Gloversblog (Page 25)

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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.

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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.

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At around this time on Saturday, April 23, Yeovil Town owner and chairman Scott Priestnall spoke to a group of supporters in the Alec Stock Lounge at Huish Park to lay out his vision of where he thought the club was and where he thought it was going.

We captured his words in an article – see here – and included links to a series of videos the club published on its social media channels, The Priestnall Tapes, which you can watch to hear his words for yourself.

It’s now five months on from that address there’s been two further statements made by the owner – one following the sale of the club’s Huish Park stadium and surrounding land to South Somerset District Council (SSDC) and one following the appointment of Stuart Robins as a director and shareholder.

So, we thought it was timely to take a look at some of the comments (commitments?) at that time and see where we are with them 153 days on…..

Managerial Update

Chris Hargreaves was announced as Yeovil Town’s new manager on 18th May.

Scott said: “We’ve had 40 or 50 applications for the manager’s job, we’ve had some big profile names, names that have been in the top division, managers who have worked in the EFL in the last two years have applied, managers from this league and managers who have been out of work for the last few years, as you would expect.

“I have been open with (then-caretaker manager) Charlie (Lee)  that I have spoken to some (of the applicants), I have not formally sat down with any at this stage but I intend to do that over the next couple of weeks, including Charlie. I will make a decision before the end of the season, maybe sooner.”

What’s happened since?: Chris Hargreaves was announced as manager on 18th May, three days after the end of the National League season, although his comments upon being unveiled suggest he may have been around longer than that. So “a decision before the end of the season, maybe sooner” – we can give Scott that one.
It’s not unfair to say that Hargreaves does not fit the description of candidates given precisely, he had worked at an EFL club within two years before his appointment, albeit in the youth set-up at Bristol Rovers. Former Glovers’ captain Jamie McAllister, who had been assistant manager at both Bristol City and Sunderland, was among the latter candidates shortlisted but the identity of any other applicants was never known.

Playing Staff

Captain Josh Staunton is one of a number of players retained by the club over the summer. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Scott said: “I have made contract extension (offers) to a lot of the squad that we are looking to retain and those negotiations I would expect to go on until the end of the season.“

“We have to show you the commitment for you to buy season tickets. We will put a new manager in place and show commitment signing players and then we will put a deal together for season tickets.“

What’s happened since? In the summer, Priestnall triggered contract clauses to extend the stays of goalkeeper Grant Smith, defender Max Hunt, midfielders Matt Worthington and Toby Stephens and forwards Charlie Wakefield and Tom Knowles. He also awarded a two-year deal to Josh Staunton and gave a professional deal to Ollie Haste. He appointed a new manager and offered a package on season tickets which froze prices. Promise fulfilled on those, folks.

This season’s ambitions

Scott said: “This club will have a squad ready for next season that wants to compete for (the) play-offs, otherwise why get out of bed? That’s what we want to do.
“It’s not always possible in this league with the amount of money about, but what this league has proven in previous seasons is it is not always about money, it’s about having a settled squad, a set way that works in this league.”

What’s happened since?

With nine games of the season gone, Yeovil Town sit 19th in the National League table, level on points with FC Halifax Town who occupy the division’s first relegation spot.

After nine games, absolutely, but Bromley who occupy seventh place just above the dotted line of teams in the play-offs have double our points total.

Context is important, there’s been some decent performances in those nine games and there’s been some unacceptable ones, but if the ambition is to compete for the play-offs, there’s little doubt we’re not doing that yet.

Board appointments

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

Scott said: “I have had a number of conversations with people to join the board, from an investment point of view, to invest in the football club going forward. Both from a sponsorship point of view and to make funds available for the playing budget.

“I am pleased to say there has been some positive conversations on that part and I’m hoping to have a concrete framework around the board by the end of the season, so we are not in limbo during the summer. I do appreciate there has been a lot of limbo during the past few months.”

What’s happened since?:

On May 20th, the day the club announced the sale of its home to SSDC, Priestnall added that he would be “announcing appointments over the next week or two” adding: “The new board will have a combination of specialist football operations, a voice for supporters and a wealth of experience in business, that will come together and help shape the future of Yeovil Town.”

On May 27th, retired businessman Stuart Robins was unveiled as a director and shareholder in the club. It has subsequently been confirmed he owns 20% of the shareholding in Yeovil Football & Athletic Club, which operates the club’s football business, albeit quite how much money he invested for that share remains unclear.

If we assume Robins, as a lifelong supporter, is the “voice of supporters” with “a wealth of experience in business“, then the “specialist football operations” appears lacking. Perhaps former CEO Martyn Starnes, who has been openly at the club’s matches and around Huish Park since the summer, fills this role albeit on “a voluntary basis“, as Robins told us during his appearance on the Gloverscast.

As far as “a concrete framework around the board by the end of the season” – well, Robins’ arrival came a fortnight after the final fixture so if he is the promised “concrete framework” then at the very best the deadline was missed. I guess definitions of a framework may differ, but a single director and the re-emergence of Starnes seems more like a bit of sharp sand more so than concrete.

Long-term vision

Scott said: “I am not going to sit here and say that our long-term vision is to have a new ground with a hotel in it, our goal is short-term to stabilise a new board, so it’s not just one voice, it’s a collective approach, bringing investment to the club.

“Between us we will work on what that plan looks like; we could have that plan in a month, it could be two months, but I would like to think this summer we do have a long-term vision in place.”

“We have to make changes, I have to make changes and what I am doing is not sitting and waiting. The only thing I can commit to is that there will be a new board in place in some guise and I will be able to tell you what that looks like over the next few weeks.“


What’s happened since? Five months on from these statements it is fair to say “a plan in a month, it could be two months” was not achieved – or at the very least not a plan made public to any supporters we are aware of. And as for having “a long-term vision in place” in the summer, when the leaves start falling from the trees we must assume that goal has not been achieved.

Perhaps the nearest to a long-term vision we have had came in statements made around the sale of Huish Park and surrounding land to South Somerset District Council (SSDC) in a deal worth £2.85m announced on May 20th. In that statement, the chairman spoke of how the deal would allow the club to “move forward with a viable plan to grow our infrastructure off the pitch, to help with gaining future success on the pitch.” He added it would allow the club “to engage contractors and consultants to put forward a planning application for the site as well as allowing us to sensibly invest in required maintenance work and our playing squad.”

However, supporters have not been privy to any vision which lays out how the club is going to generate the additional <INSERT VALUE HERE> required to meet the rental payments it will need to start paying to SSDC rent from May 2023 when its rent free period expires. On the question of ‘how much is the rent?’, we’ve asked SSDC portfolio holder Councillor John Clark and he told us: “This should be in the public domain when the Agreement is registered by the Land Registry, but that timing is outside our control.”

The minutes of the most recent Supporters’ Alliance meeting include Scott Priestnall being asked by Glovers’ Trust chairman Roger Pipe what would happen to any uplift in the value of the land if and when planning permission is granted on it. The minutes show: “SP stated that the money would be used to invest in the club in order to make it more sustainable.” Nice to hear, definitely. But a long-term vision? Not so sure.

There’s also been no clarity around what the £2.85m has been spent on. On his appearance on the Gloverscast, Councillor Clark told us all loans held by the club would need to be cleared before the deal was done. We’re left to assume that means the £1.35m of debt taken out from MSP Capital by Scott Priestnall and his then-business partner Errol Pope and effectively mortgaged against the club has been cleared using the money from the sale of the club’s assets. But, from everything we can see, we still owe Sport England the best part of £1m in loans we took out.

More questions than answers on this one.

Sport England loans

Scott said: “We’ve taken not as much as some other clubs and only what we needed and we have been promised as a league by the Sports Minister that over the next four years, he is working towards getting those loans written off.”

What’s happened since? The Sports Minister, Nigel Huddlestone, is the same man who promised Scott and his fellow club owners he would be working towards getting the almost £1m which we have borrowed written off. We’ve got in contact with the Department for Culture, Media & Sport to ask how the Minister is getting on – but, to be fair to the department, they’ve been in charge of arrangements for The Queen’s funeral in recent weeks. We’ll let you know if we hear anything…….

Supporters’ Alliance

Scott said: “It would be great if the Alliance could be more inclusive for me or try and set out some objectives about how it wants to be communicated with by the football club rather than being sat in a meeting.”
What’s happened since?: Since this April 23rd, there’s been one meeting of the Supporters’ Alliance – if you’ve never heard of this, find out what they are here – which was held at the club on June 28th with Scott Priestnall, Stuart Robins and Martyn Starnes all in attendance. The minutes of it were published by the Glovers’ Trust nearly two months after the meeting – read them here. There’s nothing in them that suggests any objectives were agreed at that meeting, but the Gloverscast understands another meeting is scheduled for next week where the objectives will be discussed. We’ve been assured the overall objective of the Alliance is to be the voice of supporters and to get the best for the club. Sounds good to us and we’d suggest that being entertaining and successful on-the-pitch and stable and secure off it would be what most of us would agree is best for the club.
The minutes of the Alliance meeting from June 28th, say that when asked about the need to improve communication with supporters: SP (Scott Priestnall) suggested that he is bringing in professional help to do this. We need to build an environment of trust between YTFC and the supporters. We’re not sure whether such professional help has been brought in, but aside from Stuart Robins’ efforts to communication – in person with supporters, through his appearance on our podcast and in (at least) one column in the matchday programme – there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of output from any so these professionals.

Matchday experience

Commercial manager Mark Robinson said: “We have a lot of things in the pipeline coming, but it’s not done overnight and, like any other business, we have just come out of one of the toughest times anyone has experienced, so we ask for your patience and persevere with us.“
What’s happened since?: We’re now a little over a month of the new season with five matches played at Huish Park and for the month of August (when three of those five matches were played) our monthly YeoGov opinion poll gave the matchday experience a below average 2.76/7 rating. This would suggest there is room for improvement. We at the Gloverscast understand that “things” (and we’re not privy to any more detailed plans than that) remain in the pipeline to improve the matchday experience at Huish Park. In his appearance on the podcast in August, director Stuart Robins hinted at similar plans although details are yet to be forthcoming. The other indication of what might be to come was mentioned in the minutes of the Supporters’ Alliance meeting at the end of June which quoted Scott Priestnall saying: “Plans are in place to put a marquee behind the Thatcher’s stand where a bar and live bands can play before matches.” We have extended an invitation the Huish Park hierarchy to join us to talk about the proposals – or indeed any of the matters covered in this blog – at any point and that offer remains open.

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So, the National League has taken a decision….well, kind of. After a tantrum from Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds about why he couldn’t live stream matches – presumably he doesn’t have a “little camera” like our own Scott Priestnall – it looks like matches might be streamed by the end of the season.

I say ‘might’ because, well, it’s the National League and they don’t have an exemplary track record and also it’s not really live streaming like you might first think. This isn’t going to be like the ‘lockdown season’ of 2020-21 when all matches will be available as it’s already been said that matches televised on BT Sport won’t be streamed and nor will any games with breach the ‘black out rule’ preventing the broadcast of matches in England and Wales between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on a Saturday.

So, in essence, it means midweek matches and games played on a bank holiday can be streamed. There was a few other dates in November and December which are exempt from the rule, or Article 3 – Transmission Rights’ of Article 48 of the UEFA Statutes, which would allow broadcast of matches during the winter World Cup in Qatar. Not that these really matter as the National League will unlikely have decided the date of its next meeting by November let alone anything else!

Today’s Non-League Paper suggests there’s likely to be a variety of ways to pay for streams, including per game, per month or in the form of a ‘season ticket’, which would see subscribers able to choose which match to watch, as opposed to being tied to a single team.

The big question comes down to – where’s the money going? The National League has said the finances will benefit the 72 teams in the three divisions and presumably this will need to support teams in National League North and South (Hi, W*ymouth!) to get set up for televising games. Do they even have fibre optic cables in South Dorset?

The decision was “unanimously” approved by the entire National League Board, which includes our own chairman, of course, at a meeting on Thursday and therefore we assume the lower division clubs have been given some kinds of assurances.

Surely  at least a percentage of the money needs to be equitably distributed to avoid deepening the financial gulf between the big spenders and the small spenders. In this instance, as a National League Premier club drawing crowds of more than 2,000 to home matches, we’re almost certainly a big(er) spender – can someone pick Scott up off the floor, please? It’s got to be about what’s fair for everyone, right?

The other thing is, are we going to see clubs buggering about with kick-off times to enable them to stream outside the 2.45pm-5.15pm window on a Saturday? Will Ryan Reynolds be insisting on evening kick-offs for Wrexham to allow him to tune in from Los Angeles? I’m sure all he needs to do is put a tweet out and the National League will listen.

But seriously, there needs to be a firm line taken on that or else we’re going to find ourselves at the mercy of those who want to broadcast.

I agree that Article 48 was brought in by Football League chairmen fearful of television companies in the 1970s and is therefore quite outdated, but there is more than a grain of common sense in its presence – let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater, eh?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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A goalless draw away at a table-topping Wealdstone could be a positive result on the face of it, especially after picking up a win at home just 48 hours earlier.

But, whether it was from manager Chris Hargreaves or his players, the mood in the Yeovil Town camp at the end of Bank Holiday Monday was one of frustration,

We forced Dave to Rule 2 (Gloverscast Rule 2: Always sleep on it before judging a result) it, and here are his conclusions….

We have to credit our opponents. I’ll get to us in a minute, I promise, but I have to start by giving credit to Wealdstone. There was a mood of celebration around Grosvenor Vale at kick-off with the Stones top of the league, so going a man down after just nine minutes would not have featured in their plans, I’m sure. That said, they looked organised in those first nine minutes and in the 81 that followed, they had a plan and they stuck to it. And, no, this conclusion was not in the original five – but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have been!

The answer can’t always be Lawson. From the ninth minute, the opportunity was there for us to play a bit of HargBall (yes, I now accept that as its name), play it quickly, switch wings and frankly just have a go at our ten man opponents. Instead, we seemed to methodically passing it across midfield, the game was crying out for someone to grab the ball and do something. It’s too easy to say “well, if Lawson D’Ath had been there“, that simply cannot be the answer to everything – and, no, Sam Pearson can’t be the answer to everything either! There were players out there who can do more and should have done more. Even when Charlie Wakefield came on at half-time there didn’t seem to be an urgency for him to get at the Wealdstone defence enough.

I feel for Fish at getting hooked. I’ve been critical of Alex Fisher’s impact on the times I’ve seen him this season, but I felt he was impacting it more than many of his team-mates at Wealdstone. There was a look of disbelief on his face when he saw his number came up to be replaced by Jake Scrimshaw in the 72nd minute which suggests he felt he had more to give and. I know hindsight vision is 20:20, but letting him take the penalty would have been something more he could have given. As for Malachi Linton, it was not his day. After 68 anonymous minutes, it was brave of him to step up to take the penalty. It’s important he recalls the same mentality he did after missing a chance against Wrexham and the scoring a worldie. Channel that frustration, Mal, there’s a good player there.

We can’t be too nice about all this. I listened to Chris Hargreaves’ post-match interview (twice, in fact) and I hope I am reading between the lines here. “What I’ve said in the changing rooms will remain the changing rooms” and there had been “a few words” exchanged between players. I’m pleased to hear that. There’s always a lot of talk about ‘commitment’ and ‘giving everything’ which is well-placed and well-deserved, but if we’re going to improve on last season (which is surely the minimum) then we can’t be too nice about performances like this. With the best part of 650 appearances to his name, I’m sure the manager knows what needs to be said.

We’ve still got September. I’ve checked the Green Day lyrics and we don’t need to wake up until September ends.  It is still half-a-dozen games in to the season and we’ve still not lost more than we have lost, but they don’t get any easier. York City at home and then Woking and Eastleigh away (both of whom have started the season well) and then the small matter of Chesterfield and Boreham Wood at Huish Park. Not easy games to get the show on the road, but that’s what we’re going to have to do.

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The first win is on the board for Chris Hargreaves. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t convincing, but who cares?! They all count. Here are Ian’s conclusions from yesterday’s 1-0 win.

We showed that we’ve got defensive resilience. Chris Hargreaves made some changes bringing in Alfie Pond and Ben Richards-Everton and it worked. The second half was an exercise in attack versus defence and marshalled by the impressive Josh Staunton, the Glovers kept free-flowing Dagenham at bay. They defended resolutely against a barrage of of corners. It was talked about in the build up to the game about the importance of seeing matches out and the players delivered for the manager, keeping a clean sheet and getting that all important first three points!

Image courtesy of Mike Kunz

 

It was a captain’s performance from Josh Staunton. With Alfie Pond making his debut, and Ben Richards-Everton returning from injury after three matches out, all eyes were on Josh Staunton to be the rock at the back. His performance was probably the best of the season so far. He saw the danger that Josh Walker was causing in the first half and took it upon himself to make sure Walker wasn’t allowed to do it in the second half. When the Glovers had to defend successive corners, Staunton was in the thick of things, putting his body on the line ensuring that Dagenham didn’t get an equaliser.

We’ve got a player in Alfie Pond. There’s a long way to go in Alfie Pond’s career, and as an 18-year-old he will have bad games at some point, but yesterday he looked the part. He had an early duel against one of the League’s best strikers in Paul McCallum which set the tone for his day. He was calm in possession of the ball, won his battles in the air and looked more than ready for the rigours of the National League. Having kept a clean sheet with Max Hunt dropped and Morgan Williams at wingback, there is plenty of competition for places at Huish Park at the moment.

Alfie Pond. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.


We seemed to show a lack of urgency at times. I’m not sure if it was our defensive focus, but we certainly sacrificed some of the Harg-Ball in favour of being secure. Before we took the lead through Jamie Reckord, there were groans at the lack of urgency and unwillingness to play forward, but our patience paid off and we got what turned out to be the winner. But in the second half, when we were really under pressure, I felt like we never got going and when we did have the ball we took our time to move it forward. It paid off in the end and we got the win but it would have been a little more comfortable…wouldn’t it?

It’s time to push on. We’ve got the first win in the bank now, on Friday we secured two new signings and we’re at a stage where we’ve got genuine depth and competition in each position. We travel to Wealdstone tomorrow and welcome York to Huish Park this coming Saturday and if we’re going to be a side that flirts with the playoffs, we should be getting six-points from those two games. We’ll have to deal with the absences of Charlie Wakefield, Sam Pearson and possibly Lawson D’Ath, but as we showed today we’ve got options. Hopefully we can get on a bit of run, build some confidence and some convincing victories on the way.

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Urgh.

Another near miss, three points snatched away from the Yeovil Town right at the death as Altrincham pegged the Glovers back twice to grab a 2-2 draw.

Our man Ben was in the Press box for BBC Somerset at Moss Lane and here are his conclusions from a frustrating afternoon in the North West.

Altrincham Away ? Ben Barrett

Oh, what might have been.

It wasn’t quite as free flowing as the game against Barnet but HargreavesBall was still the order of the day for the Yeovil Town.

The switch to a 4-4-2 from the off had me thinking we might change our style, but that wasn’t the case, we kept it simple, on the floor and tried to still use our threats from wide angles to creat chances.

Chiori Johnson added a bit more bite to the midfield, the former Torquay man isn’t afraid to put a tackle in, whilst Lawson D’Ath added a calmness to the centre of the park. With Altrincham dominating possession in a way Barnet did not on them previous Tuesday night, he helped utilise what we did see of the ball.

This is our style of play, win, lose or draw, home or away.

Lawson D’Ath. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Speaking of D’Ath. Jeez, we’ve got a classy footballer on our hands.

It’s nothing we haven’t said 100 times before, but a fit and firing Lawson D’Ath is too good for the National League. He can do it all, run with the ball, spray passes, tackle, block, get forward, defend the whole nine yards.

The point here is, how do you now manage a player who is just so influential? His first 89 minutes of the season, with two games in three days at the back end of the week on the horizon and a history of injuries that says you cannot push him too far.

It’s just as important to know when to (when we can afford to) leave him out as it is, to know when to play him.

Charlie Wakefield. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Something was up with Charlie Wakefield.

I spent the majority of the second half trying to figure out what wasn’t quite clicking with Charlie Wakefield.

He looked… a bit sad… like he needed a hug, he got one from Lawson D’Ath at one point.

A couple of times the ball slipped under his foot and out of play, a couple of crosses and shots weren’t at his usual standard and I couldn’t quite put my finger on why.

With the team now Tom Knowles-less it does feel like a lot more eyes are looking at Wakefield to be the star man (pun fully intended) and as he adapts to a new style and new role when playing wing back, the general consensus is that he’s doing just fine.

I hope he’s okay and just had one of those days, we’ve all been there.

Max Hunt vs Bournemouth

It’s time for us to talk about attacking set pieces.

I feel that it’s not been a huge strength of ours over the last couple seasons and for me, it stood out against Altrincham.

Only Notts County have had more possession this season than Alty, which means when you get the ball and the chance to get it in the box, you cannot waste it.

Sadly, we did on a few occasions, and on the times we did get a ball into the right areas, I wasn’t ever totally convinced much would come of it.

Both Josh Staunton and Max Hunt did connect with a header each from a dead ball situation, but both lacked the direction and/or power and it might be an area we have to look at improving.

There will be plenty of times this season where we give up the lion’s share of possession and I’d like us to look more dominant.

I guess we have to end with the new cult hero don’t we?

Gime Toure made a wonderful little cameo from the bench, got his goal of course, but added so much more.

He was trying to impose a little bit of game management (something we lacked after the clock ticked past 90 mins), he was trying to be clever, to buy a free kick, to slow the game down whilst also not being afraid to get on the ball and play – he and Jamie Reckord worked really well together a couple times on the left.

We’re nowhere near seeing the fittest version of Toure and that might be a while off, and the one thing we’ve been told is that there’s inconsistencies to his performances, but he looks bang up for it at the moment and he will provide an alternative to the Fish ‘n’ Mal combo which has started brightly.

All in all, it was so close, but so far from that elusive first win of the season.

Urgh.