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Yeovil Town boss Chris Hargreaves is expecting to appoint his backroom staff in the coming days.

The manager revealed there would be two appointments who he has worked with in his career arriving at Huish Park.

One hotly-tipped candidate who would fit the bill is ex-Glovers’ striker Marcus Stewart, who was assistant manager at Bristol Rovers when Hargreaves had a role at the Memorial Stadium.

Speaking to the club’s YouTube channel, Hargreaves said he expected the arrivals to bring “experience and different ideas.”

He added: “I know them both very well and have worked with them, so that’s another plus to take some of the workload.

They know the size of the club and are looking forward to pre-season and get used to the players and the club.

Stewart, who was part of the Yeovil side which reached the League One play-off final in 2007, was last in the professional game as number two to Darrell Clarke at Walsall, but left by mutual consent after a year saying he did not want to travel from his home in Bristol.

He is presently Head Coach of the Men’s Football team for Maccabi GB which works with the UK’s Jewish community on a range of sporting, educational and well-being activities.

In the interview, Hargreaves also said he had “probably 50 to 100 players” who he was looking at bringing to the club and said he hoped to be able to get “some over the line in the next couple of weeks.”

He said: “Now it’s about getting the right characters in and showing them what this club is about.

We might not be paying the most money, but we have a history and a club and a fan base to offer them which is attractive.

I’m hopeful we can get some over the line in the next couple of weeks, but more often than not it will be late because players leave their options open to the last minute.

I’m hopeful there’s a couple on the horizon.

In recent weeks, the club has announced a number of members of last season’s squad have committed themselves to Huish Park for the coming campaign with midfielder Matt Worthington the latest to do so.

He has been joined by goalkeepers Grant Smith and Max Evans, defenders Max Hunt and Morgan Williams, midfielder Lawson D’Ath and Josh Staunton and forward Tom Knowles, who have also extended their stays.

Only Staunton, who signed a two-year contract, is understood to have committed to staying longer than the 2022/23 campaign, and Hargreaves suggested he would be looking to keep them for longer.

He said: “It signals their intent because they want to stay. Some lads are contracted (for the coming season) and we have to make sure we either tie them down or get the best out of them for their own careers or for us going forward.

There will be a few conversations to have in pre-season but I’ve spoken to most of them and they are committed to the cause so roll on pre-season.

Midfielder Dale Gorman has rejected a new contract offer from Yeovil Town and is one of six players who will leave the club.

Strikers Reuben Reid and Adi Yussuf, full-back Mark Little and the versatile Jordan Barnett and Alex Bradley have been released by new manager Chris Hargreaves, the club confirmed on Friday night.

Dale Gorman. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Winger Charlie Wakefield and midfielder Matt Worthington have both been offered new contracts and are yet to give the club an answer.

The announcement follows confirmation that playmaker Lawson D’Ath has re-signed for the 2022-23 campaign.

Even before the club officially confirmed Little’s exit, League of Wales side Penybont, who also have ex-Glovers’ loanee Shaun MacDonald, announced he would join them next season.

Northern Irishman Gorman made more than 40 appearances last season having joined from Glentoran, linking up with his old Stevenage manager Darren Sarll. It would be little surprised to see the pair reunited at Woking.

Reid and Yussuf managed just 11 goals between them with Yussuf weighing in with eight (including a questionable one in the derby draw with W*ymouth at Huish Park), but neither have impressed.

Barnett is perhaps a surprise name among those listed although he is still presently the subject of an FA charge having allegedly made 138 bets on football matches over a period of more than three years.

The decisions of both Wakefield and Worthington will be closely watched by Glovers’ fans.

 

Players released :
Reuben Reid
Mark Little
Adi Yussuf
Alex Bradley
Jordan Barnett

Remaining under contract or contract extension triggered:
Tom Knowles
Grant Smith
Max Evans
Morgan Williams
Max Hunt

Contracts offered and accepted:
Josh Staunton
Ollie Haste
Toby Stephens
Lawson D’Ath

Contract offers made:
Matt Worthington (awaiting response)
Charlie Wakefield (awaiting response)
Dale Gorman (rejected and will be departing the club)

Yeovil Town have added a further two fixtures to their pre-season schedule with visits to Dorchester Town and Weston-super-Mare planned for the end of July.

Chris Hargreaves’ men will visit the Avenue Stadium on Tuesday 26th July with a trip to north Somerset and Optima Stadium on July 30th.

In full, the pre-season schedule as it stands now is

  • Tuesday 12th July – Taunton Town (away) – 7.45pm kick-off
  • Saturday 16th July – Exeter City (home) – 3pm kick-off
  • Saturday 23rd July – Plymouth Argyle (home) – 3pm kick-off
  • Tuesday 26th July – Dorchester Town (away) – 7pm kick-off
  • Saturday 30th July – Weston-super-Mare (away) – 3pm kick-off

Oddly tickets for the final fixture on this list at Weston-super-Mare will go on sale at 10am on Friday 3rd June – here.

Tickets are priced as follows:

Adult – £9.00
Concession – £6.00
Under 16 – £2.50
Family – £17.00
Under 8 – FREE

Charlie Lee praised his Yeovil Town side for rediscovering their “killer instinct” to complete a double over leaders Stockport County today.

The Glovers’ caretaker boss admitted he had been critical of his side after they failed to put lowly Aldershot Town and W*ymouth to the sword over the Easter period.

Having soaked up pressure for much of the first half, Tom Knowles struck just before the break before Josh Neufville added a second on 55 minutes and then Yeovil managed to hold on for a 2-1 victory.

Charlie Lee.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the match, Lee said: “It did not look like (Stockport) had ten men at the end, they were brave, direct and played good football but we dug in and got the win.

I have criticised the boys for not having that killer instinct you need to win games, we have looked like doing it loads of times but not quite done it, but they got the result today.

He added: “This is the best team in the league and one that would do well in the league above, so they are going to pin you back and they are going to have chances.

“We had to be a bit more defensive and look for counter attacks which we know we are good at and we made them count and could have got a few more.

“They will be disappointed they did not score more, Grant (Smith) made some good saves but we definitely deserved something out of the game, so I was really pleased.”

The boss had special praise for centre-half Max Hunt on his return after more than three months on the sidelines with an ankle injury.

He put in a commanding performance against the visitors’ strike force of ex-Glover Paddy Madden and Scott Quigley, having been brought in to replace Ben Barclay who was unavailable against his parent club.

Lee said: “I’ve got to give a shout out to Hunty who has come back after injury, you are always worried about somebody who has been out for a while, but he headed everything back.

“At this level you are going to do that, especially against a team like Stockport.

“His fitness is good. He’s worked so hard as he always does, so I just hoped he would make it through the 90 minutes because we did not have a natural replacement for him.

“Robbo was the only other option we had on the bench and he’s not had much time either, but they are both ready to play now. Hunty was exceptional.”

Of Luton Town loanee Neufville, he added: “When I see Josh Neufville at his best I am so glad I am retired because I have no interest in playing or training against that guy, he scares the life out of me!

I am just so glad he is playing for me and I don’t have to play against him. He went through and he looked composed, it was a great finish, but they all did their bit today.

The boss also revealed that midfielder Lawson D’Ath, who played 86 minutes before being replaced by Alex Bradley, had not trained all week due to illness.

Charlie Wakefield was missing through illness having missed training, but Lee said: “He will be with the medical staff this week and we are confident he will be back.

It was Lee’s first game with caretaker assistant manager Jody Brown alongside him after he was brought in following his sacking by National League South bottom club, Billericay Town, this week.

Lee added: “It was good to have Jody alongside me. He’s not going to be able to do any help doing any kicking, is he? He is more experienced on matchdays than me, so it is good to have him alongside us.

“He doesn’t know the plays as well as me and (Josh Staunton) and make decisions for me, and he made some today and we’ve got the win.

“I am enjoying it and embracing the opportunity. There’s lots going on, but there’s more opportunities to learn and hopefully we can win whilst I am learning.

Tickets are still available for Yeovil Town’s Easter Monday derby match at W*ymouth – but you only have until 10am if you want one.

On at least two occasions on Easter Sunday, the Terras’ website stopped selling tickets for the Windowman Stand terrace, only for more to come available soon after.

You can buy tickets by visiting the ticketing portal on the Terras’ website – here

Don’t forget it is a 1pm kick-off and there will be NO TICKETS AVAILABLE TO BUY ON THE DAY so if you turn up without a ticket, you’ll have to spend a day by the seaside instead.

If you are heading to the match, don’t forget to check out our Ciderspace Away Travel Guide to W*ymouth, see – here.

Young midfielder Toby Stephens has “a big future” at Yeovil Town and his latest loan spell will help his development, according to manager Darren Sarll.

Toby Stephens claps the Yeovil fans

The 18-year-old has been with Southern League Division One South & West side for the past month alongside Ollie Haste, who has turned out for the first-team in the Somerset Premier Cup and more regularly with the Under-18s.

Sarll confirmed that he will remain with the North Devon side until the end of the current campaign.

He said: “Toby is and is someone we have a long-term interest in. He’s doing great, I speak to (the Barnstaple manager) Craig Laird all the time, we’ve extended it til the end of the season, it gives him the games he would not get.

“I got a not particularly positive report on one game, I made him aware my eyes are everywhere and I’m not prepared to watch him not perform to his optimum.

“There needs to be a pressure on him to perform, he’s a wonderful young player and I hope he has a big future with our club.

Former Yeovil Town striker Kevin Gall has called on supporters from across the South West to fill Huish Park when a Glovers’ Legends side takes on a South West Legends XI in a match in memory of Adam Stansfield.

Gall and co-organiser and Yeovil fan Abby Carter have confirmed the long-awaited match will take place on Saturday, May 14 (kick-off 2pm), the day before the final National League fixture away at Altrincham.

It will raise money in memory of Stansfield, a member of the FA Trophy-winning team of 2002 who died of bowel cancer in 2010 aged just 31.

The game will also be a moment to remember many people who we have lost in recent years including Ciderspace co-founder, Martin ‘Badger’ Baker, captain Lee Collins and former staff members Stuart Housley, Bruce James, Maurice O’Donnell and Tony Trott.

Speaking to the GloverscastGall said: “This game has been two years in the making, it seems like forever but finally we are delighted we have finally got a date.

“Now it we really need everyone’s help to share it far and wide to supporters of Yeovil but all Stanno’s former clubs – Exeter City, Hereford, Elmore, and clubs from across the South West.

“It’s so important we fill Huish Park for Stanno and the unbelievable people we have lost over the last couple of years who dedicated their lives to Yeovil Town.”

He added that in the next few weeks there would be announcements around which players are turning out for both teams with a number from Yeovil’s most successful sides from years gone by expected to turn out.

Gally has also confirmed he will be bringing his boots – and has said he’ll bring back the tramlines if we can raise a good amount for the Adam Stansfield Foundation. That’s the gauntlet being thrown down, folks!

There will also be a match between a Yeovil Town Supporters’ XI and their Exeter City counterparts taking place at 10.30am on the day.

Details of tickets “will be available shortly and all previous agreements and purchases still stand“, the organisers have confirmed.

The game had been scheduled to take place in May 2020 but had to be cancelled due to restrictions around fans being allowed in Huish Park due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Adam Stansfield Foundation was set up to give young people the opportunity to develop life skills and raise awareness of illnesses caused by bowel cancer.

The game had been scheduled to take place in May 2020 but had to be cancelled due to restrictions around fans being allowed in Huish Park due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anyone who is making the long trip to Dover Athletic may want to consider leaving a little more time with the possibility of traffic delays getting in to the Kent coast.

P&O Ferries, which operates ferries between Dover and Calais, announced on Thursday that it was sacking around 800 workers to replace them with overseas labour and there have been reports of security guards trying to board ships with handcuffs to remove staff.

The result has been the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has called on trade unions and the wider public to “mobilise and protest” against P&O.

Dover is to the north of the town and a couple of miles away from the Port of Dover, but given the volume of traffic going in and out of the port there is every chance a few delays could very quickly become a lot of delays.

For everything else you ever wanted to know regarding Dover, visit our Ciderspace Away Travel Guide – here.

Yeovil Town 4 Bristol Rovers 0 – Saturday 13th March 2004

When Yeovil first entered the Football League, there always seemed to be a much more tasty atmosphere to games against Bristol Rovers than Bristol City, never mind Torquay or Swindon or any of the other relatively ‘local’ games we played. Maybe it was because we were seen as upstarts, for many years the little non-league club down the road that they could pat on the head and patronise, but suddenly in 2003 we were promoted and started to get ideas a bit above our station.

Yeovil’s elevation to the Football League came at a very low time for Bristol Rovers, often the poorer cousins of the Bristol clubs. In what is now the Championship as recently as 1993, they spent a few seasons in the third tier before being relegated again to the basement division in 2001. League performances continued to worsen, as they finished 23rd in 2002 only above relegated Halifax Town, and in 2003 escaped by the skin of their teeth, finishing three points above relegation thanks to a run of ten points from their last four games. They were a long way from the club who had been home to so many great strikers down the years, such as Jason Roberts, Barry Hayles and our very own Marcus Stewart. They’ve been a somewhat nomadic club in recent times, leaving Eastville in 1986 to share Twerton Park with Bath for a number of years. They returned to Bristol in 1996 to share the Memorial Stadium with Bristol Rugby Club, which led to the pitch tending to not be in the best of condition when we played them. The rugby club left to share with City at Ashton Gate in 2014, and since then frequent rumours of development or possible relocation to a new stadium have not materialised.

The very old school Ray Graydon had come in to manage in 2002, but was not well liked for his negative brand of football and he was eventually sacked in January 2004, not long after Yeovil won the first ever league meeting between the two sides at the Mem in December. The match that was perhaps not of the highest quality was settled by a moment of brilliance from Nick Crittenden. That wasn’t the first competitive match between the two clubs though, as they had met in the Football League Trophy (at that time sponsored by LDV) in October 2001, during the brief experimentation of inviting Conference clubs to take part. Despite being in the early days of Gary Johnson’s management Yeovil gave the Gas a pretty good game, taking the lead through McIndoe in the first half. Rovers equalised with a penalty conceded by Chris Weale in the second half, before the game went to extra time and penalties. The Glovers did take a surprisingly good set of penalties from Stansfield, Lockwood, Giles (in off the post) and Crittenden, before McIndoe blasted the last one over the bar and Yeovil were out. But it was an entertaining game which gave a good idea of what Yeovil might be up against should they get promoted, at a time when they were very much a work in progress – the next two games were dismal defeats at home to Chester and away at Southport, probably the low point of the season.

By March 2004, Phil Bater was in caretaker charge. Despite being in relative mid-table and having sacked Graydon, Rovers were in terrible form, with only one win in the last ten. Yeovil had been in patchy form since Christmas, with three defeats out of the last four, and were struggling a bit to find the right combination up front to hurt better League Two defences, but on the day were far too strong for the visitors and it was a fairly comfortable win in front of a full house. In a potentially tense atmosphere, nerves were settled early on as a Terry Skiverton shot from a quickly-taken free kick cannoned back off the bar, with the rebound stabbed home by Adam Lockwood. Rovers lost their composure and realistically the game was probably over when midfielder Graham Hyde managed to get himself booked twice in the same incident, first committing a foul on El Kholti, then shoving Lee Johnson, arguing with the ref about the decision and giving a lot of abusive gestures as he was dragged off the pitch, mostly seemingly aimed at Johnson.

Just before half time, Abou El Kholti made it 2-0 with a speculative shot deflected in off Darren Way. Immediately after half time, Gavin Williams made it 3-0 with a goal in front of the away fans. Although he mis-controlled the ball at first from Gall, he showed great composure and skill to dig the ball out under pressure from several defenders and beat the keeper. Towards the end Colin Pluck made it 4-0 with a header from a Paul Terry cross, and made it clear with a universally understood gesture that he could not hear what the Rovers fans were saying to him. If there were any two players who would have enjoyed scoring in front of the away fans, it would have been Williams and Pluck.

The following season, there was more needle to be enjoyed when Rovers employed Ian Atkins, an old adversary of Gary Johnson’s since their days together at Cambridge. The two managers could not possibly be more different – Gary Johnson, who likes to play attractive passing football and treats his players like sons, compared to Ian Atkins who is the kind of manager usually brought in to save teams from relegation and acts like a sullen sergeant major. The rivalry between the two teams intensified as Atkins, fresh from two fairly decent seasons at Oxford, turned Rovers into a much better team who led League Two towards the start of the season. However, disciplinary problems cost them, as the club with the worst disciplinary record in the division racked up the red cards and suspensions, including two – which could, and should, have been more – in an infamous night at the Memorial Stadium in October 2004.

In the much-anticipated return fixture in February 2005, Atkins would accuse Yeovil plays of diving ahead of the game, claiming that nobody likes them and Gary Johnson doesn’t have the ‘bottle’ to get a team promoted, and then on the day was strangely struck down with a mysterious virus and was unable to take charge of the team as they lose heavily again, this time 4-2 as the Glovers consolidated their position at the top of League Two. The whereabouts of Ian Atkins’ bottle remains unknown.

An interesting footnote to the 2004 game is that the starting line-up that day consisted entirely of players who had appeared for Yeovil in the Conference, which was possibly a deliberate move from Johnson who even employed the same 3-4-1-2 formation he had mostly used in that title-winning season, with Lindegaard and El Kholti as wing backs as opposed to the 4-4-2 that the Glovers generally employed in League Two. That they were able to beat a mid-table side so comfortably that they could just pass amongst themselves for the last 30 minutes shows just how far ahead of the Conference his team were.

Since the departures of Gary Johnson and Ian Atkins, the atmosphere between the two clubs has been less fiery, and subsequent meetings have resulted in quite a lot of draws. Low point was probably when Gavin Williams scored the winner against us in a 1-0 Rovers win at Huish Park in 2011, and high point was definitely Terrell Forbes scoring a late winner with his only goal for the club at the Mem in 2009.

Team that day: Steve Collis, Andy Lindegaard (sub. Paul Terry 71), Colin Pluck, Terry Skiverton (sub. Hugo Rodrigues 64), Adam Lockwood, Darren Way, Lee Johnson, Abou El Kholti (sub. Simon Weatherstone 90), Gavin Williams, Kirk Jackson, Kevin Gall. Subs not used: Jon Sheffield, Adam Stansfield

Yeovil Town manager Darren Sarll believes the return to fitness of playmaker Lawson D’Ath has helped change his side’s attacking mentality as they look to find some scoring form.

The Glovers are now the third-lowest scorers in the National League with just 27 goals in 28 matches with only the division’s bottom two, Dover Athletic (21 goals) and King’s Lynn Town (24), having scored fewer.

D’Ath has shown his quality in his first start of the season at Maidenhead United in midweek where he played 62 minutes, having played 68 minutes in the goalless draw at home to Solihull Moors earlier in the month.

Speaking ahead of the weekend’s trip to Chesterfield, Sarll said: “Lawson has been a breath of fresh air and when I talk about us working on the attacking side more, it’s because of Lawson.

“The fact we could re-sign him meant we had a really good attacking, constructive player and he gives us a different feel. That is what squad depth gives you when you can have it.”

Lawson D’Ath talking to the media ahead of the trip to Chesterfield.

D’Ath also faced the media on Friday morning and described his own performance as “average” saying he could have done more in the attacking third.

But, he said that the responsibility for finding more goals had to be a collective one, saying: “You need that responsibility and you take that on, that’s what we’re paid to do. But it’s not just strikers and midfielders, it’s about all areas of the pitch.

The Maidenhead match was the former Reading youngster’s third appearance, having come off the bench on two previous occasions against W*ymouth and Solihull, and he admits it has been a baptism of fire.

Those minutes were his first for nine months having suffered a knee injury in the final game of last season against Stockport County.

D’Ath said: “I want to play as many minutes as I can, it’s about building them back in to my body. I was training for a month but that is not the same as a pre-season when you do a lot of running and hard graft.

“You can’t replicate that and you can’t replicate the build-up of minutes you get in pre-season, so I have had to come in full throttle. It’s going to take a few games to get back to fitness.

Asked whether he felt the Glovers could still make the play-offs this season, he said: “Of course we can, why not? I got through nine months of not being paid and grafting to get back so anything is achievable!”