Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 309)

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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper said his players knew their performances in the 2-0 defeat at Maidenhead United were “unacceptable” and urged everyone to “stick together.”

A goal in each half in Berkshire saw the Glovers drop to within goal difference of the National League relegation places on Tuesday night and they travel to fellow strugglers York City on Saturday desperate for a result.

He told BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins that he would be looking to bring “a spark” up front with no win in their past four games.

The boss said: “I was worried about tonight after the energy we expended (in the 4-1 home defeat to Notts County) on Saturday. If I could I would have changed five or six players, but I could not really do that.

“I don’t think we would’ve score if we had been there until tomorrow night, we were powder puff up top and the difference in the teams was their centre forwards were a handful.

“I look at myself first and I did I get the selection and the tactics right? You’d have to say ‘no’, but tonight is about desire to keep the ball out of our net and make sure we get ‘nil’ against us and see what happens – but we didn’t and we were never going to score tonight.”

He added: “Games are decided by good and bad decision making. On Saturday (against Notts County), we lost because of bad decision-making and again Maidenhead made more good decisions than we did.

“We can cry about it or we can pat Maidenhead on the back and try somehow to get a couple of players in which gives us a little bit of spark at the top of the pitch.

“You can defend all you want, but if you don’t have that spark at the top you are never going to win games.”

With the club still operating without a physiotherapist (and unused substitute Will Dawes giving treatment to his team-mates, Cooper admitted he does not have the staff to decide whether many of his squad were fit to take the field at the moment.

He said: “I am not using that as an excuse, I am just stating facts. The team we put out should have got a result, but there was not too many changes we could have made.”

Asked if he had the support of the club’s hierarchy he added: “I need to go and speak to Martyn (Starnes, Chief Executive Officer) and (director, Stuart Robins) who have been magnificent if they were not here, the club would have folded ages ago.

“So fair play to those two they have kept it going, so I am going to speak to them now and see if we can do some magic before the weekend.”

Cooper concluded: “We have to stick together. It’s difficult, they understand that tonight was not acceptable and they have to understand that and then we move on.

“Tomorrow we rest and on Thursday we start again and come up with a play and, like I say, hopefully we can bring in one or two that can hopefully help us.”

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Venue: York City
Tuesday 21st February, 7.45pm kick-off

Conditions: Chilly night
Pitch: Green and brown in places

Attendance: 1,015

Scorers: Sam Barratt 40 (0-1), Reece Smith 66 (0-2)

Bookings: 

Yeovil Town: Ryan Law 55, Lawson D’Ath 66
Maidenhead United: Will de Havilland 38, Kane Ferdinand 90

Referee: Richie Watkins

Yeovil Town (5-3-2)

Substitutes: Andrew Oluwabori (for Jamie Reckord, 46), Jordan Maguire-Drew (for Jordan Young, 64), Malachi Linton (for Lawson D’Ath, 72), Will Dawes (not used), Will Buse (not used).

Maidenhead United: Andrew, Asara, de Havilland, Nataniel-George (for Sparkes, 86), Massey, Odutayo, Barratt, Acquah (for McCoulsky, 83), Adams, Smith (for Leathers, 74). Substitute not used: Panayiotou.

Match Report

Only goal difference separates Yeovil Town from the National League relegation places after they went down to a 2-0 defeat at fellow strugglers Maidenhead United on Tuesday night.

Having bossed possession without doing much to threaten the hosts’ goal, the Glovers fell behind when forward Sam Barratt was gifted the freedom of the six yard box on 41 minutes to bundle home an opener.

Reece Smith added a second after a shambolic piece of defending from the visitors on 65 minutes and Yeovil offered very little to make any difference at the other end.

A win for Gateshead, who occupy the top of the division’s bottom four, pushed them level on points with us separated by just two goals on goal difference.

First half

The opening 15 minutes was an utterly forgettable affair with the only kind of entertainment coming from a penalty appeal from the home side when Emile Acquah went down under well-timed Josh Staunton tackle in the third minute.

There was some early pressure from Maidenhead with Ashley Nathaniel-George causing problems down the right, but as the half drew on it was Yeovil who began to get control of the play.

Jordan Young hammered one over the bar on 23 minutes and ten minutes later Alan Massey saw an effort turned over the bar at the other end, but the best chance of the game came from Young on 38 minutes.

A promising forward run from the forward was ended by a forceful tackle from Will de Havilland and the ex-Chippenham Town man’s effort from the free-kick which follows was turned aside by Alexis Andre Junior in the hosts’ goal.

But, as sure as eggs is eggs, the visitors took the lead just three minutes later. A corner in from the right found Sam BARRATT given the freedom of the six yard box by the Yeovil defence and he bundled the ball home.

Having controlled the possession – admittedly without doing much with it – the Glovers found themselves a goal behind. Utterly soft goal and one which drops us to within a place of the National League’s drop zone, at least temporarily.

If you parted with £9.50 for the stream, you’ve been robbed. If you have traveled and paid for a match ticket, get yourself a Crime Reference Number – where there’s blame, there’s a claim.

No idea how anyone can watch this five at the back formation and think “yeah, that’s doing the job”.

Half time:  Maidenhead United 1 Yeovil Town 0

 

Second half

Following his impact off the bench in the home defeat to league leaders Notts County last weekend, Yeovil boss Mark Cooper introduced Andrew Oluwabori at half-time.

There was a sharp intake of breath two minutes after the restart when Grant Smith went walkabout in the Yeovil penalty area and, luckily for him, there was no-one there in a black-and-white shirt to bang the ball home.

Within six minutes of the restart, Oluwabori was showing why he had been introduced with his cross clipping the top of the crossbar. Surely it took a deflection? Nothing given.

If ever you needed to know that this was a game between two of the division’s lowest scorers, it wouldn’t have taken you 63 minutes to figure out why. But, at that point Jordan Maguire-Drew was introduced in place of Young.

Within seconds, the hosts doubled their advantage. A great run from Idris Odutayo was followed by ropey clearance from on loan defender Ryan Law and the ball fell to Reece SMITH who volleyed in to the bottom corner. Absolutely shambolic defending from Yeovil.

Sensing blood, Maidenhead went in search of a third with the visitors’ rocking at the back. Kane Ferdinand almost found it on 71 minutes, only denied by a save from Smith and then with ten minutes remaining Barratt almost added his second when his effort was tipped wide.

Cooper fired an effort just past the post on 74 minutes to prove the away side had actually figured we changed ends at half-time and with five minutes to go Maguire-Drew’s effort was easily held by Andre Junior in the Magpies’ goal.

Substitute Malachi Linton blazed one over the bar in second half injury time, but the reality is that we could have stayed out there all night and not scored.

With Gateshead picking up a home win over Oldham Athletic we are now separated from the relegation places by just goal difference, albeit we have a game in hand over the team below us. Oh, by the way, it’s away at Wrexham in April – but I can’t imagine they’ll have much to play for by then. *face, palm*

If you didn’t believe we were in a relegation scrap before, believe it now.

Full time: Maidenhead United 2 Yeovil Town 0

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Ian, Ben and Dave dissect the 4-1 defeat by Notts County, have a moan about some things, take your questions and preview Tuesday’s 0-0 at Maidenhead.

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Plans to build 250 houses alongside Huish Park have been unveiled by documents released by South Somerset District Council.

The council has published responses to a request for opinions on whether the proposed development would have a sufficient impact on the local area that it would require an extra study being undertaken.

These responses refer to a proposals for “250 dwellings at land off Lufton Way/Copse Road, Yeovil, Somerset” and suggest the proposal is for the development to take place on land all around Huish Park.

In the original “request for a screening opinion” submitted by DLP Planning asking whether an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was required for the work, it describes the plans for “approximately 250 dwellings with ancillary open space, parking, soft landscaping and supporting infrastructure” – read in full here.

It adds: “Car parking arrangements provided will allow for sufficient parking to be delivered within the site in
compliance with the Council’s existing standards. Spaces will be provided to each unit and comprise a
mix of allocated spaces in private parking courts, private drives and garages.

“It is acknowledged that the proposed development of this site will result in the loss of the former sports
pitches. Sports England have previously objected to proposals for the development of this site unless re-provision of these facilities can be provided.

“It is understood that the sports pitches on site are not currently used and are of poor quality. It is noted that there is the opportunity to replace the existing pitches with a new 4G pitch on land to the east of the football club.”

The ‘Location Plan’ submitted to the “request for a screening opinion” submitted by planning consultants, DLP Planning – everything inside the red line is the development site – oh, and there’s a football ground there if you look closely enough!

None of the statutory bodies – the kind of people who get asked about the impact of development on ecology, roads, archaeology and suchlike – raised enough objection for an Environmental Impact Study to be required in to the development.

However, the Highways Department at SSDC did raise “concerns” over the loss of matchday parking and warned it would put heightened the risk of accidents in the area.

In his response, Adam Garland, Principal Planning Liaison Officer at SSDC said: “Where such facilities are lost it will create indiscriminate parking in the new estate road, and surrounding roads.

“The increase in manoeuvring, braking and turning movements, and higher levels of pedestrians crossing the local roads will increase the risk of collisions within the highway.

“This is further exacerbated by dint of the fact that match days are generally at weekends where there is a higher risk of residents being at home, and children are more likely to be in the streets.”

He added that if the authority were given “an amended proposal showing the retention of parking for match days further consideration would be given.”

So, now we wait and see what happens next as far as this development is concerned.

In May 2022 when the sale of Huish Park and surrounding land to SSDC was completed in a deal the authority says was valued at £2.8m, club chairman Scott Priestnall said in a statement: “When I first came into the club, I saw the opportunity to grow this already amazing club into an organisation off the pitch that could provide revenues all week, not just on match days. While I had very positive conversations with local planning (authorities), developers and funding partners, the pandemic delayed our options to grow, at the same time causing huge financial difficulties to our ongoing operations.

“There is and has always been a massive opportunity to develop the club’s infrastructure, but over the last 30 years the custodians of this club have never been able to put a plan together that works for all related parties.”

Back in October 2022, we reported changes to the core and non-core land – basically land with restrictions on what development can take place on it (core land) and land without such restrictions (non-core land) – which had been agreed before the sale completed, but not publicised.

That means the area which is currently occupied by a 3G surface outside Huish Park could also be developed on.

Plans produced by SSDC showing the ‘core’ and ‘non-core’ land it owns at Huish Park.

 

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Yeovil Town fell to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of National League leaders Nott County yesterday afternoon. Here’s Ian Five Conclusions from Huish Park…

The score line did not reflect the performance. If you weren’t at Huish Park yesterday you’d have seen that score and thought it was a hammering, but it didn’t tell the full story. Notts County’s manager Luke Williams said he felt very lucky to come away from Huish Park with three points. Many expected the Glovers to sit back and absorb a 90 minute blitz, but despite conceding in the first five minutes, Yeovil went toe-to-toe with table-toppers but in the hunt for a second equaliser left too much room for Macauley Langstaff inside the 18 yard box in the 94th minute.

Morgan Williams and Ruben Rodrigues – Image Courtesy of Mike Kunz

Mark Cooper set up his side with a plan to stifle Notts County and a big part of that involved Morgan Williams, who kept Ruben Rodrigues out of the game. Williams seems capable of doing every job asked of him. Yesterday he lined up as part of the midfield, tasked with following Rodrigues everywhere and preventing him from impacting the game and Williams did just that. Rodrigues barely got a sniff of the ball without Williams breathing down his neck to dispossess him. At one point in the second half Rodrigues celebrated a sliding tackle on Williams by the touch line which Williams laughed off – he clearly enjoyed the agitation of his opponent. Ultimately, Rodrigues made the difference from the spot, where Williams couldn’t shadow him, however the centre back, turned full back, turned wingback has shown he can also do a job in midfield too.

While the performance didn’t match the result, to gift the top goal scorer in the league was a cardinal sin. When Langstaff was allowed freedom of the six yard box to head home, it gave the Glovers an even bigger mountain to climb, and although they nearly managed it, its clear Langstaff is operating on another level. The striker is in the form of his life and is absolutely lethal in front of goal. His first was good positioning to spot space in the area, his second was less instinctive but a real poachers effort after good spell of patient possession and the third was the hunger to take home the match ball as Yeovil’s defenders switched off.

Andrew Oluwabori equalises for Yeovil – image courtesy of Mike Kunz

Despite going behind, we didn’t change our approach. It was clear that the plan was to allow the Notts County defenders to knock the ball about and bring it forward, but once they made it past the halfway line, Cooper, Worthington and D’Ath engaged and launched the counter attack. In the second half it felt like the momentum was with Yeovil and with the introduction of Andrew Oluwabori, Notts County had genuine pace up against them. Slocombe’s didn’t anticipate Oluwabori’s pace in the 65th minute and he nipped in to pinch the ball and was left with work to do to score a great equaliser. Slocombe was stretched again by Oluwabori and Jordan Young, but it was Jamie Reckord who should have levelled it before County’s stoppage time double.

 

We’re down to the bare bones again. For the third season in a row, we’re playing without a full bench and asking players to play through the pain barrier to get us through games. Mark Cooper mentioned the absence of a physio again yesterday, clearly a pointed message. We’re going into two huge games this week that we need to win. The sides below are picking up points and if were going to keep our heads above the water we need to do the same at Maidenhead and York City. Make no mistake, we are in a relegation battle and our players are going above and beyond for the green and white shirt. Everyone (okay, maybe not everyone) at the club is mucking in.

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Another week another Loan Watch and there’s finally some good news to talk about.

We start in Scunthorpe where Ben Richards-Everton scored and was awarded Man of the Match on his debut for the Iron as they won 3-2 against Dagenham to move within four points of safety in the National League

Elsewhere, there was a first win in over 100 days for Leamington and Ollie Hulbert, Hulbert might not have scored but he played the full match as former Glover Ted Cann saved a penalty with two late goals ensuring a win over Darlington.

On to Truro, where Ollie Haste played the full 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw against Hartley Witney.

Gillingham Town also picked up a 1-0 win. Their game against Hallen FC was decided on the hour with both Rob Hollard and Sam Hodges involved, the win means Hollard keeps a well earned clean sheet, with Hodges praised for his relentless work and ball retention after coming off the bench.

Charlie Bateson was on the bench for Tiverton, but to our knowledge didn’t make the pitch in a tightly contest game against Chesham. Tivvy winning 2-1 with their keeper saving a 96th minute penalty!

Finally, Toby Stephens wasn’t in the Plymouth Parkway squad, whilst Sherborne didn’t have a game.

That didn’t stop Benjani and Jake Graziano though, they were both on the scoresheet for the Glovers Under 18s in a 3-2 victory.

 

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A brace from captain Jake Graziano was enough to earn Yeovil Town Under-18s a 3-2 win at BRS Coaching Youth in the South West Counties Youth League at the weekend.

The midfielder was joined on the scoresheet in Bournemouth by striker Benjani Junior with both players back in the line-up for the Underr-18s with Sherborne Town, where both have been on loan for the past few weeks, without a fixture this weekend.

That keeps the young Glovers in second place, five points behind leaders Bridgwater United having played one game fewer.

In the Junior Premier League, the club’s Under-12s picked up a win over South Somerset Regional Talent Centre but the Under-13s went down to defeat against Taunton Town.

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Yeovil Town captain Josh Staunton said the side’s performance in the 4-1 home defeat to National League leaders Notts County was evidence of their struggles this season.

The Glovers had golden opportunities to pull level for a second time through defenders Jamie Reckord and Edwin Agbaje having after fallen behind to a penalty from Reuben Rodrigues six minutes from time.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the game, Staunton said: “Those chances are chances we should score and it has changed the game and (if we score) it switches the momentum again and we probably come away with at least a point but that is why we are where we are.

“It is a testament for how far we have come, but it shows where we are shooting ourselves in the foot because we are capable of performances like that.

“That is a reflection of a team which is in 19th place and we have to find it in ourselves to turn good performances in to results, because at the end of the season (good performances) do not mean a great deal.”

The defeat sees Yeovil drop to 19th place in the table, three points off the division’s relegation places with relegation rivals Torquay United and Scunthorpe United both picking up important wins.

They travel to Maidenhead United, who sit two places and one point above them having played two more games, on Tuesday night and Staunton admits that game is more important in the context of the season.

He said: “The most important thing about today, which most people probably class as a free hit, is that we re-group for Tuesday.

“That is where have to look seriously at targeting points, we had a lot of physical exertion today and Tuesday is a massive game for us, we need to start picking up points.

“We can take some heart from today, but Tuesday is going to be a completely different challenge. We have to roll out sleeves up and make sure we are in the best physical condition to do that.

“We owe it to each other, the club and the fans to make sure we are in the best condition. There is no reason why a group of young lads should not be able to play Saturday and then Tuesday.

“We can all sit here and make excuses but that is not the character of the team and the squad, we try and take ownership and we try and look at ourselves because it is down to us and take responsibility.”