Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 19)

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Another game of two halves saw Yeovil Town come away with nothing from Woking as a first half strike from Harry Beautyman sunk the Glovers in Surrey.

The home side were in total control during the first half and could have been ahead before Aaron Drewe cut in from the right flank to pick out the experienced Beautyman inside the area and he stroked his side in to the lead.

Yeovil came out for the second half showing an intensity and intent to go forward which had been lacking in the opening 45 minutes and caused problems for the opening 15 minutes. Perhaps the best chance came eight minutes from time when a thunderous free-kick from Brett McGavin was superbly denied by Will Jaaskelainen.

The gap to the National League Premier Division relegation places now stands at just four points, albeit with a game in hand over the five teams below Yeovil, with one of those sides, Morecambe, coming to Huish Park on Saturday for what feels like a real six pointer.

First half

There was a blow for Woking early on as they lost midfielder Roy Syla with an injury after just nine minutes. He was replaced by substitute Tim Akinola.

With ten minutes gone, Yeovil had a bit of good fortune when Brett McGavin handled on the edge of the area according to referee Richie Watkins, there were plenty in the Woking side who thought it could have been just inside. Jake Forster-Caskey bent one in and Jed Ward did what Jed Ward does and pulled off a great save to keep the chance out and push it away from danger.

Yeovil Town’s pre-match huddle at Woking. Picture courtesy of Ollie Marsh.

With 17 minutes, Aaron Jarvis, who only needed to get through this game without a booking to reset his four yellow cards, got a yellow card for tangling with Timi Odusina. That will see him miss the home game with Morecambe at the weekend.

Moments later, a ball in to the box and Harry Beautyman fired in a shot which the in-form Olly Sanderson tried to flick past Ward, but the keeper was able to collect it. Then Matthew Ward got past Josh Sims down the left side and the ball landed at the feet of Beautyman who fired over the bar. Another big let-off for Yeovil.

On 27 minutes, a beautiful ball from McGavin picked out Josh Sims in space down the right side and he flashed a shot across the face of goal where Jarvis could not quite get a touch. Good move from Yeovil, need to do more of that.

Despite that chance, the first half-an-hour had been Woking’s and they took the lead with 30 minutes on the clock. Aaron Drewe cut in from the right side with ease and picked out Harry BEAUTYMAN who was able to stroke it home with ease. Immediately after the goal, Yeovil boss Billy Rowley called his side over for some instructions.
The Glovers were being pulled apart in wide positions and just three minutes after they suffered on the right, they suffered on the left as Sanderson found space on the edge of the box and laid it back to Beautyman who pulled his effort wide. Another big chance. You just feel Woking are sensing blood here.
The half-time whistle was a relief to everyone in green-and-white. The first 15 minutes was a little more even, but Yeovil will be pleased it is only 1-0 to the home side. It could (should?) have been more and we have not asked enough questions in to the Woking back line.

Half time: Woking 1 Yeovil Town 0

Second half

Was there a Rowley rocket at half-time? Whatever was said, Yeovil came out looking much brighter from the start. Two minutes after the restart former Card James Daly burst forward and looked to curl a shot in to the top corner, it took a deflection off two Woking defenders and Will Jaaskelainen had to stretch to tip it wide for a corner. From the resulting flag kick, the ball dropped to Jarvis inside the box but his effort went wide.

In the opening three minutes there was intensity, desire and intent to put the first half performance to shame. This is what we need more of. On 53 minutes, Woking showed that they still have plenty of threat. Joe Gbode got away down the left, cut inside and found Ward at the near post and he shot wide and three minutes later a corner flashed across the face of Jed Ward’s goal and mercifully there was no-one to turn it in at the back post.

Second half action inside the Woking area. Picture courtesy of Ollie Marsh.
With 65 minutes gone, Terrell Works replaced Harvey Greenslade, who had not really got in to the game. A bit of pace and trickery from the young Fulham loanee being looked to to try and re-inject the energy which had dropped a little after the first ten minutes.
On 68 minutes, Daly got a ball across the face of goal but neither Jarvis or Works looked like they were getting close to being in the position for a touch. You just get a feeling there is something else in this game – either an equaliser, or Woking will get a second goal to kill the contest.
Eight minutes from time, Works was brought down on the edge of the box in McGavin territory. That man stepped up and hammered in a fantastic shot which was matched by an equally fantastic shot from Jaaskelainen to push it out but neither Jarvis or Kyle Ferguson got get enough to turn home the rebound.
Millar Matthews-Lewis and Troy Perrett were thrown on in the closing stages. We need to just go for it and, in an effort to keep spirits high, someone (some weapon) in the away end let off a green pyro. Goodness me.
On two occasions, Terrell works showed the the pace and trickery which he was introduced to bring, but on both occasions he failed to find a team-mate. There was an agonising moment when McGavin’s free-kick was met by the head of Jarvis but flashed across the face of goal.
It was a much better performance in the second half than the first, the exact alternate of last weekend’s defeat at Boston. There was applause from the 436 fans who travelled to support their team at the final whistle, but it’s the same number of points heading back to Somerset.

Full time: Woking 1 Yeovil Town 0

Match Details

Venue: Kingfield
Date: Tuesday 17th March, 7:45pm kick-off

Competition: National League Premier Division

Scorers: Harry Beautyman 30 (0-1),

Pitch: “Alright, not great” – Billy Rowley, pre-match. He was being generous.
Conditions: Cold

Attendance: XXXX (436 away supporters)

Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Aaron Jarvis 17, Jake Wannell 67, Alex Whittle 83
Woking: Tim Akinola 28, Aaron Drewe 82

Referee: Richie Watkins

Yeovil Town

Substitutes: Terrell Works (for Harvey Greenslade, 65), Millar Matthews-Miller (for Alex Whittle, 83), Troy Perrett (for Kyle Ferguson, 90), Joy Mukena (not used), Jaydon Biss (not used), Ollie Hughes (not used), Matt Gould (not used).

Woking: Will Jaaskelainen, Aaron Drewe, Chinwike Okoli, Timi Odusina, Caleb Richards, Roy Syla (for Tim Akinola, 9), Jake Forster-Caskey (for Jamie Andrews, 46), Matt Ward (for Kian Pennant, 84), Olly Sanderson, Harry Beautyman (for Tunji Akinola, 68), Joseph Gbode (for Tariq Hinds, 84).

Substitutes (not used): Dale Gorman, Craig Ross.

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Yeovil Town manager Billy Rowley said he is hoping that injury and illness to midfielder Dakari Mafico and defender Joy Mukena will allow his side to play a more simple game as they take on Woking tonight.

Cardiff City loanee Mafico has returned to his parent club for treatment on an Achilles injury whilst Mukena woke up on Tuesday morning suffering from flu and is only among the substitutes in Surrey.

The lack of depth in the Glovers’ squad is underlined by the appearance of the ill defender alongside two under-18s players, defender Jaydon Biss and midfielder Ollie Hughes, for a fixture where Yeovil are looking to pick up much needed league points.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Josh Perkins ahead of kick-off, Rowley said: “We have simplified how we are going to do things and I really feel the boys are in a good place and the reaction (to the defeat at Boston) has been positive, obviously it means nothing as we have got to go out there and deliver and run and fingers crossed that at 10pm it has been a good night for us.

“We are going to defend in a back four when we are out of possession. Joy (Mukena) has woken up with the flu, so we only have three recognised centre backs although Finn (Cousin-Dawson) is going to be playing in midfield tonight. We are low on numbers at the minute and injury and illness has not been too kind to us, but the changes might be a good thing to reset a couple of ideas and principles and we have made the game plan a little easier tonight.”

Dakarai Mafico has returned to Cardiff City for treatment. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown

The Glovers go in to the fixture seven points adrift of the National League Premier Division relegation places, albeit with at least one game in hand of every team below them, and looking to turn around back-to-back defeats and get the necessary points to survive.

Asked if he was confident they could do it, Rowley said: “I am confident. We have had a very turbulent season, I say ‘we’, I have only been here three months, but the lads have had a turbulent season. I am the fourth manager which has stood here and probably bored people every week, but it has been a very tricky season. It is not easy having four different managers and being asked to do four different things, play multiple different shapes, those are not excuses, that is facts and reality. No successful team in world football would have that and we need to fight for every point we can and we are going to do that. I am confident we will do that and hopefully get a decent time to rest, reset and come back for what I am sure will be a much better season next season.”

The manager also revealed that Mafico had been forced to turn down the chance to link up with Wales’ Under-21s squad due to the injury.

He said: “Dak has got tendonitis in his Achilles. Sadly for us, we heard a few days ago that he was going to be missing for three games due to a Wales (Under-21s) call-up which is great for him, sad for us. Injury has kept him out of that international call-up, so he has gone back to Cardiff for the next week and, as much as it would have been great for him to go on an international camp, he was going to miss three games for us. It might mean now if we can help him with this Achilles problem, he might only miss two games for us.“

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There is no Cardiff City loan midfielder Dakari Mafico for Yeovil Town as they take on Woking in Surrey tonight (7.45pm kick-off).

The youngster, who manager Billy Rowley said suffered “a slight knock” in the 2-1 defeat at Boston United on Saturday, is missing from the Glovers’ squad.

Finn Cousin-Dawson replaces him in midfield with striker Harvey Greenslade and winger James Daly also handed starts whilst defender Joy Mukena, who has a hamstring injury, and on loan Fulham attacker Terrell Works also on the bench.

There is also a place among the substitutes for youngsters defender Jaydon Biss and midfielder Ollie Hughes.

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It’s off to the Home Counties on Tuesday night as Yeovil Town take on Woking under the lights in the rescheduled fixture.

FORM…

YEOVIL TOWN

The past couple of games have probably been the worse under Billy Rowley with two poor showings in defeats to both Scunthorpe United and Boston United. Last time out was another Jekyll and Hyde performance, playing well for the first half and making ourselves look like part timers in the second 45, ultimately losing 2-1 to Boston.

The Glovers looked decent after Aaron Jarvis decided to be a striker and score a goal. But once Boston got back into the game through Jake Rooney they slowly took control. Then Yeovil old boy Jordy Hiwula bagged the winner to put claim the three points. In fact the Lincolnshire side should have probably won by more.

Yeovil vs Boston.

WOKING

The Cardinals have been in some good form recently, going unbeaten over their previous four games. In their most recent game, they were by far and away the dominant side winning 4-1 away to Brackley Town (we know how hard that can be). Those four goals carry on the great goalscoring form The Cards have been in recent times too, with 11 goals in the last five games.

Woking sit six places above the Glovers in the league, and haven’t lost at home since the 30th December.

KEY PLAYERS…

YEOVIL TOWN – RYAN JONES

I picked out jones a couple of games ago due to him picking up the slack of some of our strikers. And although he hasn’t scored since for a coupe of games, he is still making an impact.

It was the 23-year-old’s double act with Josh Sims that looked most dangerous against Boston. With the two combining multiple times and always looking a threat. Although their endeavour may have not resulted in a goal, it’s encouraging to see some link up play and the beginnings of pairing that may rival that of Ant and Dec.

WOKING – OLLY SANDERSON

It seems that every club in the league has a striker that finds the back of the net on a regular basis and Woking are no different. The Surrey sides goal threat comes in the shape of the 6ft Olly Sanderson, who is on loan from Fulham. Even at 22-years-old Sanderson has been exposed to a fair bit of senior football, with loans at Oxford City, Sutton, Bradford and Harrogate. This is however his best in terms of scoring with 12 goals to date.

In his last game against Brackley, the striker did bag two goals to add to his season tally.

THE GAFFER…

It’s a bit of a weird one this weekend with three players also taking charge. After Neal Ardley was sacked at the beginning of the month back up keeper Craig Ross has taken charge with his support team being that of two former Glovers Dale Gorman and Jake Hyde.

This is Ross’ first foray into management and it’s fair to say it’s gone well. Since taking over at the beginning of the month, the 36-year-old has overseen the four game unbeaten run and 11 goals scored. Will it be more of the same on Tuesday night.

LAST TIME WE MET…

Games against Woking have been quite fruitful for the Glovers in recent seasons, having not lost since 2023. When the two sides met back in September at Huish Park, Yeovil won 1-0 thanks to a very late goal from Luke McCormick.

It was in November of 2024 when the Glovers last traveled to the Kingfield Stadium. That day goals from Brett McGavin (and what a goal it was) and Finn Cousin-Dawson sealed the win.

The last time we faced Woking at the Kingfield.

DON’T I KNOW YOU…

The Cards love a former Glover, with three of them in the playing squad.

Jamie Andrews will be a name that may resonate with fans as the defender was on loan at Huish Park from West Brom back in 22/23, playing eight games.

Jamie Andrews playing for YEOVIL TOWN
Jamie Andrews. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Who remembers Dale Gorman? I know you all do thanks to writing himself into Yeovil history for that penalty against the team that shall not be named. The Northern Irishman came to Somerset in 2021 and played 43 games across his one season at Huish Park.

Dale Gorman scores his penalty vs Weymouth
Dale Gorman scores his penalty vs Weymouth
Credit: Weymouth Flickr

The final man that travelling Glovers will recognise is striker Jake Hyde. The 35-year-old dovetailed with Rhys Murphy back in 2023/24. In his 21 games he scored five goals on the way to the National League South title.

Jake Hyde, appeared after 70 minutes on Tuesday night.
Picture courtesy of Iain Morland.

THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE…

Richie Watkins will be the man with the whistle on Saturday afternoon. For more on him and his team read Ben’s article here.

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Yeovil Town manager Billy Rowley has said he is still looking to boost his squad with further first-team members carrying knocks in to Tuesday night’s trip to Woking.

The Glovers added striker Millar Matthews-Lewis on loan from Burton Albion last Friday and the boss admitted he is continuing to hammer the phone in a bid to strengthen further.

He revealed that on loan midfielder Dakari Mafico is carrying “a slight knock” and central defender Joy Mukena had a hamstring issue following the 2-1 loss at Boston United on Saturday.

Asked on Monday whether he hoped to add to his squad further, Rowley said: “Behind the scenes we’re working literally 24/7. The phone doesn’t stop ever, trying to find the right players, trying to find players that can help this current squad. We’ve lost a lot of players in recent months for a variety of reasons: injury, transfers, people having to almost even retire from football.

“We’re thin at the moment, we’re not as deep as we want to be, so we are looking, but in mid-March it is so difficult to find players. So we’re just going to keep working on that and see what we can do.“

Dale Gorman is part of a three-man caretaker management team at Woking alongside former Glover Jake Hyde and former Cards’ keeper Craig Ross. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The trip to Woking pits the Glovers, who have lost their last two National League Premier Division fixtures, against a side which unbeaten in their last four matches under the caretaker charge of a management team including former Yeovil players, Dale Gorman and Jake Hyde.

The Cards have an in-form striker in loanee striker Olly Sanderson who has five goals in his last four matches having joined from Premier League Fulham, where Rowley coached earlier in his career and the Glovers’ boss is well aware of his talents.

He said: “We’re going to have to just be the best version of us (to get anything from this game). We’re going to go out and work on some out-of-possession stuff (in training) today to really understand how and when to get the ball back. Then when we’ve got it, we’ve got to be good, but I do feel like there’s spells in games where we are looking good in possession and we are getting to the other team’s final third quite often. We just obviously need to capitalise on that and start scoring some goals.“

Striker Matthew-Lewis managed 12 goals for Hemel Hempstead Town in National League South in the first half of this season, earning him a move to the EFL with Burton, but has not played since the end of January. The 21-year-old appeared as an 78th-minute substitute in the defeat at Boston United.

Rowley said: “With Miller, it’s just going to be about trying to get him up to speed. You have got to make decisions with new players, if you throw them in from the start of the game when the game is fast and they’re not fully match fit, they’re obviously likely to blow up quite early. Or you bring in players when the game’s a bit slower and tired legs, it’s probably more suited for that to him at the moment. But look, team hasn’t been picked for tomorrow. We need to continue looking into Woking and how we’re going to attack them, so we’ll see if he gets a start (on Tuesday).“

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Yeovil Town Women failed to reach the final of this season’s Somerset County Cup, losing 5-2 away at Keynsham.

The Glovers drew first blood at the AJN Stadium when Lily McNally latched onto a ball over the top from Jodi Cornwall, expertly lobbing the keeper.

But the hosts equalised less than ten minutes later. Emily Hall made a good save initially, but Ciera Lundy tapped home the rebound.

Dave Court’s side regained the advantage when Cornwall rose highest in the box to head home from a corner with five minutes left of the half.

There was still time for the K’s to go into the break ahead. There wasn’t much Hall could do about Mia Mugford’s sublime finish or Abigail Todd’s stunning curling effort, as the hosts snatched the lead for the first time.

Mugford completed her hat-trick in the second half – first volleying from the edge of the box, before finding the net again late on with an angled drive that flew past Hall.

Yeovil’s next match is currently scheduled to take place on Sunday 29th March, when they travel to Appledore in the South West Regional Football League (2pm kick-off).

OppositionKick OffH/ACompetitionScoreLocationScorers
September
07.09.2025Wells City FC14:00AFA Cup1-6Wells City FCDavenport '11, Childs '30, OG '64, McNally '70, Hunt '85 & '92
14.09.2025Appledore14:00HLeague6-0YTCST Centre at AlvingtonMcNally '5, '20, '86, Hunt '53, '65, '83
21.09.2025Saltash Utd14:00AFA Cup0-2Saltash UnitedHunt '61, McNally '74
28.09.2025Feniton14:00HLeague2-0YTCST Centre at AlvingtonDavenport '21, Hunt '33
October
05.10.2025Winchester Flyers14:00AFA Cup1-0Winchester FC
19.10.2025Wells City FC14:00HLeague4-0YTCST Centre at AlvingtonMcNally '11, '47, Davenport '19, Miles '69
November
02.11.2025Weston-super-Mare 14:00ALeague1-2Optima StadiumSimmons '10, Cornwal, '65
09.11.2025Feniton14:00HLeague1-0YTCST Centre at AlvingtonCornwall '44
23.11.2025W*ymouth14:00ACupWalkover VictoryBob Lucas Stadium
30.11.2025Wells City14:00ALeague2-1Wells City FCMcNally '59
December
07.12.2025Weston-super-Mare14:00HLeague1-2YTCST Centre at AlvingtonCornwall '32
14.12.2025Appledore14:00ALeague0-4Marshford, AppledoreMcNally '53, '85. Ealson-Taylor '56, Davenport '83
January
No Fixtures Played -------
February
08.02.2026Wells City14:00A* League0-6Wells City FC
* Played at Huish Park 3G		McNally '2, '34, '45 '85,
OG '43,
Davenport '90
22.02.2026Weston-super-Mare14:00HCup2-3Huish Park 3GHodge '25, Cornwall '48
March
08.03.2026Wells City14:00HCup5-0Huish Park 3GMiles '20, Cornwall '26, '71 McNally '39, '43
15.03.2026Keynsham Town14:00ACup5-2The AJN StadiumMcNally '11, Cornwall '37
29.03.2026Appledore14:00ALeague0-3Marshford, AppledoreCornwall '12, Miles '30, McNally '89
April
26.04.26Feniton14:00ALeague1-4Feniton Playing FieldsCornwall '9, Cheeseman '52, Perham '69, '77
May
03.05.2026Weston-super-Mare14:00ALeague1-1The Optima StadiumEast '45

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Yeovil Town head to Woking this midweek, with Richie Watkins taking charge of the game.

We haven’t had Watkins in the middle of one of our games for a little while – not since March 2023 to be precise. He took charge of a 1-0 home defeat Bromley.

He only booked ‘keeper Grant Smith on the day but it was a game with a little bit of spice to it.

A month prior, he also took charge of a 2-0 defeat to Maidenhead.

He’s been in the middle for 19 games this season, across six different leagues and cup competitions, 69 yellow cards, nine reds and three penalties have been awarded.

His assistants are Dean Treleaven and Isabel Chaplin with Dan Bonneywell on fourth official duties.

Woking FC (First Team) v Yeovil Town FC (First Team)
National League – Premier
Referee: Watkins, Richie
Assistant Referee: Treleaven, Dean
Assistant Referee: Chaplin, Isabel
Fourth Official: Bonneywell, Daniel

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80 travelling Yeovil fans were left disappointed after the Glovers saw Aaron Jarvis’ opener cancelled out by two Boston goals. Here are Ollie’s five sad conclusions from Lincolnshire.

It’s that old cliché again… We’ve been saying it a lot lately – and Alex Whittle said it post-match too – but it really was a game of two halves. Yeovil looked relatively in control and composed on the ball in the first 45, and looked dangerous going forward on a few occasions. After the break, it was a different story – with the Glovers unable to build anything of note and having to deal with pretty much one-way traffic from Boston. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what causes the second-half drop off, but whether it’s a lack of fitness, a lack of options from the bench, or an inability to adapt when our opposition turn the screw, it’s incredibly frustrating.

Ryan Jones and Josh Sims formed a good double act. Aside from Aaron Jarvis’ bolt from the blue that put us ahead, most of our dangerous moments in the first-half came from Jones and Sims’ good work down the right. The two were very much on the same wavelength, linking up well on a number of occasions, with Sims in particular causing trouble. Jones has been at the heart of a lot which has been good in recent weeks and it was a shame to see him taken off on the hour mark. Although Sims still showed endeavour, he wasn’t as effective without his mate.

We should have lost by more. Make no mistake about it, although there was only a goal in it, the hosts had more than enough clear cut chances to put the game out of sight – and they probably should have taken them. In-form Tom Cursons had two showdowns with Jed Ward – the first saw him round the keeper only for Kyle Ferguson to slide in heroically on the line, and the second saw our number one manage to get down not once, not twice, but three times to stop Cursons from slotting home. Despite riding our luck at one end, we did little to take advantage at the other – even the introduction of new striker Millar Matthews-Lewis with 15 minutes remaining did little to shake things up.

I’m not going to blame James Daly. The substitute may have given away possession in the lead-up to Boston’s winning goal, but he was surrounded by three yellow shirts with no teammate within 15 yards of him – it wasn’t the first time he had battled away for balls only to have no support to help him out. And of course, when you look back at the replay of the goal, it’s hard to see much determination to win the ball back as Boston break.

We’re putting pressure on ourselves here. We may have ended the day still seven points clear of the drop zone, but the longer we go without getting the points required for survival, the more precarious our position will seem. Results at the weekend went our way and we have a fairly favourable run-in all things considered, including games against three of the current bottom four. What a shame it will be if those games mean something by the time they come around. Anyone see how Tuesday night’s opponents Woking got on today by the way? If you didn’t, maybe try not to look.