Five Conclusions (Page 14)

By:
On:
In: Five Conclusions, Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

Halloween came early at Yeovil Town last night as a second 2-0 defeat in as many matches saw the Glovers slide in to the National League’s bottom four.

Ian was in the stands for the Huish Park Horror Show and here’s how he saw it…..

That was as sorry as it gets. I don’t think I’ve ever known Huish Park be so toxic. Boos in the first half for misplaced crosses and passes. There was a section of supporters on the Thatchers willing things to go wrong so that they can pile in. That’s not conducive to creating a winning atmosphere and if that’s the sentiment going into matches under Chris Hargreaves, we may as well call it now and prepare for part time football in the National League South.

Alex Fisher.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The performance was devoid of anything. It’s really sad to see how low these players are on confidence, which is not helped by the above. There’s a reluctance to get the ball forward and the balance between patience in possession and fear of a mistake has been crossed. Alex Fisher chased things down as a the isolated striker, Josh Staunton put himself wherever he could to make a difference, Matt Worthington tried to run things in midfield, Grant Smith did what he could. It’s a moot point assigning blame now, everyone is culpable.

Change in the dugout needs to come immediately. The manager can’t survive off of Wrexham, Chesterfield and Solihull. Those results are the outlier in what has been a dreadful season so far. We were playing well but drawing, and now we’re playing badly and losing. There’s no recovering this sentiment. There’s no turning it round. It boiled over last night to an element of nastiness wasn’t even reached when Darren Way was leading us to this dismal League.

I’ve never experienced an atmosphere like it at Huish Park. When the final whistle blew, the boos from the supporters that were left inside were clear. The anger and shouting at players as they walked round the pitch was a level I’ve not witnessed. The club is in a dark place at the moment and it needs to be addressed, dealt with and steered in a direction of positivity. Will our owner grab the wheel and put us back on track?

The Thatcher’s Stand. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

We need to come together. Everyone who was there last night witnessed us at our lowest ebb and we need to harness that feeling to make a difference. Whether it’s the Glovers Trust, the Green and Whites, the entire SAG or another. There is structure in the Supporters Alliance Group that exists to align supporters and groups, although in my experience its been quite handy for creating division. That group needs to come together, away from the club and hold an open forum for an honest and open discussion. The need for change is clearer than ever and if we can’t come together after last night then what is the point is supporting a club? The club is on its knees and genuinely in danger. I fear relegation would be a death knell rather than an opportunity to reset.

By:
On:
In: Five Conclusions, Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

Ben Barrett was in the press box for the Glovers’ 2-0, defeat to Oldham.

It was a tough, stressful and genuinely quite emotional experience.

Here’s his five conclusions.

It’s probably worth bearing in mind I haven’t seen this Yeovil Team since mid August.

Back go back games against Barnet and Altrincham were both either reasonable performances or a reasonable result, since then I had been told tales of some of the good, the bad and downright ugly side of YTFC.

Regardless of what had gone before it, we had to come out strong, we had to be the first to draw blood and to kick ourselves out of our slumber.

To go down 1-0 early was an almighty hammer blow.

Obvious as it may seem, that sixth minute goal, the scrappy defending and the unlucky deflection set the tone for a torrid afternoon for the Glovers.

A ball that could have been prevented from coming into the box, fell into an area from which it could/should have been cleared. I felt the ‘hear we go again’ from the 144 in the away end.

Shall we wrap up the positives in one go next?

Owen Bevan. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Owen Bevan and Ollie Hulbert did alright and Grant Smith is the best keeper in the league. 

Bevan had an important role as the central figure in a Staunton-less defence and I think he shone the most of the back line. In the second half, Ollie Hulbert sensed a chance to make an impression on debut, and in difficult circumstances, I thought he did alright.

He’s quick, direct, showed some nice little link ups. I reckon he’s got every chance of getting more minutes over the coming weeks.

And Grant Smith is the best shot stopper outside the EFL. He just is.

Chiori Johnson. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Positives taken care of, who wants some more negatives? Jolly good.

I don’t like wing backs, you don’t like wing backs, we get it.

But if you have to have wing backs, you’d probably want them to be Chiori Johnson and Jamie Reckord.

So… why on earth did we start Sam Pearson at wing back and Johnson in the middle?

I’ve said this 100 times before but why we can’t start playing our best players in their best positions I simply do not know.

Chris Hargreaves thinks this formation has worked OK so far. It hasn’t Chris, it just hasn’t.

I’m not a qualified football coach, but I have eyes. There are some simple, tactical tweaks which I’m convinced would make a difference;

The front two need to be closer together, there was no chance of catching a flick on, or getting a little combo of passes together in the final third, nobody close enough to get busy and pick up the pieces of a broken down attack and it was infruariating.

Set pieces need a complete overhaul because we are shocking at defending them and trying to score from them and please, play people in their best positions.

Josh Staunton was on a one man mission to play in all 10 outfield positions, as admirable as that is, it stopped him being good at what he’s good at. I felt for him, he’s clearly feeling everybit of the disappointment we all are.

Confidence is rock bottom.

So many times, players were showing obvious signs of the sheer lack of confidence we as a unit are struggling with right now.

Maybe it’s a fear of making a mistake, of losing possession. Maybe it’s a desire to get off the ball as quickly as possible. A panicked clearance, a slashed ball forwards, a overhit pass, a sideways or negative move when a braver option was on elsewhere.

There’s no magic wand to make confidence just appear out of nowhere, it’s down to working hard (to levels where socks indeed come off), positive reinforcement and some excellent man management and leadership.

Finally, then.

I’ve not said it on the podcast before now, I’ve kept my mind open, my thoughts to myself until I can see with my own eyes what’s going on.

In the current state of the country, it feels odd and to be honest, fairly horrible, to talk about someone else being in or out of employment.

But purely from a football point of view, I have no choice to confirm that I am absolutely Hargreaves Out.

I’m sorry, Chris, I am.

But this formation doesn’t work, there’s no plan B, our side looks a dishevelled shell of what I think it can be. Results haven’t been nearly good enough.

I feel like when you appeared on the pod, we were all backing you. We forgave some early season wobbles, we saw glimpses of what this side could be, but it’s time now to call it a day. An experiment that didn’t work.

I feel like I could chat football with you over a beer all day long, but right now our football team is hurting, things have to change.

 

 

By:
On:
In: Five Conclusions, Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News
FA Cup giant killing and Yeovil Town have a long history. But, a season after setting the record for the non-League club with the most League scalps in the FA Cup, the Glovers’ campaign has been ended early by lower league Taunton Town.
As he was for the first match, Rich Willcox-Smith was watching on from the stands at Wordsworth Drive – we’ll not ask in which end – and here he gives his conclusions on another difficult night to be a Yeovil Town fan.
It started okay. In my conclusions after Saturday and on the podcast on Monday, I said that I was surprised how sluggish Yeovil were from the off in the first game. But from the off, they looked faster and fitter and the ball spent a lot of time in the Taunton half. If the personnel were the problem at the weekend, the arrival of experienced heads like Jamie Reckord, Alex Fisher and Gime Toure seemed to be the tonic – for the first 15 minutes at least.
We struggled with balls in to the box. We know we are struggling to score goals and, if that is an issue, a sound defence is absolutely crucial but we really struggled with Taunton’s balls in from wide and set pieces. It was one of these that got Taunton a penalty. It was a dangerous ball in that was on its way out if it was left, but a silly, more stupid, raise of a hand gave the ref no option to point to the spot. Couldn’t really be argued with. Even know Grant Smith did get booked for not agreeing with the decision.
The scoreline could have been a lot worse. As was the case of Saturday – I seem to be saying that a lot – Taunton could have been more than one goal ahead at half-time. In the second half, if they had got another two I don’t think anyone could have complained. They were more than deserving of their victory and an away tie at MK Dons in the first round.
If you don’t take shots, you don’t score goals. Forgive me the obvious comment, but the way we struggled to make Jack Bycroft in the Taunton goal work was painful. Over 180 minutes of football, there was nothing which made the keeper have to pull off a worldie for his cleano – sorry, Ben! This is the same team by and large that has managed to get results against the likes of Wrexham, Chesterfield and Solihull Moors in the league.

Is this rock bottom? Two abject performances in space of three days, Ben Richards-Everton and Matt Worthington coming together after the match and supporters protesting against the manager the owner, it’s not a great look. In his post-match interview, Josh Staunton said that this has to be our rock bottom. [Think we said that was the defeat against York City, Rich, or was it the draw at Altrincham? – Ed] It is heart-breaking to see so many supporters say they have had enough and will not return until Hargreaves, Scott Priestnall or both are gone. As Dave keeps on saying, nothing changes until everything changes – but the big question is, who is going to bring about that change? Whoever it is and whatever it is, it needs one happen fast.

By:
On:
In: Five Conclusions, Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

The FA Cup has always been an important competition to Yeovil Town – who still hold the record for the most League club scalps as a non-League club – and this season’s campaign got underway with a 0-0 draw at home to Taunton Town yesterday.

The final whistle was met with boos from the stands at Huish Park and a recognition that it will take a journey up the A358 to the county town for a replay on Tuesday night if Chris Hargreaves’ men are to make it to the competition’s first round.

It was a hard watch for any Yeovil fan and here Rich Willcox-Smith, who some of you will have heard on last Friday’s podcast was in the away end this weekend, gives his  conclusions…..

Grant Smith. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Yeovil were slow to start: After last weekend’s impressive 1-0 home win over a decent Solihull Moors side, I was expecting Yeovil to come out with an extra spring in there step but actually they were very slow to start. For large parts of the first half, they were second best to a side sat a division below them. The crossbar was the Glovers’ friend to save them going into the half-time interval a goal down. Taunton midfielder Ross Stearns effort hitting the woodwork gave the Yeovil back line a sigh of relief. The big frame of Ben Richards-Everton is usually enough to scare most forwards. But today he looked like he had met his match in visiting striker Nick McCootie.

Players looked uninterested and frustrated: The first shot on target for the home side did not come until a minute in to the second half, by which time Taunton had called Grant Smith in the Yeovil goal in to action on a number of occasions. There was at least a fr*st*a*t*ion [the F-word is still banned here, Rich – Ed] from the Glovers players which could easily have been described as many of them looking uninterested. Presumably something was said in the dressing room at half-time – possibly ‘have a shot’ – but it was still limited to efforts from outside the box and not enough to test Jack Bycroft in the Taunton goal.

Malachi Linton. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The lack of goals is concerning: Building upon my previous two points, we saw Malachi Linton, Alex Fisher and Jake Scrimshaw – the three out-and-out strikers in the Yeovil Town squad – and there was very little to threaten. No Charlie Wakefield isn’t a striker. It is now 14 games in to the season and 13 goals have been scored with our top scorer is still left wing-back Jamie Reckord. For context, that’s exactly the same number we scored in the first 14 games of last season when our strike force was widely considered as powder puff. Yeovil could still have been playing come Sunday morning and no goals would have come, the only saving grace from that is that Taunton didn’t really give Grant Smith much to do.

There’s no Plan B: The plan yesterday seemed to be to play the ball sideways and back, there was very little going forwards and even when Fisher and Scrimshaw came on, it seemed to be the same tactics and nothing to try and take on a fired up Taunton side. We can only hope that seeing the Peacocks in the flesh will give Chris Hargreaves something to work on in the 72 hours before the replay – otherwise, it’s difficult to have too much confidence going in to the replay.

The final whistle was toxic: The final whistle was met by boos from the home supporters in the biggest crowd of the season at Huish Park. I could hear it over the cheers coming from the away supporters, so it must have been loud! I’ve not heard anything like that since the dark days of Darren Way’s time as manager and our slump out of the Football League. I thought those days were gone, but it looked – or more to the point sounded – like they were back with a vengeance yesterday. To be fair, it’s hard to argue with the response of the paying public – that was one of the poorest displays I have seen from a team playing in green-and-white.

By:
On:
In: Five Conclusions, Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

Chris Hargreaves’ Glovers picked up a much-needed win against Solihull Moors yesterday at Huish Park, here are Ian’s Five Conclusions…

The win was well-deserved. We’ve seen so many draws this season where we’ve deserved more and yesterday we finally got the result our play merited. Grant Smith was called into action a couple of times in the first half but we had the better of the chances, showed more determination to get forward and kept Solihull’s key players quiet. We looked comfortable, confident and even after taking the lead we didn’t sit back or let Solihull gain a foothold.

Charlie Wakefield looked more like himself. It was the performance we’ve been yearning for from our Starman. Without having to think about his defensive duties so much, Charlie was playing instincitvly, he was confident with the ball and getting himself in the right areas too. He got through plenty of socks, with his running and was given the full 90 minutes. He’s made a case to play further forward, let’s hope he stays further forward.

Chiori Johnson put in another impressive performance. He should have opened the scoring early when he spurned a chance in the opening five minutes, but he didn’t let that miss bring him down. He was in the right place at the right time to score the opener, albeit with sloppy defending from Moors. There’s something about playing on the left side isn’t there? Against Chesterfield he was a standout at right wing back, and yesterday he was strong in left midfield. He’s pacey, versatile and a well-disciplined player and he’s setting himself up to become an important figure in the team.

I thought Solihull looked lethargic. I thought we looked comfortable after going in front. Solihull really didn’t seem to have the urgency I thought they’d show after conceding. This wasn’t the same game as the Dagenham win where it was backs to the wall. They had one chance through Josh Kelly, but other than a couple of corners, we weren’t overly stretched defensively. Andrew Dallas was kept quiet, Joe Sbarra didn’t do a lot and Neal Ardley’s changes didn’t bear fruit. In his post-match Ardley was livid with his teams performance and understandably, it felt like they settled for defeat.

This needs to be the springboard. We’ve got what could be a tricky FA Cup tie with Taunton next weekend, followed up with Oldham away and Aldershot at home. If we’re going to climb the table, we need to put our foot on the gas and follow this up with wins. The celebrations of supporters, players (particularly Alex Fisher) and the manager were one of immense relief, let’s bottle it and drink it with thy cider.

By:
On:
In: Five Conclusions, Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

The hunt for Yeovil Town’s second win of the National League season goes on after a 1-0 defeat away at Southend United in a match which saw the Glovers play 73 minutes with ten men following the first half dismissal of Gime Toure.

The result puts them clear of the National League drop zone by goal difference alone with 11 matches of Chris Hargreaves’ tenure as manager now played.

Dave gives his opinions on what he saw from the away end at Root’s Hall.

 

Southend were not a good team either. I’m not sure if this one ranks as a positive or a negative conclusion, but the fact that our opponents were unable to muster more than a single goal against us with ten men speaks volumes. For the 17 minutes that we had the full complement on the pitch, we caused them problems and looked like causing them more.
I, like the other 80 supporters in the away end, saw nothing of the incident which led to Gime Toure’s red card but if that “moment of madness” had not happened, we threatened to be a slightly above average team against an average one. Is that a positive or a negative dressed up as a positive? You decide.

Gime Toure. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The sock count will be increasing. I’m going to try and get a couple of positives in at the beginning here, because there was effort from the team – socks well and truly worn out. I’ll defer judgement on Gime Toure’s red, but if he kicked out at Kacper Lopata then he landed his team-mates well and truly in it. There was huge frustration that for the first half minutes which followed the 17th minute dismissal we defended deeper and deeper until the inevitable happened and Jake Hyde popped up with the eventual winner, but there was some effort mostly in the final 20 minutes. To the extent you would not believe we had a one man deficit at some points.

Against any other player, is that a foul? CRASH! Yes, that’s the sound of Rule 1 of the Gloverscast being shattered on the floor, but I have to talk about at least one decision made by referee Sam Mulhall. No, I don’t mean the sending off because he (like me!) completely missed that and was informed by his assistant. On 32 minutes, Josh Staunton beats Southend keeper Collin Andeng-Ndi (who looked shaky all match) to a corner to head home, the keeper goes sprawling on his back waving his hands and the official chalks the goal off for a foul. Against any other player on the pitch, is that a foul? To me, no, it’s simply a player wanting the ball more.

You can’t have ten hard luck stories. As I walked out of Root’s Hall without acknowledging the efforts of the Yeovil side (I had a train to catch!), I could almost hear the post-match interviews – socks worked off, commitments to putting it right on Tuesday night at Dorking and the same hard luck stories we’ve heard so often. The fact is, you can’t have ten hard luck stories, we’ve won one of our 11 matches so far this season afterall. The simple fact is performances have not been good enough and no about of effort and desire alone is going to fix that. These things are the minimum we expect, but they are not enough to earn three points on their own. There’s enough quality there, there’s no obvious deadwood like we had last season (if you tell me Reuben Reid scored a hat-trick for Weston-super-Mare this weekend, you’re only reinforcing my point) but the fact is they’re not performing at the moment and that’s down to more than effort.

Martyn Starnes, far left, with Stuart Robins and Scott Priestnall at the match at Altrincham in August.

What else did we think was going to happen? Don’t get me wrong, I like Chris Hargreaves, he seems a nice guy and obviously someone who has a good pedigree as a coach. But Darren Sarll is showing at Woking what he is capable of when he’s not got a hand tied behind his back (whether he consistently does that remains to be seen) and the answer to our demise seems simple. We’ve got a management team who are trying to assemble a team capable of challenging with a budget completely inadequate for the task with a hand tied behind their back and a chain around one foot. The club is rudderless bordering on delusional with none of the long-term vision or concrete framework we were promised by its leadership. If this is the alternative to a takeover bid from a consortium which it is claimed had no money, I think I would’ve taken my chances with them. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, nothing changes until everything changes and right now that feels a million miles away.

By:
On:
In: Five Conclusions, Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

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.

Alex Fisher. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

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.

Matt Worthington. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

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.

By:
On:
In: Five Conclusions, Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

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.

Gime Toure. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

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.

By:
On:
In: Five Conclusions, Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

Former Yeovil Town FC media officer, Alex O’Loughlin, was summarising for BBC Somerset at Eastleigh yesterday evening. Here are his conclusions from the 1-1 draw in Hampshire.

We don’t look like scoring. There’s a general consensus surrounding football that as long as you’re creating chances, results will eventually come and concern can fall by the wayside. I, however, remain concerned. The goal last night came from a glaring error from Eastleigh goalkeeper Joe McDonnell (although credit must go to Malachi Linton for being alert and Sam Pearson for a subsequent smart finish), but the keeper didn’t even have an opportunity to atone for his mistake. Unless the drizzly haze at the Silverlake Stadium played tricks on my eyes, I can’t recall another meaningful attempt on goal. That’s a worry, especially when Linton, Pearson, Charlie Wakefield, Lawson D’Ath and Alex Fisher were all on the pitch at some point.

Charlie Wakefield. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The curious case of Charlie Wakefield. Having been crowned ‘the best on earth’ following a scintillating first season at Huish Park, it’s just not happening for Chaz at the moment. Understandably subdued when deployed as a wing-back, he didn’t get into the game in an attacking sense at all at Eastleigh – no sight of the lung-busting runs or weaving his way to the byline before picking out someone in the middle. Credit, though, must be awarded for a tenacious defensive display. Charlie continually tracked back to double up with Morgan Williams and his effort can’t be questioned. I just hope we can find a system and tactics that gets the best out of him. ‘A silky winger, is just what we need’.

Alfie Pond who? I’m aware this has all been a bit doom and gloom, so to chirp us up a little, I think we can look forward to watching more of Owen Bevan this season. After Alfie Pond’s unexpected departure on deadline day it seemed as if the back four was to be left weakened, but if last night is anything to go by, Bevan has firmly grasped one of the centre back spots. Brave, commanding in the air, quick on the turn and with a bit of s***housery that we all enjoy watching, the Bournemouth loanee stood out on a disappointing night. Without trying to over-hype the young lad, it was Steven Caulker-esque how he slotted straight in and looked a cut above the rest.

A point on the road is never to be sniffed at, but it’s only a good point if we win on Saturday. Despite the odds being stacked heavily in Chesterfield’s favour at the weekend, the lads need to produce a performance that ends in victory – the Wrexham display (although a draw) should give us some form of hope. In an ideal world, the Spireites are dispatched and we have four points from a possible six – happy days. The alternatives are either two points or, worse still, one point from a possible six and, quite possibly, a drop into the relegation zone. Gulp.

Marcus Stewart celebrates his 87th minute goal in the League One play-off semi-final at Nottingham Forest in May 2007. Picture courtesy of Len Copland – www.lencoplandphotography.blogspot.com.

Some things are bigger than football, and seeing Marcus Stewart in the dugout was a heart-warming moment. The outpouring of support from all corners of the footballing world following the announcement of his diagnosis with Motor Neurone Disease highlights just how well-respected Marcus is, both as a footballer who was capable of mesmerising brilliance, and, more importantly, as a wonderful human being. It was great to see the passion that Marcus adds on the touchline and as a Glovers family, we’ll be behind him every step of the way.

By:
On:
In: Five Conclusions, Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

Yeovil fell to a dismal 1-0 loss at the hands of York City at Huish Park yesterday. Here’s how Ian saw it from the press box.

We didn’t compete in the midfield battle. For a lot of the match it felt like we were playing with seven at the back and three up front. The gap between the midfield was so large that it was no wonder we resorted to playing it long from back to front and exposing our deficiencies. York City’s centre midfield were finding pockets of space (much like Dagenham’s did last weekend) and kept possession effectively. I can’t recall Sam Perry or Lawson D’Ath grabbing the game or getting us a decent few minutes of possession once. We missed Matt Worthington in their for sure, but our focus on recruiting attack-minded players and centre-backs has left us short in centre midfield.

Charlie Wakefield. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

I think it’s time to try something different tactically. The 3-5-2 worked well against Wrexham and was effective in holding firm against Dagenham but we really didn’t look comfortable with it at all yesterday. Alex Fisher isn’t the kind of striker who’s going to hold up the ball and bring others into it. Charlie Wakefield isn’t a wingback and, although I like Josh Staunton at centre back, yesterday wasn’t his greatest performance. I would have liked to have seen him brought forward into a deep midfield role yesterday to help us compete in those areas and switch to a back four. We tried to build up from the back, but it just didn’t happen. If we conceded the ball cheaply once, we did it a thousand times. Max Hunt and Ben Richards-Everton struggled to get us moving forward but they weren’t helped by their teammates offering to get the ball from them and had to resort to lumping it down the channels forcing our strikers to feed off scraps.

We looked tired. That was one of the managers observations yesterday adding that he’d review what they did in the week following the Bank Holiday double header, suggesting the preparation hadn’t been right for yesterday. We didn’t keep the ball, we weren’t offering to get take it from each other, we felt overrun on numerous occasions and we didn’t play like a team. Maybe we missed the legs of Matt Worthington in midfield, but it felt like most weren’t at the races at all yesterday. That fatigue led to poor decision making, a lack of willing runners and no execution of the manager’s plan. We can’t criticise these players for not looking fit, because we know they are, but yesterday something was off. 

Matt Worthington. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Credit has to go to York City, they played like a team that’s been at this level for a while. The Minstermen looked comfortable on the ball and didn’t give us a look-in in the second half. Lenell John-Lewis gave a complete strikers performance, winning aerial duels, getting into dangerous spaces in the box and causing our three centre backs problems all afternoon. John-Lewis was thwarted from the spot by Grant Smith, but he deserved his deflected winner. The pressed our defence and goalkeeper when the time was right and were really well organised. But for a couple of saves from their keeper, they rarely felt stretched by our attacking play.

We said last week had to be the low point of the season, and now THIS has to be the low point of the season. Boos rang out at Huish Park yesterday following the final whistle, whether you agree with that or not, the performance was straight out of the Darren Way-era so you could understand the frustration in the stands. It has to be an off-day. Although there’s more certainty off-the-pitch this season than last, the clouds from the climax of last season are still there and it feels like they’re gathering quickly again. People won’t forget about the talk of plans for new investment and concrete frameworks from April and here we are five months later with one additional director. If there are repeats of yesterday, the pressure will be on the owner again.