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New Yeovil boss Billy Rowley maintained his 100% record in the dugout as the Glovers picked up a brilliant 2-0 win at Hartlepool thanks to goals from Aaron Jarvis and Luke McCormick.

Rowley told BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman how happy he was with the victory: “I’m really, really pleased for the lads. They’ve left it all out there today. It was, always going to be a tough game, especially with the pitch and the conditions. Hartlepool are excellent at what they do, [they] caused us some problems, but I felt for the most part, we were not comfortable, but we were defensively quite solid. We restricted them to probably some sort of half chances. But yeah, just a really pleasing afternoon for us.

“I think it’s always sweeter on these long journeys as well. You know, you never want to sit on a coach for five hours or down in the dumps and reviewing the performances and why you didn’t win or why you didn’t create so, first and foremost, I’m so, so happy for the fans. I thought brilliant today. They were almost louder than the Hartlepool [fans], although I thought they were excellent as well. It was a great game and atmosphere. So really happy for the fans to come here and get that win. And of course, the lads as well, I think long overdue a couple of wins.”

Aaron Jarvis opened the scoring for Yeovil in the 14th minute and Rowley was full of superlatives about the striker.

“He was excellent today. He was brilliant. He led the line. Well. We felt that we were going to try and build the game a little bit slower in the first half, and then always having the option of using Aaron in, like, throwing the ball up to him a little bit more directly. I thought he dealt with that excellently. I felt that we were getting a lot of joy from that, and then we decided to, I don’t know, maybe just get more bodies around him and make that a little bit too predictable at times. But yeah, the plan for Aaron to do that role for us today kind of worked for us.”

Hartlepool had only lost one match at home before today and the Glover haven’t won there since 2011 and Rowley waxed lyrical about the organisation of the team.

“It speaks a lot for the boys and their organisation. We worked a little bit on that yesterday. We reviewed that from a video this morning and  they took everything we asked to a T. There’s also times where you have to think on the spot, and you know, the loud crowd here, we can’t always get information on so I thought Jake, Morgs and Fergie organised the boys in front of them expertly. We really restricted them to just sort of putting in long crosses towards the end. And Jed came in and claimed a few of those brilliantly. And what a keeper he is – unbelievable.”

The manager made changes from last week’s win over Boston and when about how his players reacted to the changes, Rowley said: “It’s so hard as a manager to not get players on the pitch. Sometimes the state of the game and even the environment and conditions dictates that so really, really pleased with the boys, I thought, Whitts defended well when he came on, Max [Joliffe], he does what he does. He covers ground,  he put a few good balls in as well to spring some counters. Tav [was] brilliant when he came on, Jarvs pulled up with a calf injury a little bit and and the idea was to bring on Tav late in this game and use his subtle touches and skill to retain the ball for us and I thought he did that really well.”

On the scenes at the final whistle, Rowley was pragmatic, if not frustrated with what happened.

“The final whistle blew, and it erupted into a lot of joy for our players and a lot of despair for Hartlepool’s, which naturally caused a bit of friction between a few of them. I don’t think there was any malice in it. It’s just one of those things, but obviously really frustrated that Morgan got a straight red for that altercation. Look, I’m not going to let that overcast, the great day and the great win, but yeah, just a little frustrated that that happened at the end, but it is what is.”

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Yeovil strike Tahvon Campbell says he and the squad are disappointed at how the season has gone so far and that they’re continuing to work hard to turn things around.

Campbell, who returned to the Glovers in the summer, was speaking to BBC Somerset’s Josh Perkins ahead of the trip to Morecambe and said the recent run has been difficult but things change quickly in football: “I’d say it’s difficult, but I think, we’ve got to look at the fixtures we’ve had. We’ve got to just keep doing the same things. We’ve got to keep working hard in training, and we’ve got to believe in what we’re doing. And as football is, things change all the time. So in short spaces of time as well. So pick up a few wins in the next few games or a few draws and yeah, everything looks different. The table is quite tight still, so if we do get a few wins in the next few, then we’ll be back in and around mid table.”

After the defeat to Southend, Richard Dryden said they’d be working on creating more opportunities to solve the Glovers’ goalsoring woes, and Campbell said it has been a big focus this week.

“Yeah, I think, we’ve been heavily focused on how we’re going to create chances. I think, when I have played, and even when I haven’t, it’s been hard to come by a clear goal-scoring chance. So I think if we put that together with everything, I think we’ll be alright. We do need to find a way to start creating more chances and putting pressure on other teams.”

Campbell last found the back of the net [intentionally] at Aldershot where the Glovers responded to Danny Webb’s shock departure with an unforgettable 4-1 win. When asked how Yeovil could replicate that performance Campbell said: “I think we just need to keep working hard and we need to find different ways because every game is different. In that game, it felt like we were playing more counter-attacking, but it literally depends on the game. So we’ll have to see when we go into each individual game.”

Campbell added, despite Morecambe’s position in the table (and leaky defence), Yeovil would show them respect.

“We give respect to them. They’re a good team, and they’re in a position which says that they might not be doing so well. So we’re going to go there with our confidence and hopefully try and get three points.”

Campbell was also asked on his reflections of the season so far, saying: “I think as a team we’re disappointed with how we’re doing at the moment and like we just want to do our best. I think all the lads effort-wise are still trying, so I think at some point it will change. When it does, then, I think we’ll continue to keep picking up points.”

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Yeovil fell to another defeat against Southend, extending their winless run to seven matches, and Richard Dryden bemoaned his sides’ continued struggles in front of goal.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah the Yeovil boss also said the visitors probably created more, but that he felt his side could have a couple of penalties: “You look at the chances, they probably created more than us, but we defended well. [Our] Keeper played well, back three played well. We kept them out, but at the other end we didn’t take our chances. We probably had better ones [chances] in the first half with a couple of blocked shots. You look at the clips, we could have had a couple of penalties – there’s a couple of basketball saves in the goal mouth but at the end of the day, we haven’t scored again and we’ve lost 1-0 at home.”

Josh Sims takes aim as Nathan Ralph closes in | Photo by Gary Brown

Yeovil improved on their last home outing against Wealdstone (not a difficult task) but failed to test the Southend keeper all afternoon. Dryden said they’ll keep working on creating chances, though.

“We’ve got to keep working hard. Keep giving them more chances, delivering the ball in the box, which we worked on a little bit and we’ll be working on it again before the next game. We’re not creating enough, everybody knows that, but were getting into positions to create but sometimes is the final ball or the runs and it’s killing us a little bit at the moment.”

“We’ve got to keep putting the ball in decent areas and expect the forwards to get in there, or the midfielders or the wingbacks and load the box. It’s the hardest thing in the world to do, put the ball in the back of the net, but we’ve got to start doing it.”

Southend broke the deadlock in 92nd minute through Slavi Spasov, and Dryden said it was a ‘tough one’: “You look back at it, we can stop it a bit, there’s always little chances to stop a goal, but it’s just a sickener.”

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Luke McCormick said it was devastating to lose out in the FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round, but that the Glovers would stick together and bounce back next weekend.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman, the midfielder said: “We’re devastated in there. We thought that we started the game slowly. The sending off definitely helped us. And then it’s about quality in both boxes. We definitely had the chances. And look, it is what it is. We’re very disappointed. Sorry to the travelling fans. It’s obviously devastating to to exit the FA Cup at this stage, but full focus back on the league and we need to stick together.”

McCormick said the team got a ‘livener’ at half time “It’s a little bit of a godsend, their sending off. And then, yeah, obviously it gives you a little bit more time on the ball. First half, I didn’t think we were at the races. We got a little livener at half time. And then, listen, we come out second half. It’s always tough, it’s a bit of a lottery when, when a team go down to 10 men but I think we created enough today to get a result. But listen, that’s football. Like I said, we’re bitterly disappointed, and we’ll stick together, and we will bounce back next weekend.”

The 26-year-old concluded: “We wanted to win the game. We wanted to progress. That didn’t happen. So we do what we normally do, win, lose or draw. We come in Monday, we analyse the game, we have honest conversations, we look how we can improve, and then full attention turns to the league, where we’ve been on a good run of late.”

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For the second season in a row, Yeovil Town fell at the first hurdle in the FA Cup to lower league opposition, this time at the hands of ten-man Hemel Hempstead.

Richard Dryden spoke to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman and said his side struggled to get going: “We didn’t start. We didn’t start at all. Rode our luck a little bit. The first 10-15, minutes, we didn’t play like we wanted to play. [We] went long, but they get a man sent off. And you think, right, let’s go and nail these to the post. But it never happened. We didn’t get going, didn’t defend well. We get done by a corner, which we should stop. We worked on them when they go short, some people have turned off. Is that down to us? Is it down to the whole group? It probably is, Yeah.”

Since taking over as manager until the end of the season, Dryden’s matches have featured a high-tempo, high energy Yeovil side but that just didn’t happen today, with Dryden saying the Glovers didn’t ‘turn up.’

“If you’re watching the game, you’re looking at them, how we’ve played the majority of the time, the last month or six weeks, where there’s been high tempo and we didn’t, I didn’t sense that today.  This is a big day: FA Cup qualifying round for the first round, and we, as a group haven’t turned up,” Dryden said.

Harvey Greenslade and Byron Pendleton combined in the second half, with Greenslade drawing Yeovil level and Dryden said they tried to exploit Hemel, who were a man down from the 25th minute, on the wings.

“We identified the wide areas when people are down to ten men is a big area. And we did it with with passing, we did it with big diagonals, and we got in and created enough. But again, we get done with a sucker punch in the last 10 minutes.”

Dryden reiterated the support he’s received from the board, but that the search goes in for new signings.

He said: “The board has given us money to spend. And we’ve inquired [about] two or three, like I said earlier before the game, they haven’t come off. We’ve got to keep looking and keep looking and getting players in. With the injuries we need to get them in quite quick, but again, we’ve got to get the right ones, what suit us.”

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Match-winner Luke McCormick is loving life at Yeovil Town since his summer move from Bristol Rovers. The midfielder scored the only goal in the Glovers ‘hard graft’ against Woking this afternoon.

McCormick’s stoppage time winner in front of the Thatchers set off celebrations all around Huish and McCormick told BBC Somerset he’d thought about it on his way to the match.

“That’s what I was thinking about and on the drive up today. So, yeah, it’s brilliant. But I’ve got to give credit to the boys. We kept going. We could have sat off and taken a point, steadied the ship but we didn’t. It’s a little knock down from Wanns and yeah, just found the back of the net. I think probably I was that tired that I had to take a touch. And then obviously I’ve looked up and I’ve seen, seen the top bracket, yeah, luckily, it’s gone in.”

The Glovers struggled to get a foothold in the match in the first half and McCormick said that Interim Manager Richard Dryden just told them to stay calm.

“You get those games sometimes. They’re [Woking] obviously off the back of a really good result.  We grafted and we came in at half time. We tweaked a couple of things and then I think [in the] second half we were probably the best team. First half, they probably had the better the chances. But yeah, I think we showed, showed real resilience. And the three points is the main thing.”

McCormick has impressed in the middle of midfield in recent weeks having started further up the pitch at the start of the season, and the 26-year-old is loving life in green and white.

“I love the club. Love the boys, love the staff. Fans have been brilliant with me. I’ve settled in really quickly, playing in the position that I’m more comfortable with. Me and Brett have got a really good partnership and all credit to him, he’s been working his socks off. I feel like I’m getting a bit more of the plaudits at the moment, but his time will come. The team have been brilliant. The boys that haven’t played have been brilliant. Training is great. So, yeah, long may that continue.”

Luke McCormick in action for Yeovil Town.
Luke McCormick. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

New manager Danny Webb was unveiled to supporters before the match and was sat in the Directors’ box scribbling notes through out the match. McCormick said Webb had already put his ‘mark down’. He also praised Dryden and Chris Todd, adding that they deserved the win.

“So we’ve met the gaffer today, and he’s come in and had some words at the end there. So putting his mark down already, but Monday morning that that will obviously come to fruition more. Obviously Dryer and Toddy, have been excellent. Obviously, in limbo it’s tough for them. I think people should understand that it’s really difficult for them. So they’ve kept the ship moving in the right direction. Maybe we haven’t got results we deserved, but today, I think they deserved that.”

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Richard Dryden’s time as Interim Manager finished with an important three points and a confidence-boosting 1-0 win over Woking. Luke McCormick’s stoppage time winner took the roof off Huish Park as the new boss Danny Webb watched on.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Josh Perkins following the match, Dryden said the whole club needed the win: “We needed it, and the fans needed it, you know? I said earlier in the week, we need the backing from the fans how we play, but we need to give them something to sing about, shout about. I think, especially second half, from the first minute, we were on the front foot and had a right go. It was cagey, the first half, the second half, I thought we had the better chances.”

After a non-event of a first half, where Woking perhaps edged it, Yeovil came out in the second half and took the game to Woking with big chances for Josh Sims, Junior Morais, Morgan Williams and Tahvon Campell before McCormick clinched it.

“The first half was very tight. I think we started the second half really, really well. It goes on and goes on and goes on. You think ‘are we going to score?’ We have some good chances. We created a lot of good chances. We’ve got people in the right areas to get shots off or make contact in the box, but it was so nice to see the ball go in  the back of the net with four minutes left, that’s for certain.”

Luke McCormick in action for Yeovil Town.
Luke McCormick. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

On the goal, Dryden said: “They pressed him [McCormick] well coming out from the goal line. But he’s sort of clipped it into the top corner. [It] was great to see. And when I say four minutes left, it felt like 40 minutes, because it went on and on and on. But when you’re 1-0 up, and you know, they’re going to put big people on, get the ball forward, and we defended it pretty well.”

If it ended up 0-0, we played well. But, the 1-0 makes it 2,000,000% better. Yeah, Morgs has missed, but it’s a great contact on the ball. I haven’t got clue what he’s doing there, by the way, but he’s in there. And there’s been a couple of the little ones where we could have , you know, Sims has gone through with a bit of class. And there’s two or three others, you know, I think Tav was unlucky, because he’s through on goal. And I’m not going to knock referees or officials, but how none of the four [officials] see he’s getting tugged is a tough one.”

Aaron Jarvis and Tahvon Campbell made a big impact of the bench with Campbell causing all sorts of problems for his old club and Jarvis getting into his usual rough and tumble with the opposing defenders and Dryden said he’s had players knocking on the door this week angling for a start.

“I think it’s no secret we’ve, we’ve been training well with very few outfield people. I still get, even this week,  I’ve had a couple saying they want to play, disappointed they’re not starting. And a few of them have come on today and shoved it right up me, really, because they’ve come on and made a difference. The lads started really well and they’ve come on and finished it off.”

Dryden confirmed that Alex Whittle and Charlie Cooper had been in ‘very light training’ but gave to certainty on their returns. He added that the Glovers hope to be back to full bench soon with “maybe one or two coming in.”

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Jake Wannell leads Yeovil Town's players on to the pitch.

Yeovil skipper Jake Wannell said the defeat to Braintree was a tough one to take, but that he wouldn’t put it on the forward in the team.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Josh Perkins he said: “Yeah, tough one to take, obviously. After dominating the first half like we did, it was disappointing not to come away with a point, at least I feel like we had enough chances to win the game, [by] 2, 3, 4, [goals]. 

Ultimately, we win lose or draw as a team, so not going to push it on to the forwards at all. We’ve obviously conceded the goal, so we’ll look back at that and see where we could have done better there. Obviously, we know, the forwards know that we had plenty of chances to win the game, so we dust ourselves down and go again Monday.”

For the second match in a row, the Glovers conceded plenty of chances and Wannell put it down to the lack of the control of the ball.

“Too many turnovers, especially today, turnovers leads to chances most of the time, so we cut out the turnovers, the less chances that the opposition will have. But that’s full focus now on Monday.  We’ll put that one to the side.

“It could have been a 5-4, 5-5, type of game, which we didn’t want, almost a game of basketball, like, which is not us. We want to start controlling a bit more. That’s where we’re really good, but just didn’t work today.

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Mark Cooper cut a very frustrated figure following the Glovers 1-0 defeat at Braintree on Saturday. Yeovil fell to a 1-0 defeat, but had their chances to put away and the Yeovil boss put the pressure on his forwards to find the back of the net.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Josh Perkins, Cooper said: “It’s a game we should never, ever lose. We’ve got 15 really big chances, we don’t convert one. And they [Braintree] have a couple of chances in the first half, but it’s virtually impossible to lose that game with the amount of chances we had. I mean the first half. I mean we’re clean through on the goal, we’ve hit the goalie in the face, where we just need to to roll it in the goal, put one past the post, on the six yard line, and we’ve hit the cross bar, when it’s a roll into an empty net, and then the second half we’ve just missed multiple chances. We have to score.

“The pleasing thing is, we’ve created loads of chances. Had large spells of the game. Do we want to open up to create loads of chances? Then we leave a little bit open at the back, so it becomes end to end. But with that many chances, we have to score. Simple as that is, can’t dress it up any way. You have to score whether you’re a forward, midfield player, yeah, you’ve got score.”

When asked what it’s down to, and if Yeovil needed lady luck on their side, Cooper demanded ruthlessness in front of goal. 

“It’s not luck. You have to be ruthless.  When you get that chance, just put it in the back of the net. Take the back of the net out. We give the keeper a chance. We hit him in the face with a ball when the whole goal is gaping. You know we we have three chances at the end where our forwards kick each other and miss the ball, and it’s on the goal line. It’s it’s frustrating because the performance is good in terms of our attacking play. And the pleasing thing is, we create lots of chances, but we’ve got to be ruthless.”

Perkins offered a bit of praise for the performance of Tahvon Campbell, but Cooper shot back: “[It] Doesn’t matter about forwards being good. No one’s going to look in the paper tomorrow and go, ‘ooh he was good’. They can look and say ‘they didn’t score’. So I’m putting the pressure on the forwards, all of them. We’ve got enough of them. You have to score. It’s not like we’re asking you to play a style of football where you’re not getting [chances], you’re getting you’re getting loads of chances. We’re playing really attacking. Try to change a little bit. If we create that many chances in the game, we should score at least three goals, which should be enough to win a game of football. 

Ahead of the visit of Gateshead on Bank Holiday Monday, Cooper said he hoped to welcome back Whittle and Cooper and that his selection headache was having “to pick the right forwards that are going to score.”

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Mark Cooper was disappointed with Yeovil’s 2-1 loss to Sutton United this afternoon, saying the result gave him “clarity”.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Josh Perkins, the Yeovil boss said: “We’re obviously disappointed with the result. I thought we were in a good position to win it. Obviously 1-0 at half time. And then we conceded two goals. I think they had two efforts on target, and they both went.

“They had bits and pieces across the box, but I can’t remember, Aidan making any saves. So they have two. A header from 18 yards, and a shot from 25 yards. So yeah, we’re disappointed because we wanted to finish at home on a high. Just gives me a bit of clarity of where where we need to be.”

“It’s a game we shouldn’t lose, in my opinion, and we’ve conceded two speculative efforts and lost the game.”

Cooper added that Brett McGavin was back in training and could make an appearance on the final day at Aldershot.