only got worse. Every time the visitors got a shot at goal (except once) they found the back of the net. Oh to have some of that clinical finishing…

Terrell Works | Pic by Gary Brown

We had our moments. We weren’t without opportunities despite the scoreline. Terrell Works showed perseverance to claw one back and was bright in the final third. Will Merry constantly showed intent, driving forward and getting shots away. For me, if the opportunity to sign Merry is there in the summer I would try and take it. Harvey Greenslade got into good positions but the finish was lacking again. Once again, for all our possession we fluffed our lines in the final third.

Jed Ward comes off for Matt Gould | Pic by Gary Brown

Jed Ward deserved his ovation. Ward has been ever present this season playing every minute of every match (bar the last six minutes of this one) and he has been exceptional. Some of the saves he made this season were unbelievable and the standing ovation he received at Huish Park yesterday was well earned. We’ve loaned in some brilliant goalkeepers over the years and he’s certainly one to add to the ‘we had him at Yeovil’ when we see him in the television in a few years.

We were so patched up. When the team news came in with only two recognised defenders I was wondering (praying) if we were going for a makeshift back four. Alas, it was a three with Brett McGavin in the middle. That’s where we were as a squad, that our only ball playing midfielder who has been key to getting us play had to do a job in defence.

Prahbu Srinivasan | Pic by Gary Brown

Thank god it’s over. In all honesty did we ever expect a lot this season? We started it with a manager that the majority of supporters weren’t behind who oversaw a pretty poor pre season which really didn’t set us up for success. After a month long recruitment process that took less than 10 days to unravel with Danny Webb’s departure, the wind was well and truly taken from our sails. It was less of a punch to the gut and more of a punch to the balls. Billy Rowley has done well with what he’s had to get us to safety in really difficult circumstances. The slate is clean and work starts now. Let’s see about the competitive c eh?

Billy Rowley | Pic by Gary Brown

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York City go in to the final day top of the pile after a 3-0 win over a patched up Yeovil Town side who finish their away day schedule with a bit of a damp squib in North Yorkshire, here are Ben’s Five Conclusions.

We showed relatively good discipline in defence.

York have an abundance of quality in every department and move the ball with such ease and pace in the opposition half the result itself was probably no great shock. But, with so many players missing and literally nothing to play for, I was pleased with how the back three (or five) and those in front of them kept their shape and discipline in the first half to nullify the waves of attack – for the most part – not pretty, but it really was the only way we could go about it.

Brett McGavin and Dan Ellison | Pic by Gary Brown

Tired legs, tired minds.

We’re knackered. Properly knackered, and I know we’ve been saying it for weeks (months?) but I think this was the first time I’d seen tired minds too. We didn’t play to the whistle for the first goal (more on that in a moment), and assumed the play would stop for the second ball on the field, countless times we lost a battle and you could see it take that little bit longer to fight back into position. We made two or three excellent blocks in the area by players who had made the error to create the chance for York. Effort remained high, execution wasn’t always there.

The ref wasn’t very good.

In a game with such an imbalance, you need an official who keeps things level. Mr Drysdale played the occasion more than once.

The two ball situation was odd because both were in the same area of play, should Yeovil have played to the whistle? Yes. Should there have been a whistle? Probably. Would there have been a whistle if the teams attacking were reversed? Almost certainly.

Josh Stones got a yellow card for an early challenge that fit an ‘orange card’ on another occasion that’s given as a red. There’s definitely contact on Will Merry in the penalty area, he makes a lot of it, but it’s a penalty. Ollie Banks got three or four final warnings before finally getting booked for being a constant menace off the ball, there was a definite handball in the build up to the second goal. Sour grapes, yeah sure, but the least you want is a level playing field. It’s hard not to feel harshly treated.

Page showed what we might have been missing.

What a pleasant little cameo from Jonathon Page. Some neat little touches in midfield, a real little terrier attitude in the battle, against some giants he more than put himself about and you have to wonder if he might have been something of an asset all along had he been fit.

Merry showed why he’s an option beyond this season

Will Merry didn’t really get into the game first half, playing right in front of the dugouts, he had a tough time getting on the ball, but in the second period he really upped it getting at the York defence on a number of occasions. The more I see of him the more I think he’s exactly the sort of player who we should be looking at to supplement our attack next season, glides with the ball, attack minded and has a physical element to his game too.

Will Merry on the attack

I could write about Jed Ward being ridiculous for the level, but you knew that. I could write about 200+ fans in the away end who drew praise from the home side’s press pack at the end of the game, but you knew that. I could talk about our injury problems mounting up again with McCoy-Splatt’s shoulder popping out, but you knew that.

I’m exhausted (you knew that too), the lads are exhausted, the gaffer is exhausted, let’s get this post-season friendly against Solihull out the way and get next season rolling… after a little nap though, yeah?