One match postponed on Tuesday and Saturday is looking at best, a bit damp.
Still, that won’t stop us from chatting all things Yeovil Town. Ben and Dave are joined by FGCQC Rob Manley to talk about the weather…
We continue with the theme of debutants in recent Yeovil Town games with the first ever appointment of Matthew McQuillan to officiate a Glovers game. By the looks of his record, it’s also the first time he’s taken charge of a Woking game too.
His season list and all time appearance record shows a huge preference to Northern sides, with games in Gateshead, Altrincham and Halifax in the books this season. He’s only refereed as far south as the Tamworth Lamb Ground.
Four national league games has seen him brandish 13 yellows, two reds (both in the same game between Tamworth and Eastleigh) and four penalties. We won’t hold his record against him though, his man bun on the other hand…
Thomas Holden and Damith Bandara are his assistants, Adam Merchant is the fourth official.
Woking FC (First Team) v Yeovil Town FC (First Team)
National League – Premier
Referee: McQuillan, Matthew
Assistant Referee: Holden, Thomas
Assistant Referee: Bandara, Damith
Fourth Official: Merchant, Adam
Tuesday night’s game between Yeovil Town and Aldershot has been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
The match official, Richie Watkins was called to inspect the surface at 4:45pm at deemed the surface unplayable.
A new date will be announced in due course, with the club saying that any tickets purchased for the original date will still be valid for the new one.
The Glovers travel to Woking on Saturday before heading to either Hornchurch or Telford the week after, meaning, that unless this one gets rearranged before then, our next home game is not until Valentines Day when Rochdale come to town for a 3pm kick off.
We don’t want to dwell on this one too much, so we won’t!
Dakarai Mafico has won back to back Gloverscast Man of the Match votes following the 2-1 defeat to Brackley on Saturday.
Only 80 votes were cast, but the Cardiff loanee still picked up the majority of those after also impressing on debut against Alvechurch.
There was a fair share of votes behind him, with 14 different players represented by at least one vote.
| DATE | OPPONENT | RESPONSES | 1ST (Votes / Percent) | 2ND (Votes / Percent) | 3RD (Votes / Percent) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August | |||||
| 09.08.2025 | HARTLEPOOL (Home, 0-0 draw) | 172 | JED WARD (52 / 32.4%) | Morgan Williams (44 / 25.6%) | Jake Wannell (22 / 12.8%) |
| 16.08.2025 | FOREST GREEN (Away, 2-0 loss) | 87 | JED WARD (39 / 44.8%) | Byron Pendleton (16 / 18.4%) | Morgan Williams (11 / 12.6%) |
| 20.08.2025 | BRACKLEY TOWN (Home, 2-1 win) | 153 | JED WARD (89 / 58.2%) | Josh Sims (23 / 15%) | Tahvon Campbell (14 / 9.2%) |
| 23.08.2025 | BRAINTREE TOWN (Away, 1-0 loss) | 71 | JED WARD (29 / 40.8%) | Josh Sims (15 / 21.1%) | James Plant (7 / 9.9%) |
| 25.08.2025 | GATESHEAD (Home, 4-3 loss) | 174 | HARVEY GREENSLADE (65 / 37.4%) | Junior Morias (59 / 33.9%) | Josh Sims (23 / 13.2%) |
| 30.08.2025 | HALIFAX (Away, 3-2 loss) | 93 | JOSH SIMS (36 / 38.7%) | Harvey Greenslade (29 / 31.2%) | Junior Morias (13 / 14%) |
| AUGUST PLAYER OF THE MONTH | 🥇 JED WARD (12 PTS, 3 MOTM) | 🥈 JOSH SIMS (8 PTS, 1 MOTM) | 🥉 HARVEY GREENSLADE (5 PTS, 1 MOTM) |
||
| 02.09.2025 | SOLIHULL M (Away, 1-0 win) | 98 | JUNIOR MORIAS (28 / 28.3%) | Luke McCormick (24 / 24.2%) | Jed Ward (15 / 15.2%) |
| 06.09.2025 | YORK CITY (Home, 3-1 loss) | 108 | JOSH SIMS (48 / 44.4%) | Luke McCormick (33 / 30.6%) | Jed Ward (7 / 6.5%) |
| 13.09.2025 | WOKING (Home, 1-0 win) | 127 | LUKE MCCORMICK (47 / 37%) | Kyle Ferguson (37 / 29.1%) | Harvey Greenslade (11 / 8.7%) |
| 20.09.2025 | TAMWORTH (Away, 1-0 loss) | 62 | JED WARD (17 / 27.4%) | Kyle Ferguson (10 / 16.1%) | Josh Sims (7 / 11.3%) |
| 24.09.2025 | ALDERSHOT (Away, 4-1 win) | 94 | ANDREW OLUWABORI (36 / 38.3%) | Tahvon Campbell (25 / 26.6%) | Luke McCormick (10 / 10.6%) |
| 27.09.2025 | ALTRINCHAM (Home, 1-0 win) | 154 | ANDREW OLUWABORI (51 / 33.1%) | Jed Ward (37 / 24%) | Morgan Williams (18 / 11.7%) |
| 30.09.2025 | SUTTON UTD (Away 2-1 win) | 119 | JOSH SIMS (88 / 73.9%) | Andrew Oluwabori (20 / 16.8%) | Jed Ward (6 / 5%) |
| SEPTEMBER PLAYER OF THE MONTH | 🥇 ANDREW OLUWABORI (8 PTS / 2 MOTM) | 🥈 JED WARD (8 PTS / 1 MOTM) | 🥉 JOSH SIMS (7 PTS / 2 MOTM) |
||
| 04.10.2025 | BOREHAM WOOD (Home - 0-3 loss) | 87 | JED WARD (61 / 70.1%) | Harvey Greenslade (10 / 11.5%) | Kyle Ferguson (5 / 5.7%) |
| 11.10.2025 | HEMEL HEMPSTEAD (Away 2-1 loss) | 44 | HARVEY GREENSLADE (18 / 40.9%) | Jed Ward (10 / 22%) | Byron Pendleton (6 / 13.6%) |
| 18.10.2025 | ROCHDALE (Away 3-0 loss) | 49 | JED WARD (17 / 34.7%) | Harvey Greenslade (10 / 20.4%) | Kyle Ferguson (5 / 10.2%) |
| 25.10.2025 | CARLISLE (Home 1-1 draw) | 140 | Max Jolliffe (60 / 42.9% | Harvey Greenslade (16 / 11.4%) | George Nurse (13 / 9.3%) |
| OCTOBER PLAYER OF THE MONTH | 🥇 HARVEY GREENSLADE (9 PTS / 1 MOTM) | 🥈 JED WARD (8 PTS / 1 MOTM) | 🥉 MAX JOLLIFFE (3 PTS / 1 MOTM) |
||
| 04.11.2025 | WEALDSTONE (Home 0-2 loss) | 67 | LUKE MCCORMICK (13 / 19.4%) | Jed Ward (12 / 17.9%) | Aaron Jarvis (9 / 13.4%) |
| 08.11.2025 | SCUNTHORPE (Away 1-0 loss) | 46 | JAMES PLANT (15 / 32.6%) | Jed Ward (12 / 26.1%) | Harvey Greenslade (10 / 21.7%) |
| 15.11.2025 | SOUTHEND (Home 0-1 loss) | 89 | JED WARD (74 / 83.1%) | Max Jolliffe (5 / 5.6%) | Junior Morias (3 / 3.4%) |
| 22.11.2025 | MORECAMBE (Away 0-0 draw) | 49 | JED WARD (22 / 44.9%) | Harvey Greenslade (12 / 24.5%) | Finn Cousin-Dawson 4 (8.2%) |
| 29.11.2025 | BOSTON UNITED (Home 2-1 win) | 108 | LUKE MCCORMICK (68 / 63%) | Brett McGavin (10 / 9.3%) | James Plant (6 / 5.6%) |
| NOVEMBER PLAYER OF THE MONTH | 🥇 JED WARD (10 PTS, 2 MOTM) | 🥈 LUKE MCCORMICK (6 PTS / 2 MOTM) | 🥉 JAMES PLANT (4 PTS / 1 MOTM) |
||
| 06.12.2025 | HARTLEPOOL UTD (Away, 2-0 win) | 106 | LUKE MCCORMICK (78 / 73.6%) | Jed Ward (11 / 10.4%) | Harvey Greenslade (7 / 6.6%) |
| 13.12.2025 | MAIDSTONE UTD (Home, 1-1 [4-2 on pens]) | 125 | JED WARD (83 / 66.4%) | Brett McGavin (10 / 8%) | Harvey Greenslade (9 / 7.2%) |
| 20.12.2025 | FOREST GEEEN (Home, 0-2 loss) | 94 | LUKE MCCORMICK (22 / 23.4%) | Harvey Greenslade (20 / 21.3%) | Jed Ward (17 / 18.1%) |
| 26.12.2025 | TRURO CITY (Away 0-1 loss) | 67 | JED WARD (55 / 82.1%) | Jake Wannell (3 / 4.5%) | Josh Tobin / Aaron Jarvis (2 / 3%) |
| 30.12.2025 | EASTLEIGH (Home 1-1 draw) | 113 | LUKE MCCORMICK (46 / 40.7%) | Jed Ward (29 / 25.7%) | Jake Wannell (10 / 8.8%) |
| DECEMBER PLAYER OF THE MONTH | 🥇 JED WARD (10 PTS, 2 MOTM) | 🥈 LUKE MCCORMICK (9 PTS / 3 MOTM) | 🥉 HARVEY GREENSLADE (4 PTS / 0 MOTM) |
||
| 03.01.2026 | BRAINTREE (Home 3-1 win) | 164 | LUKE MCCORMICK (44 / 26.8%) | Aaron Jarvis (27 / 16.5%) | James Daly/Brett McGavin (20 / 12.2%) |
| 10.01.2026 | ALVECHURCH (Home 0-0 [3-1 on pens]) | 172 | DAKARAI MAFICO (86 / 50%) | Jed Ward (55 / 32%) | Josh Sims (9 / 5.2%) |
| 17.01.2026 | BRACKLEY TOWN (Away, 2-1 loss) | 81 | DAKARAI MAFICO (19 / 23.5%) | Harvey Greenslade (15 / 18.5%) | Kyle Ferguson (12 / 14.8%) |
| 31.01.2026 | AFC TELFORD (Away, 2-0 win) | 191 | HARVEY GREENSLADE (79 / 41.4%) | Dakarai Mafico (60 / 31.4%) | Joy Mukena (11 / 5.8%) |
| JANUARY PLAYER OF THE MONTH | 🥇 DAKARAI MAFICO (8 PTS, 2 MOTM) | 🥈HARVEY GREENSLADE (4 PTS / 1 MOTM) | 🥉 LUKE MCCORMICK (3 PTS / 1 MOTM) |
||
| 06.02.2026 | ALTRINCHAM (Away, 1-0 win) | 92 | JED WARD (57 / 61.3%) | Troy Perrett (12 / 12.9%) | Kyle Ferguson (7 / 7.5%) |
| 11.02.2026 | BOREHAM WOOD (Away 3-2 loss) | 46 | JAMES DALY (13 / 28.3%) | Jed Ward (12 / 23.1%) | Jake Wannell (8 / 17.4%) |
| 14.02.2026 | ROCHDALE (Home 1-1 draw) | 155 | DAKARAI MAFICO (73 / 45.6%) | Finn Cousin-Dawson (34 / 21.3%) | Jed Ward (13 / 8.1%) |
| 17.02.2026 | ALDERSHOT (Home 2-1 loss) | 86 | JED WARD (50 / 58.1%) | Jake Wannell (10 / 11.6%) | Terrell Works (9 / 9.3%) |
| 21.02.2026 | CARLISLE (Away 3-0 loss) | 47 | JED WARD (21 / 42%) | Finn Cousin-Dawson (10 / 20%) | Harvey Greenslade (6 / 12%) |
| 25.02.2026 | SUTTON UTD (Home 3-2 win) | 82 | JAMES DALY (50 / 61%) | Brett McGavin (7 / 8.5%) | Greenslade/Jones (6 / 7.3%) |
| 28.02.2026 | SOUTHPORT (Away 1-1 draw [2-4 on penalties]) | 54 | JAMES DALY (19 / 35.2%) | Jed Ward (15 / 27.8%) | Harvey Greenslade (7 / 13%) |
| FEBRUARY PLAYER OF THE MONTH | 🥇 JED WARD (14 PTS, 3 MOTM) | 🥈JAMES DALY (9 PTS / 3 MOTM) | 🥉 DAKARAI MAFICO (3 PTS / 1 MOTM) |
||
| 03.03.2026 | TAMWORTH (Home, 2-0 win) | 129 | RYAN JONES (53 / 41.1%) | Dakarai Mafico (23 / 17.8%) | Sims/McGavin (19 / 14.7%) |
| 07.03.2026 | SCUNTHORPE (Home, 0-3 loss) | 84 | JOSH SIMS (34 / 40%) | Brett McGavin (23 / 27.1%) | Ryan Jones (8 / 9.4%) |
| 14.03.2026 | BOSTON UTD (Away, 2-1 loss) | 49 | JED WARD (23 / 46.9%) | Josh Sims (15 / 30.6%) | Jarvis/Jones/Whittle (3 / 6.1%) |
| 17.03.2026 | WOKING (Away, 1-0 loss) | 48 | JED WARD (11 / 22.9%) | Brett McGavin (9 / 18.7%) | Harvey Greenslade (8 / 16.7%) |
A game under the lights is in store for Yeovil Town as they face Aldershot Town at Huish Park on Tuesday night.
It’s two wins, two losses and a draw for the Glovers over the last five games, carrying on their up and down form this season. One of those two wins was in the league, an emphatic 3-1 home over Braintree Town. I highlight that game as that is probably the most complete performance’s Yeovil had this campaign, alongside the last time the Somerset faced Aldershot.
Last time out, was the opposite of complete, in fact it was one of if not the worst games many have seen, a 2-1 loss to Brackley Town. Credit where it is due, the Saints were good value for money and had Yeovil on the back foot for the majority of the game. However, it was clear to see how much Yeovil missed Morgan Williams at the back, with neither, Jake Wannell, Finn Cousin-Dawson or Kyle Ferguson looking capable at the back.
All in all the Glovers will have to a lot better than Saturday afternoon.
The Shots have been much improved since we last met, and sit two places below the Glovers in the league. Over the last five games, the Hampshire side have hit a purple patch, with three wins, one draw and a loss to their name. Two of those wins have been by a scoreline of 4-1.
In their previous fixture, the Shots ran out 4-1 victors over Eastleigh. It was a dull affair on the South-coast for the first 45 minutes with neither team scoring. The game then sprung into life in the second half with all five goals being scored. Will Nightingale scored the first on the 49th minute before Eastleigh equalised. The Shots then pulled away thanks to goals from Cameron Hargreaves, Charlie Warren and Ryan Hill scoring within 10 minutes of each other.
The youngster has shown since joining on loan how good he is, and was one of the only bright sparks in the defeat to Brackley. The full back does everything you want in a defender, which was shown last time out with:
That is an impressive stat line for anyone let alone a 19-year-old, who is getting his first real taste in senior football. Offensively he is also prolific, with the headline stat from the Brackley game being his 95% pass accuracy. The Glovers will need Mafico on top-form again against Aldershot.
The forward has been in scintillating form for the Shots in his last five games in the league stretching back to the 6th of December. When looking at Sofascore the Irish man has had a rating of 8 or more in all of those five games.
This form has coincided with an uptick in goal contributions for the 27-year-old who has claimed six goal/assists in since the start of December. Four of those six contributions have been assists, but that shows how important a playmaker can be in this league. Against Eastleigh, Barrett can claim to be the man who propelled his side to victory with his two assists.
The forward will prove difficult to stop for the Glovers defenders.
A familiar lower league name has taken charge at The EBB Stadium and will be in the dugout on Tuesday night, in the shape of John Coleman. The 63-year-old is best known for being Accrington Stanley’s former boss, where he spent 23 years as boss across two spells.
Outside of his long stints in the North-West, Coleman has managed Ashton United, Rochdale, Southport, Sligo, Gillingham and Waterford for a total of five years.
The Scouser joined the Shots in October and has turned the Hampshire side form around. He has also managed against the Glovers nine times, winning twice, drawing three times and losing on four occasions.
A Tahvon Campbell goal opened the scoring before Junior Morias doubled the scoring. Luke McCormick then scored quickly after before Campbell made it four with a penalty in the 64th minute. James Henry bagged a consolation goal in added time for Aldershot.
Richie Watkins is the man in charge for this fixture. For more information on him and his team for Tuesday night check out Ben’s article – here.
Defeat at Brackley and all a bit dismal. Fear not, the Plebs are here to brighten up your Monday morning, possibly.
Dave was there, Ben has watched it back, Ian just let them go.
Thanks for Ed, Tim, Mark and Abby for the voice notes. Onto Aldershot tomorrow night!
It was a disappointing first visit to Brackley Town for Yeovil Town as they went down to a 2-1 defeat in Northamptonshire with former loanee Ben Wodskou netting the winner late in the first half. Dave was among the more than 300 travelling Glovers who made the journey and here are his conclusions.
What’s the point of possession if you do nothing with it? For long periods of this game, we created absolutely nothing with it and even more frustratingly we never looked like we even might. There were countless times when our players stopped and put their foot on the ball and looked around to see everyone in green-and-white completely static with no-one making a move to try and create something. The second half was a complete non-event with Brackley, who were ahead in the game, very happy to watch us pass it ponderously around, whilst we never seemed to have an idea of how to get through them. So slow, so lacking in intensity.
We look so fragile defensively: If you haven’t seen them yet, go back and watch both Brackley goals. Do you see anyone taking responsibility in our side? Tell me who they are if you do, because I see no-one. The first goal comes from a sloppy back pass from Kyle Ferguson but even after that Shane Byrne is completely unchallenged to tap in it. Then the second, it is far too easy for the Brackley player to win a header from the corner and Wodskou is the only one who seems to want it in the ensuing scramble. There is a huge Morgan Williams-shaped hole in our defence and, sorry, but Jake Wannell is not a captain for me. Either in his performances – and no, not just today – or his demeanour, he doesn’t do enough to warrant the armband. But, who does? It’s leadership again, isn’t it? We simply do not have it.
WE NEED A STRIKER!!: We have brought in six players in the past fortnight and we have so many ‘creative players’, ‘attacking midfielders’ or wingers – but WE NEED A STRIKER. Yes, I understand they are hard to come by, they are the ones who cost money, they are hard to come by in January, but surely anyone we bring in cannot be worse than what we have. Aaron Jarvis was completely anonymous in his 45 minutes and Tahvon Campbell was not much better when he appeared in the second half. There was a moment in the second half where Campbell found himself offside when there was an opportunity to have an effort on goal, cue screams of frustration from the away end. That noise sums up my feelings on everything about our attacking play at the moment.
Perrett offered something: If I had to pick a glimmer of hope it would the substitute Trey Perrett. The Cardiff City loanee who was given the last 20 minutes of the game to show what he has. He – and to a lesser extent fellow substitute Terrell Works – were the only players who looked to move in a positive fashion going forwards when we had possession. Perrett got a couple of shots away before he was able to lay one off to Luke McCormick to get a shot away late on. Let’s hope there is more of that to come.
Rowley needs to figure it out: There were boos from the away end at Brackley at the final whistle and the criticism was aimed at the performance, not the manager. Those people I spoke to after the whistle know that this HAS to be a project and we have to give Billy Rowley time to figure it out. He spoke after the game and said “I will figure out the players that want to come on this journey and don’t” and I will bet that there are many of those who made a five-hour round trip to see that performance can help him out with his list.
Yeovil winger James Daly said there was ‘massive frustration’ after the Glovers defeat at Brackley.
In a conversation with BBC Somerset’s Ian Randall following the 2-1 defeat Daly said: “[There’s an] element of massive frustration really. I think those games as well, I think disregarding tactically that’s more about the character of a person on the pitch and the desire to win it really. I think first half was good, but same old case of look good first half and didn’t capitalise on the chances and it comes back to bite us.”
Not for the first (or second) time this season Yeovil gifted goals to the opposition and as Brackley dug deep to hang on Daly said the game became about who wanted it more.
“That’s the National League and you get a lot of games like that at this level. Sometimes tactics do go out the window and it’s about who wants it more. And I know that sounds old fashioned and what-not, but sometimes if you’re not there, if you’re not meeting the physical duels and winning your winning your battles then you can come unstuck like we did today.
“It’s frustrating because you don’t want to be the team that looks nice, looks pretty and doesn’t have that, doesn’t have that spine, has a soft underbelly and we we don’t want that at all. So we need to find a way to first and foremost win the battle, win the duel and simplify it and we’ve got to beat the man in front of you who’s wearing the other jersey,” he added.
Since Billy Rowley took over from Richard Dryden in November, in the league the Glovers have won three, lost three and draw one and Daly said the team were playing better football but needed to learn how grind out a game.
“We’re playing better football as well. We’re looking better, which is a credit to Billy and Daz that have come in and we are creating more chances but we are very conscious of not becoming a team that looks pretty and can’t grind out a game against a Brackley because there’s a lot of teams in this league where physicality comes first, that is the National League.
“There’s plenty of times where it’s going to be rough and physical and we need to find a way to be able to withstand that so the quality comes through on the ball.”
When asked why Yeovil couldn’t create more in the second half Daly said it was difficult to break Brackley down once they got ahead.
“They’ve, they’ve got something to hang onto first half. We switched off from a set piece and have a mistake and all of a sudden when you’ve got something to hold onto then it’s a lot easier to defend and keep every man back. It makes it much more difficult when they’ve got men behind the ball and something to fight for and we can’t break them down then and it becomes a classic case of rue our chances that we haven’t taken and mistakes we made at the other end.
“We’d like to apologise to the traveling fans as well because to put on a display first half, we create chances but then second half it becomes a case of what’s the character of the player like on the field and that’s a big thing for us and that’s a question mark we don’t really want to have above our heads. We’ve got a game Tuesday to put things right and go from there.”
A Tuesday night under the Huish Park lights? Oh, yeah, go on then.
A referee who’s overseen just three Yeovil games, all of which have resulted in Green and White losses? Ah, that’s a shame.
Look, we’re not holding it against Richie Watkins, but we’d sure like it if we could put that stat to bed this midweek.
He was in charge for the Glovers’ loss to Hemel Hempstead in the FA Cup earlier this season *shudders*, he took charge of a 1-0 defeat to Bromley in the National League relegation season and oversaw the Parma Violet Glovers losing 2-0 to Maidenhead United in 2023.
That FA Cup game saw him caution Finn Cousin-Dawson and Morgan Williams.
This season, his Transfermarkt stats read 15 games officiated, 60 yellows (4 per match for the mathematicians out there), eight reads and two penalties.
Those stats include a 2-2 draw between Aldershot and Brackley, where the Shots’ Ben Jackson saw red in the second half.
He’ll be assisted by Ryan McILravey and Adam Wilson, with Jack Clench on the bench, just in case.
Yeovil Town FC (First Team) v Aldershot Town (First Team)
National League – Premier
Referee: Watkins, Richie
Assistant Referee: McILravey, Ryan
Assistant Referee: Wilson, Adam
Fourth Official: Clench, Jack
