Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 296)

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An injury time winner from substitute Nathan Hart took ten-man Yeovil Town Under-18s top of the South West Counties League table.

Hart, who came on as a 60th minute substitute, struck four minutes in to stoppage time at the end of the second half to seal a 4-3 win over third placed Cirencester Town.

The win moved the young Glovers top of the table with former leaders Bridgwater United’s match against Bath City falling foul to the weather.

Yeovil took the lead earlier through a third-minute strike from young striker Charlie Bateson, his eighth of the season.

Having been pegged back, Max Dyer restored the visitor’s lead with a thunderous 32nd minute strike from the edge of the box.

Cirencester drew level on the hour and then suffered a double setback on 65 minutes when Ethan O’Sullivan was sent off for giving away a free-kick which the home side scored from.

Mason Hunter’s 90th-minute thunderbolt from 25 yards looked to have earnt the visitors a late point, before Hart struck at the death.

Manager Matt Percival was only able to name three substitutes having seen goalkeeper Rob Hollard, midfielder Sam Hodges, captain Jake Graziano and striker Benjani Junior, who have joined Western League sides Gillingham Town and Sherborne Town since the side’s last match.

Yeovil Town Under-18s: Jordan Witcombe, Mikey Archibald (for Corey Koerner, 60), Max Dyer (captain), Jacob Shore, Harrison Foster, Mason Hunter, Aidan Skiverton, Charlie Bateson, Alex Stevens (for Jack Bareham, 65), Josh Haskett (for Nathan Hart, 60), Ethan O’Sullivan.

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It’s not just the Yeovil first team getting frustrated at the weather, so are the legion of loanee Glovers. It’s time for another chilly edition of Loan Watch.

So…Plymouth Parkway (Toby Stephens), Gillingham Town (Sam Hodges and Rob Hollard), Sherborne Town (Benjani Jnr and Jake Graziano) and Leamington (Ollie Hulbert) all saw their games called off.

However, Truro’s home game against Merthyr Town did go ahead at Bolitho Park, Plymouth. Paul Wotton’s side drew 0-0 against their Welsh opposition, but Ollie Haste was an unused substitute.

Which means the only Glover to actually see a competitive game was Will Dawes, who joined W*ymouth, the team second from bottom of the National League South.

He started on the bench for (have we really got to mention them every time for a month!?), but was introduced as a 76th minute substitute.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t prevent the Seagull botherers from going down 2-1 to Chelmsford City. Yes, truly unfortunate that.

Wait… so, do we want a Dawes hat-trick in a 4-3 loss every week? I feel conflicted.

For the record, goalkeeper Max Evans‘ one-month loan at Bedford Town officially came to an end in midweek, but he hadn’t played for a few games, we assume he’s back at Huish Park and probably has been for a while.

Plenty of sides are going to try and get games in midweek so there will be (weather permitting) a midweek Loan Watch to look forward to.

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Yeovil Town chief executive Martyn Starnes has said the club will formally complain about referee Sam Mulhall describing his decision to call off today’s match with Altrincham at Huish Park as “nonsense.”

Starnes said a complaint would go in to the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOL) claiming he ignored the advice from Glovers’ boss Mark Cooper and his players to allow the game to go ahead.

After the postponement, the team trained on the pitch closest to the away end which had not been a concern to the official, who Starnes and Cooper said was concerned about parts of the penalty area in front of the Thatcher’s End which had been covered all week.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins on Saturday afternoon, Starnes said: “The manager and all the players were more than happy for the game to go ahead, Altrincham have traveled for five hours and as far as I am aware they want to play the game and it is just an outrageous decision by the referee.

“He has not taken in to account the representation from the players or the manager and this needs to be challenged. I will be going to the PGMOL and making a formal complaint.

“It is very frustrating when a game gets called off late and I do understand that sometimes the weather conditions do conspire against you and, according to the referee, they conspired against us again – but it is just simply the wrong decision.

“If the squad can play a training session on this pitch, why can’t we play a National League game? It’s just nonsense.

“They think the area in the goal mouth is too hard, it is firm in certain places but the pitch against Dorking (in the FA Trophy earlier this month) was a lot worse than this and we played that game without incident. We told him that and he still would not take on any of these representations, it is a really, really poor decision from the referee.”

Martyn Starnes, left, with director Stuart Robins, centre, and chairman Scott Priestnall at the match at Altrincham in August.

Cooper said there was “one small area” of the pitch which the club had “a heater” on to speed up the thawing out process which had caused concern to the match official.

“When he spoke to the BBC after the match, he referred to the weather in Somerset as “like Saint Tropez“, adding: “We have trained the last two days on perfectly soft pitches at Alvington half-a-mile down the road, there’s one small area on the bottom goal that I think would have thawed out. Have we done as much as we could to get it on? I’m not sure.

“It’s solely the officials decision. It’s been taken out of my hands and by 3pm the pitch is playable and now most of the pitch is perfect and it is only one little area which we have a heater on that would have thawed out. We can’t affect the referee, that is his decision.”

Starnes was introduced by BBC Somerset’s Geoff Twentyman as the club’s CEO, a position that he appears as on the club’s website and in October Glovers’ chairman Scott Priestnall said he would be appointed in the role “shortly” – but he has never been formally announced in the role.

The surface had been covered overnight with temperatures dropping below zero and a “group of staff and volunteers” were on the pitch to attempt to make it playable. The pitch in front of the Thatcher’s Stand had been covered since the start of the week as it gets less sun on it, but the rest of the surface was only covered on Friday.

Just before 11am on Saturday, the club confirmed there would be a 1pm pitch inspection describing it as “firm in some small patches” and comments from the club’s official Facebook account said “there were no qualified referees in the area able to come in this morning” and conduct an earlier inspection.

In a statement confirming the postponement, the club said: “In our view the referee has made an outrageous decision to call the game off despite representations from the club that the game should go ahead.”

Maybe they are saving it for the forthcoming Fans’ Forum…….

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Yeovil Town have described the decision to call off today’s home match with Altrincham as “outrageous” after the referee deemed Huish Park unplayable an hour-and-a-half before kick-off.

The surface had been covered overnight with temperatures dropping below zero and a “group of staff and volunteers” were on the pitch to attempt to make it playable. The pitch in front of the Thatcher’s Stand had been covered since the start of the week as it gets less sun on it, but the rest of the surface was only covered on Friday.

Just before 11am, the club confirmed there would be a 1pm pitch inspection describing it as “firm in some small patches” and comments from the club’s official Facebook account said “there were no qualified referees in the area able to come in this morning” and conduct an earlier inspection.

In a statement confirming the postponement, the club said: “We are extremely disappointed to announce this afternoon’s game has been postponed.

“The covers were removed from the pitch this morning, a group of staff and volunteers put their efforts in to make the pitch playable.

“The manager (and) players were happy to play the game and will now be training on this pitch.

“In our view the referee has made an outrageous decision to call the game off despite representations from the club that the game should go ahead.”

In a post on Twitter, BBC Somerset reporter Sheridan Robins said that (as yet to be formally announced, but presumed) chief executive Martyn Starnes would be making a complaint to the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOL) about the decision.

With more than 200 miles and almost four hours of travelling time between South Manchester and South Somerset, unsurprisingly both the Altrincham players and staff and supporters were already at Huish Park when the decision came in.

The decision comes just four days after Yeovil were the victims of a late postponement at Barnet which was called off less than two hours before kick-off on Tuesday night.

Manager Mark Cooper described that decision as “embarrassing” saying: “I don’t think there’s any need to drag a team and supporters all that way when you know what is going to happen. The pitch is not going to get any softer between 4pm and 6pm, is it?

“It would have been easier to call it off as other teams did on Tuesday night. It is just a bit embarrassing for Barnet rather than for us and I just feel sorry for the supporters who had to travel all that way.”

Here’s how the pitch looked in pictures….

That tricky area in front of the Thatcher’s Stand at 11am after the covers were removed….

…..a few hours later as staff and volunteers worked on the pitch….

….and then at 1.30pm as @altrinchamfc Twitter confirmed the postponement m.

Check out Ian’s Gloversblog on the subject of late postponements written after the abandonment at Barnet – read here.

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There will be a 1pm pitch inspection ahead of today’s National League match with Altrincham at Huish Park today (3pm kick-off).

The club’s statement described the pitch as “firm in some small patches” after the frost covers which had been on overnight were removed the morning.

They added: “However we are confident the surface will be safe to play this afternoon.

“The match officials for this fixture will arrive at around 1pm, then there will be a pitch inspection at Huish Park.

“Further updates will be issued on our channels following the completion of the pitch inspection.”

The Met Office has the temperature at 0 degrees at 11am but it is expected to warm up to a toasty four degrees by 1pm and a further degree by kick-off.

Maybe put your thermals on if you are planning to be there this afternoon.

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Yeovil Town Under-18s are back in South West Counties Youth League action for the first time this year as they travel to Cirencester Town (10.30am kick-off) today.

The match is their first action since they went down 2-1 to leaders Bridgwater United in the league’s Gary Else Memorial Cup at the start of December.

Since that fixture, they have lost goalkeeper Rob Hollard and midfielder Sam Hodges who have joined Western League Division One side Gillingham Town on loan, and captain Jake Graziano and striker Benjani Junior who have both seen action for Sherborne Town, who play in the Western League Premier Division.

Cirencester sit in third place in the division, one place and one point behind the Glovers, with both sides having played eight matches.

A win for either would take them top of the table with Bridgwater’s home match with Bath City having fallen foul to the cold weather.

The Under-18s’ line-up for the match at Cirencester posted on the @ytfcyouth Instagram.

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Winger Will Dawes has been joined relegation battling W*ymouth on a one-month loan having been recalled from a previous spell at Stratford Town.

The 22-year-old, who was signed for an undisclosed five-figure fee from Stratford in the summer, had been a regular for the Bards although did not feature in their last fixture and has presumably been sent to the Dorset coast as some form of punishment.

Terras’ boss Bobby Wilkinson, who presumably has changed his mind on hating Yeovil which he declared when he was appointed at the Bob Lucas Stadium in September, is hoping the arrival will bolster the form which sees them sat second-from-bottom of the National League Table.

He said: “We have signed a tricky little winger to give competition to Keelan O’Connell and Tom Blair. He was a young talent bought by Yeovil for a good fee, so we’re pleased to announce that he’s come to us for a month.”

Before being loaned back to Stratford at the start of December, Dawes appeared just three times since arriving at Huish Park.

His last outing – and only one under manager Mark Cooper – saw him come on as 62nd minute substitute in the 1-0 defeat at Woking on November 1.

He made two appearances under former boss Chris Hargreaves, starting the 1-1 draw at Dorking Wanderers on October 4.

We’d wish him good luck with the Terras, but we wouldn’t mean it.

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Dave, Ian and Ben are here to talk about a quite busy week in Yeovil Town. Dave also spoke to Erin from Golf Road Goals about our opponents on Saturday, Altrincham.

Thank you for your continued support of the Gloverscast. Remember to add Gloverscast.co.uk to your favourites and check the website daily for the latest news and views from Huish Park.

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We’d love to welcome some local businesses into the Gloverscast family through advertising. If you’re a business that would like to speak to a dedicated audience of more than 1000 monthly listeners, please get in touch. Find out more about advertising with us here.

If you have an idea for the website, want to contribute or just want to send us a message, feel free to email ian@gloverscast.co.uk.

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Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper has said he believes the new arrivals in to his squad will improve competition.

The manager has brought in forward Jordan Young and midfielders Charlie Cooper and Chesterfield loanee Jack Clarke in the past week, as well as signing play-maker Jordan Maguire-Drew on a permanent deal.

The three incomings follow the departures of strikers Louis Britton and Jake Scrimshaw and the return of midfielder Jamie Andrews to his parent club West Bromwich Albion.

Speaking about the new arrivals ahead of this weekend’s home match with Altrincham, the boss said:

Jack Clarke: “Jack brings us quality in the middle of the pitch, he is left-footed, he moves with the ball very well, and all our recent signings give us more competition and improve the squad.

“He was playing every game when they were top of the league at the start of last year and they were flying. I have seen him play on numerous occasions and he is a very tidy player who can make things happen with that left foot. He gives us an added bit to our armoury and improves us.”

Jordan Young: “Jordan is an exciting, young forward who has bags of potential. He has scored some brilliant goals and can be a match winner, but he has to adjust to full-time football game, so we have to get him really fit and conditioned to last the rigours of full-time football.”

Jordan Young came on as a 59th minute substitute at Bromley on Saturday.

Charlie Cooper: “Charlie has experience at this level and he knows what it takes to win regularly at this level, so they both improve us.” And on the subject of the midfielder being his son, the boss added: “Let’s judge him on the pitch and not who he is related to. I would not have brought him in if I didn’t think he could do the job, he has been at this level already and I have brought him in to improve the squad.”

He added: “They all improve and help our squad. You can’t win consistently with 11 players and we need competition with all areas and the players we have brought in improve us.

“Maguire-Drew is a top player for this level and now he’s settled, he can concentrate on his football and really get stuck in to it.”

Clarke joined ahead of Tuesday night’s trip to Barnet which was postponed less than two hours before kick-off with Cooper, the team and supporters already having arrived at The Hive.

The manager was in no doubt the game should have been postponed far sooner, saying: “I don’t think there’s any need to drag a team and supporters all that way when you know what is going to happen. The pitch is not going to get any softer between 4pm and 6pm, is it?

“It would have been easier to call it off as other teams did on Tuesday night. It is just a bit embarrassing for Barnet rather than for us and I just feel sorry for the supporters who had to travel all that way.

“We had staff there in the afternoon and they said the pitch was rock hard, but you have to take it as it is and make sure we are well-prepared for a tough game against a good Altrincham team.”

He said that the team had trained at Huish Park this week and described the pitches as “perfect”. Asked if the match with Altrincham was at risk, he said: “The groundsman has assured us that Saturday will not be an issue.”

Huish Park’s groundsman Stuart Antell tweeted a picture on Wednesday showing a frosty-looking pitch.

Speaking immediately after the 4-1 defeat at Bromley last weekend, the manager said he had decisions to make about his side who conceded four for the first time in a season and a half-and-a-half and missed some golden opportunities to score.

Asked whether he had thought any more on those decisions, he said: “As a manager I am always making decisions whether it is training schedules, the type of training, team selection or tactics, so I am always making decisions.

“When I look back at the game, we weren’t actually that bad. We were 2-0 down after (32 minutes) and the whole game plan goes out of the window. We gambled and put as many forward players as we had on the pitch and it became a bit of a basketball game, but we had more chances in that game than in any game since I have been here.”

In particular, on loan Peterborough United forward Andrew Oluwabori and Maguire-Drew missed some golden opportunities to pull the Yeovil back in to the game and Cooper said he was confident they would do better against Altrincham at the weekend.

He added: “We have to react and move on to the next one, I have every faith that the boys who missed the chances (we created at Bromley) will score them if they get them on Saturday.”

Cooper also confirmed on loan AFC Bournemouth defender Owen Bevan who be available against Altrincham having missed out last weekend. He said: “Bev’s pace gives us an ability to defend higher up the pitch and any team would miss a player of that calibre. He’s back and fit and ready to go on Saturday.”

Owen Bevan heads away. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Prior to that, the Glovers had only lost once in their previous ten games, that being the defeat on penalties to Dorking Wanderers in the FA Trophy – and it’s great to see the Somerset Men’s Premier Cup win over Taunton Town given the respect it deserves.

He added: “It’s good that everyone is upset at losing a game because we have raised expectations where people think we are going to get a result in every game.

“We have to move on quickly, we know where we went wrong and we have to be better on Saturday.

“The players’ warm up was getting snow off the pitch, we managed to get half-a-pitch (on Wednesday) to do some work and (on Thursday) we have done some more tactical work with the new boys.

“It was good to get more time on the training pitch which was much needed to help them gel.”

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Is it time the National League had a proper discussion about last minute postponements and how to prevent them? Amidst a cost of living crisis and spiralling costs that impact both clubs and match-going supporters, the late pitch-inspection and postponement has never been a bigger frustration.

The determination to get fixtures played at any cost puts players, staff, supporters and facilities at risk.

As Yeovil made the trip to Barnet on Tuesday evening and temperatures plummeted below zero, the Bees were still pushing tickets and programmes up until about 5:25pm – and I fully accept that these were probably scheduled posts – before the match was postponed at 6pm after the referee inspected the pitch.

Barnet had tweeted that ground staff had been keeping an eye on the pitch throughout the day and it was only once the temperature dropped at 4:30pm that the referee requested an inspection. At what point do we start trusting ground staff with the decision making? We’re as guilty of it as anyone.

When Yeovil played against Scunthorpe in early-December, one end of the pitch looked like it was North of the Wall. The ground staff at Huish Park worked throughout the week to get the game on but should it have even been played?

With temperatures across England well below zero at the start of December, Scunthorpe travelled 258 miles to play out a dire 0-0 against a Yeovil side riddled with illness and injury – what was the point?

A week later, Yeovil hosted Dorking Wanderers, which was subject to late pitch inspection. Prior to that game the referees instructions included warming up in the frozen area of the pitch to help defrost it. Presumably infuriating the ground staff who work all year round to make the surface perfect for football. What damage does that do to a pitch? How much does it cost a few months down the line? Why’s it all getting a bit “we’ve all had enough of experts” in a field (ahem) that people work damn hard to become experts in?

Supporters risk long journeys to see their clubs, and on some occasions in treacherous conditions, when sometimes its blindingly obvious that things aren’t going to go ahead. At some point clubs need to be brave enough to make an early decision. 

Snow covered Yeovil on Wednesday and temperatures aren’t forecast to get above 6 degrees before Altrincham make the trip to Somerset for Saturday’s National League fixture. Surely a sensible decision can be made more than 24 hours before kick off?

I’ve no idea who’s at fault, if if anyone is at fault? Is it the referees? Is it the macho football culture, is it the packed calendar of constant football? Are there too many clubs in the National League, forcing clubs to cram in fixtures? Should professional clubs be playing in their county cups?

There has to be a solution somewhere that stops putting people at risk, can the organisations that run the game authorities find it?