Latest Yeovil Town News

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In the only goalless encounter of the weekend, Yeovil shared the points with Altrincham on Saturday. Let’s take a look at what happened across the rest of the division.

There were many high-scoring affairs yesterday, none bigger than at Victoria Road, where Dagenham & Redbridge annihilated early league leaders Gateshead in a 7-1 drubbing. Three sets of doubles for Josh Rees, Junior Morias and former Glover Dion Pereira helped fire the Daggers up the table. Across the league, there were five games finishing 3-1, with perhaps the biggest surprise of the set coming at the Shay as FC Halifax Town toppled Eastleigh.

Southend United’s inconsistent start continued with defeat at home to Sutton United, an early John Akinde goal against one of his former employers wasn’t enough for Braintree Town, as they fell to a 3-1 loss away at Barnet, while a potential early relegation six-pointer ended in victory for Tamworth, condemning Maidenhead United to another defeat. The final 3-1 result went in favour of Oldham Athletic, as they took all three points home from Woking.

There were even more goals going in across the league, as York City defeated 10-men AFC Fylde 3-0, the result also spelled the end of Chris Beech’s time in charge of the visitors, becoming the second managerial casualty of the season – a nod as well to Callum Harriott, the former Glover got himself on the scoresheet for the Minstermen. Forest Green Rovers missed the chance to reach the summit of the division in a 2-2 draw at home to Wealdstone, a Callum McFarlane double securing an important point for the visitors.

Tuesday’s visitors Solihull Moors made it two wins in a week, and two away wins at that, as they defeated current playoff contenders Rochdale at Deepdale in a 2-1 win – Boston United and Aldershot Town played out a 1-1 draw, while Ebbsfleet United secured their first win of the season at the ninth attempt, defeating Darren Sarll’s Hartlepool United in a 1-0 win.

National League results – in full

Barnet 3-1 Braintree Town
Boston United 1-1 Aldershot Town
Ebbsfleet United 1-0 Hartlepool United
FC Halifax Town 3-1 Eastleigh
Forest Green Rovers 2-2 Wealdstone
Rochdale 1-2 Solihull Moors
Southend United 1-3 Sutton United
Tamworth 3-1 Maidenhead United
Woking 1-3 Oldham Athletic
Yeovil Town 0-0 Altrincham
York City 3-0 AFC Fylde
Dagenham & Redbridge 7-1 Gateshead

National League table

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Whilst the Glovers were drawing a blank at Huish Park on Saturday, plenty of our loanees were in action out and about.

Four of them were in the FA Cup, which renders them cup-tied for their parent club this season.

We’ll start with Will Buse who made his debut for W*ymouth. 

That lot by the sea beat Sholing 4-1 to progress to the 3rd qualifying round, Buse played the full 90 and was in the thick of it in the early exchanges, making a couple of big saves at 0-0.

 

Next, to another seaside, Weston-super-Mare to be precise.

The Seagulls also booked their place in the next round by beating Wimborne Town 2-0.

Both goals came early on in the game and Dylan Morgan played the full game.

Another team in the hat are Salisbury who beat AFC Stoneham (remember them!?) 7-1.

Jordan Thomas played the full game and was involved in at least one of Ronan Silva’s four goals in the game.

Jordan Thomas in action for Salisbury
PIC CO ThoseWhiteLines

Finally, there was a seven goal thriller down at Plymouth Parkway.

Parkway, with Corey Koerner in their starting line up, were on the right side of a 4-3 scoreline, despite being 2-1 down during the first half at home to Westbury.

Yeovil Town loanee Corey Koerner (L) in action for Plymouth Parkway
PIC C/O Viv Curtis – Tiverton Town

This means that all four loanees are ineligible for Yeovil in this season’s FA Cup.

Right, elsewhere, Street went top of the Western League Premier with a 2-1 win over St Austell.

Jacob Shore and Krystian Woods were both used from bench whilst Sol Padmore was also in the squad.

Mason Alden was in the starting line up for Welton who had a day to forget. They lost 10-0 to Barnstaple.

Young ‘keeper Will Howard kept (another) cleano for Cullompton Rangers, they beat Axminster Town 3-0 to stay top (and unbeaten) in the South West Peninula League East. 

Team sheets from Sherborne & Sturminster Newton are harder to come by, but we’ll edit as information drops.

 

 

 

 

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Pictures courtesy of Gary Brown. Please ask for permission before using.

 

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Yeovil Town on-loan goalkeeper Ollie Wright said today’s goalless draw with Altrincham had to be the base upon which the Glovers build on for the rest of the National League season.

The Southampton youngster kept his second clean sheet of the season and his first of the season at Huish Park in a match his manager Mark Cooper described as the side’s “best all-round performance of the season.”

It may be no coincidence that the clean sheet came following the return to the back four of Alex Whittle, Morgan Williams, Jake Wannell and Michael Smith which had started the season.

Speaking to BBC Somerset reporter Chris Spittles after the match, the 21-year-old said: “That is our base now as a whole group, I thought today was one of our better performances from the nine games we have played and we just have to keep going with some momentum now and hopefully we don’t pick up any more injuries or suspensions.

“That is our bare minimum and we just have to keep going forward. It is a long season ahead of us, so if we play like that every week I think we will be right up there. It was just the final product for us today.”

For Wright, who signed a contract extension at St Mary’s in April before making a season-long move to Huish Park, it was his ninth competitive fixture and only his second shut-out.

He added: “I am buzzing with a clean sheet and it was much needed. I thought in the first half the lads were brilliant and I didn’t really have anything to do, but when you are called upon it is really important to be ready and that is what I train for.

“The Gaffer is trusting me and at my age it is a really good level to be at, so I am just hear to play as much as I can and showcase my skills.“

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Manager Mark Cooper praised the work-rate of his Yeovil Town team as they were held to a goalless draw at home to Altrincham this afternoon.

The hosts came closest to breaking the deadlock at Huish Park when full-back Michael Smith saw his chip come back off the underside of the crossbar in the second half, but it was a fourth blank in front of goal for the Glovers.

Following a disappointing performance in the 1-0 defeat against Solihull Moors four days earlier where Cooper questioned the commitment of his players, the boss was far happier with their endeavour against Altrincham.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Chris Spittles after the game, the boss said: “I thought we looked solid, aggressive, I think that is the best all-round performance we have given this season. I asked for a performance and I thought first half we were really good, we controlled large parts of the game and picked the right times to play forward. The only bit that was missing was a little bit of quality when we got one-v-one in the wide areas to create that chance on goal.

“As a team we defended really well, but that output and effort has to be a minimum for us. If we had played like that against Solihull the other night we would have won the game. It is pretty sobering for the boys, they can see that if they do give everything, we can more than match an Altrincham side which was in the play-offs in this division last season.

“The work-rate, the effort was just incredible, the boys covered 13-14k today and that has to be the minimum for us and if we can do that every game we will be a match for a lot of teams.”

Sonny Blu Lo-Everton. {Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Sonny Blu Lo-Everton was handed his first start of the new season and came close to opening the scoring early in the first half when he warmed the palms of visiting keeper Ethan Ross, and Cooper was pleased with the mobility of his midfield.

He said: “We set up a little differently with three midfield players. We wanted mobility in the middle of the pitch and we one a lot of those one-v-one duels.

“We wanted energy and mobility today, we knew it was going to be a running game today and the midfield players all brought that. It is important we have that in them midfield.

“The players have given everything, covered a lot of distance, won a few duels and looked really solid and that is a start for us. We have lost four, won three and drawn one now and that is a really good clean sheet for us and we just have to add that bit of quality now. I thought we played forward well at times and picked the right times to break forward.”

A fantastic run and chip from Smith with 76 minutes gone was the closest either side came to breaking the deadlock and Cooper was full of praise for the Northern Irishman who he described as “a fantastic professional.”

He revealed the full-back, who turned 36 earlier this month, had been suffering with dizziness at half-time which eventually led to him being substituted with a minute of normal time remaining.

The manager said: “He was a bit dizzy at half-time but he wanted to stay on and I think that run and shot finished him off! It was just a shame it did not drop under the crossbar, that would have given us a deserved three points.”

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Yeovil Town put in an improved performance to record their first draw of the new season at home to Altrincham on Saturday.

The Glovers came closest to breaking the deadlock in the second half when Michael Smith’s chip came back off the crossbar although in truth it was the visitors who looked in control after the break.

It was an improvement on the midweek defeat to Solihull Moors and another point on the board for the home side who now head back on the road with visits to Oldham Athletic and Sutton United in their next two matches.

 

First half

Manager Mark Cooper made three changes to the starting XI from the midweek 1-0 home defeat to Solihull Moors with Morgan Williams, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton and Josh Sims coming in for Dom Bernard, Brett McGavin and Frank Nouble. The dropped trio only fell as far as the substitutes’ bench.

Lo-Everton showed his intent within six minutes of the match getting underway. A nice bit of passing and moving from Yeovil picked out the midfielder who dropped his shoulder, beat his man and fired in a venomous right-footed shot which Ethan Ross beat away.

At the other end Regan Linney fired one over before a Matt Worthington cross was towards Aaron Jarvis who got a glancing header on it, but the last touch appeared to come from Altrincham captain James Jones. Inexplicably it was given as a goal kick.

There was a good battle forming between visiting winger Justin Amaluzor and Glovers’ full-back Alex Whittle in the opening 20 minutes. Whittle was definitely enjoying the better of it to start with, but the wideman forced a foul out of Charlie Cooper in a dangerous position and Alex Newby fired the resulting free-kick wide of goal.

Linney tried his luck from the halfway line having spotted Wright off his line on 26 minutes, but the keeper looked fairly comfortable have back-peddled a bit.

Referee Lee Swabey is definitely one we are going to have to invoke Rule #1 for. Sam Pearson’s cross is clearly put out of play by an Alty player and the man in black gives it as a goal kick for the second time. If you’re wondering, Rule #1 of the Gloverscast – don’t moan about National League referees, they’re all useless. Fair to say the Thatcher’s Stand did not stick to that rule.

The biggest cheer of the afternoon came on the 33 minute mark when the referee finally awarded a corner to the home side. Jarvis rose highest to meet Cooper’s ball in at the far post, but he could not get enough contact on it.

There’s definitely a more solid look to the Yeovil defence today. The return of Morgan Williams, who did play the second half of the defeat to Solihull on Tuesday night, has reunited the back four of Whittle, Williams, Wannell and Smith which was the mainstay of last season’s success in National League South.

In midfield, both Sonny and Matt Worthington are playing almost in the ‘number ten’ position with Cooper the deeper lying midfielder. That led to quicker movement in attacking positions than we saw four days earlier and Sonny was definitely showing his quality with Yeovil ending the first half better.

Jarvis was utterly convinced there was a handball inside the Altrincham box as the game entered first half injury time before Whittle’s left-footed shot was blocked by a defender before Jarvis headed comfortably in to the hands of Ethan Ross before the half-time whistle sounded.

A huge improvement on the Solihull game on Tuesday night. There was a spell where Altrincham showed some good stuff, but it’s been Yeovil who have had the better chances in that first half.

 

Half time: Yeovil Town 0 Altrincham 0

Second half

The visitors made their intentions known from the off as they made the brighter start with Amalazour having an effort blocked by Michael Smith with the before Wright had to get down quickly to keep out Tom Crawford’s effort. The first save of note for Wright so far this afternoon within a minute of the restart.

Linney flashed another one past the post seconds later and Altrincham are definitely showing their intent in the opening exchanges of the second half.

On 55 minutes, the visitors had the ball in the back of the net. Linney broke away after the visitors found themselves in a three on three position following a forward foray from Jarvis, he forced Wright in to a save and Alex Newby was on hand to tap in the rebound. Luckily the linesman’s flag was up.

Just after the hour mark, Linney forced another stop out of Wright following a blistering break forward by Alamazour who evaded tackles from Whittle and Williams, the ball broke to Linney whose shot was superbly saved by the ‘keeper. Oddly, referee Swabey appeared to book Charlie Cooper – who had already been booked in the first half.

A bit of post-match detective work from Gloverscast Ben suggests the first booking after 20 minutes was actually for Altrincham’s Justin Amalazour. For what, we do not know.

With 65 minutes gone, Mark Cooper made his first change with Frank Nouble replacing Josh Sims.

Three minutes later, Worthington cut inside and shot just over the bar, but the energy levels were dropping for both sides on a warm afternoon. 

A moment of magic from Michael Smith almost gave Yeovil the lead with 76 minutes gone. Having won the ball in midfield, he drove forward with Jarvis alongside him, spotted Ross fractionally off the line and attempted the chip which came back off the crossbar and hit Ross. So unlucky and the closest either side has come to breaking the deadlock.

That signalled two changes in the Yeovil forward line as Brett McGavin and Jordan Young replaced Lo-Everton and Sam Pearson. That meant Young down the right, Nouble down the left with Jarvis through the middle.

Cooper hit one over the bar with nine minutes of normal time remaining before McGavin hit a low one which Ross collected comfortably. 

There was a worrying moment with a minute left when Michael Smith came off to be replaced by Dom Bernard, but the reaction of the veteran full-back was the biggest concern. He did not look happy. 

With three minutes of injury time played, Nouble showed great strength to get away but he dragged his shot wide with Jarvis and Young both in arguably better positions.

Full time: Yeovil Town 0 Altrincham 0

Match Details

Venue: Huish Park
Date: Saturday 14th September – 15:00

Competition: National League Premier

Pitch:  Still looking good
Conditions: A glorious autumn day

Attendance: 2,838 (91 away supporters)

Scorers: None.

Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Charlie Cooper 61, Michael Smith 82
Altrincham: Justin Amalazour 20.

Referee: Lee Swabey

Yeovil Town (4-2-3-1)

Substitutes:  Frank Nouble (for Josh Sims, 65), Brett McGavin (for Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, 76), Jordan Young (for Sam Pearson, 78), Dom Bernard (for Michael Smith, 89) Finn Cousin-Dawson (not used), Matt Gould (not used).

Altrincham: Ethan Ross, Lewis Banks, Jake Cooper, Elliott Osborne, Regan Linney (for Kahrel Reddin, 87), Alex Newby (for Matty Kosylo, 87), Justin Amaluzor, Liam Humbles (for Joe Nuttall, 77), James Jones, Tom Crawford, Tylor Golden.

Substitutes (not used):  Remi Thompson, Eddie Jones, Jake Bickerstaff, Harvey Randle.

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Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper is hoping three changes to his starting XI will freshen up his side to turn in a performance following the disappointment in midweek against Solihull Moors.

The boss has brought defender Morgan Williams and midfielders Sonny Blu Lo-Everton and Josh Sims back in to the line-up for the visit of Altrincham to Huish Park, with Dom Bernard, Brett McGavin and Frank Nouble dropping to the bench.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Chris Spittles ahead of kick-off, he said: “We played a really tough, emotional, dramatic game last Saturday (in a 4-3 win at AFC Fylde) and then we were flat on Tuesday night (against Solihull Moors), so we are just trying to freshen it up.

“Frank has played 100-odd minutes in both of those games, so he will need to be ready for 25-30 minutes today, the same with Brett. We have five outfield players there and there is an opportunity to change it.”

Glovers’ goalkeeping coach Matt Gould, who is named on the substitutes’ bench at Huish Park, faces his old employers for the first time since swapping Greater Manchester for South Somerset in the summer.

Asked whether he had brought any inside knowledge of the opposition, Cooper added: “He knows how they play and what they might do, but we have to concentrate on us and what we do. If we play like we did the other night, we would not beat a team in a local park! So we have to be on the front foot, we need to turn in a performance today.“