Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 321)

Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper revealed he had promised on loan goalkeeper Will Buse he would start today’s FA Trophy third round tie with Dorking Wanderers.

The Bristol City stopper, who arrived under Cooper’s predecessor Chris Hargreaves in the summer, was named in the starting XI having only played in the Somerset Men’s Premier Cup win over Taunton Town.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins ahead of the game, Cooper said: “I promised him a few weeks ago that I would give him a game and he’s done well in training and it’s important we keep him stimulated.

“Grant Smith has done well and earned a little bit of a rest, so Busey gets a go. He’s been outstanding, a lovely boy with a lovely family and he just wants to do well.

“I think he was promised a bit more game time than he was going to get, and good luck to him.”

The boss also handed a debut to new signing Jordan Maguire-Drew for the FA Trophy match havig joined on loan with a view to a permanent move from League Two Grimsby Town in the week.

Speaking about him, Cooper said: “It’s a great signing for us. In terms of pedigree he gets promoted, he has a great left foot, he knows what he is doing, he’s a great age, so we have done really well to pull it off.

“He can score, he can create and the stats back up how brilliant we have been defensively, but we have not scored enough goals.

“There will be some players not involved today that will be upset (not to be playing), but the stats say we do not no score enough so we have to get better at that.”

Yeovil Town Under-11s and Under-14s will both play fixtures this weekend having beaten the freezing weather.

The teams, who play under the Yeovil Town Community Sports Trust, will play away at the Under-11s of South Somerset Regional Talent Centre in the Junior Premier League and a friendly against Wimborne Town Under-14s.

However, the South West Counties Youth League match between Yeovil Town Under-18s and their opponents from Bath City was called off on Friday due to a frozen pitch at Alvington.

The young Glovers are not now back in action until January 14th when they take on Swindon Supermarine.

Winger Jordan Maguire-Drew has joined Yeovil Town on a one-month loan from Grimsby Town with a view to signing permanently when the EFL transfer window opens in January.

The 25-year-old, who scored an extra time winner for the Mariners in last season’s National League play-off final, arrives in time to be part of the Glovers’ squad for tomorrow’s FA Trophy tie with Dorking Wanderers.

Announcing his signing, the club said that “personal terms have have been agreed for the player to sign on a permanent contract during the January transfer window, subject to the completion of a satisfactory medical” although Grimsby’s statement only speaks about a loan.

Speaking to the club’s official website, he said: “I’m delighted to be here and looking forward to getting started.

“I know the style of play that the manager wants to play. Yeovil is a big club and it shouldn’t be where it is.”

“I played against (Mark Cooper’s) sides when he was at Forest Green and they played a really good brand of football which suits me down to the ground.”

Maguire-Drew was part of the Dagenham & Redbridge side beaten by Cooper’s Forest Green Rovers in the 2017 National League play-off semi-final. He was also promoted out of this division with Leyton Orient in 2019 and obviously with Grimsby last season.

He added: “It’s a tough league, it’s about being consistent, and the most consistent teams that usually go through. I’m hoping to bring my experience to the team and hopefully change the fortunes.”

He described himself as a “very creative” left-footed winger who likes to come in from the right side who “likes to create and score a lot of goals” – which sounds just lovely!

He appears to be the the “quality addition” promised by manager Mark Cooper in his pre-match press conference on Thursday.

The Brighton & Hove Albion academy product has not featured for Grimsby since the end of October and has not started a game since a 3-0 win over his hometown club, Crawley Town, at the start of October. He has made ten appearances this season, scoring once.

Announcing the transfer, Mariners’ boss Paul Hurst does not mention the possibility of the deal becoming permanent.

He says: “We decided to let Jordan out as, understandably, he’s been a little frustrated with the lack of first team action and wants to play football.

“After giving it a little bit of thought and having him around for the last couple of games, I felt now was the right opportunity for him. Yeovil came up as an option and he was keen to go out and get some game time.

“We’ll obviously watch with interest how Jordan gets on but, for me, it shows he just wants to go and play, and I will never knock a player for that. Hopefully he can get the games that he’s craving.”

Manager Mark Cooper is hoping to bring in “a real quality addition” to his Yeovil Town squad ahead of this weekend’s FA Trophy match against Dorking Wanderers.

The Glovers’ boss also confirmed defender Jamie Reckord and Ben Richards-Everton, who both missed last Saturday’s goalless draw with Scunthorpe United through illness and injury, both trained on Thursday.

He added: “We are hoping there will be one in before the weekend which will give us a real lift going in to that game.”

Asked how he would sell the game to supporters, he added: “It’s a chance for us to get to Wembley, but I can’t really sell (the fans) too much right now because we’re not scoring loads of goals but what I can promise them we are going to try really hard.

“Hopefully we can have a real quality addition in the building by Saturday which will make them really want to come to the game.”

Cooper could only name three substitutes, including on loan goalkeeper Will Buse, last weekend and said he was pleased that players who did play against Scunthorpe despite illness were now feeling better.

He added: “We have got some of the others like Ewan Clark and Charlie Wakefield, who were both really under the weather against Scunthorpe, managed to shake it off, so we have more or less a full complement this week.”

Midfielder Matt Worthington will also be available against Dorking after missing the draw with Scunthorpe through suspension.

The team has been training at Alvington all week despite the freezing conditions, but training took place on the 3G surface at Huish Park on Thursday.

The frost covers have been on at the stadium in recent days and with temperatures forecast to drop to minus five degrees in Somerset overnight on Friday, they will be needed.

He confirmed that striker Jake Scrimshaw had been missing with “some personal issues” which had seen him missing from the Glovers’ squad in recent weeks.

The 22-year-old, who signed from Premier League AFC Bournemouth in the summer, has not featured under Cooper and his last outing was as a second half substitute in the 2-0 defeat to Oldham Athletic in October.

Asked about his absence, Cooper said: “He’s had some personal issues that he’s had to deal with and as a club we are supporting him in them and trying to make sure he gets the best of help.”

With Tuesday night’s trip to Barnet postponed due to the wintry weather, the squad has continued to an alarming lack of goals which means the Glovers remain the National League’s lowest scorers.

Cooper said the training had not just focused on getting the club’s strikers finding the net – although hopefully there was a bit of that – and said the rest of the team needed to look at ways to contribute to the goals scored tally.

He said: “We want to keep being defensively really sound, as a unit from the goalkeeper all the way through we have been defensively outstanding. The desire to keep the ball out of the net has been brilliant.

“But we have to try and unlock the forward bit and we are trying to do some work to make us a bit better in the final third.

“It’s not always just the forward players because wide players need good service for them to provide the forward players with good service, and the midfield has a role.

“So it’s an ongoing thing and we just have to try and improve the quality. Sometimes that is through repetition in training or bringing better players in.

“If you look at how many balls we had out of our own goalmouth, compared to the opposition goalmouth it would be a stark contrast.

“When it’s our own corner, we need to come in with the same aggression we do when we are defending and if we do that we will score hundreds of goals from set pieces.”

Cooper also confirmed that his side had practised penalties in training with the third round tie settled by a shoot-out if scores are level at full time.

Last season, the Glovers went out in a shoot-out against Southern League side Needham Market in the fourth round.

Asked about it, Cooper added: “I’m a firm believer you can’t replicate the pressure of taking a penalty, you can take 100 penalties in training but when you have the pressure of hundreds of people screaming and shouting at you it is different.

“Of course we will practice penalties, but I am still not sure that guarantees you scoring on the day. It’s about picking five people who are confident and really want to take them.”