Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 323)

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Yeovil Town have launched an investigation after match highlights including “discriminatory chanting” from the weekend’s defeat to York City was published.

The highlights from the game at Huish Park published on the YouTube channels of both clubs including monkey noises coming from the stands as visiting striker Lennell John-Lewis prepared to take a penalty after 70 minutes of the match.

In a statement issued on Monday night, the club said: “Yeovil Town can confirm we are aware of audio which contains discriminatory chanting from Saturday’s game against York.

“An internal investigation will take place into the matter and we will work with all the relevant authorities.

“Yeovil Town continues to stand against all forms of discrimination. We will make no further comment at this time.”

The noises are clearly audible after around four minutes of the highlights footage when John-Lewis, who scored York’s winner in the 1-0 win, stepped up to the spot. His effort was saved by Yeovil goalkeeper Grant Smith.

York City also released the following on their Twitter account:

 

Here at Gloverscast we are sure we speak for all decent supporters when we say there is no place for this behaviour in our club and hope the perpetrators are identified and given lifetime bans from Huish Park.

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Finley Craske (R) warms up ahead of the Barnet game with Olivier Hulbert (C) and Matty Grivosti (L)

Plymouth Argyle boss Steven Schumacher has told the Plymouth Herald that he and first team coach Kevin Nancekivell have been in regular contact with both Finley Craske and Yeovil Town regarding the defenders progression and have said that they are “quite happy” with his progress.

Schumacher told reporter Chris Erringtond: “I would like him to play but at the moment he’s not getting in their team. Nance (Kevin Nancekivell) is in touch with Chris Hargreaves, who says he’s doing okay.

“It’s a big step up the National League to what Finley played last year so he’s probably just getting used to it, but they are quite happy with how he’s training and he’s not far away from getting in the squads and in the team, so we will leave him where he is for the time being.”

Craske, who has joined for the entirety of the 2022/23 season on loan from our Devonshire friends, is yet to make an appearance for his new side and has only been seen once on the bench, when as an unused sub on the opening day at Scunthorpe.

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How long ago does Alty feel now?

Man of the Match for the 42 who voted was Lawson D’Ath with 40.5% of the vote. In 2nd place was Malachi Linton and in 3rd place as Gime Toure.

The team performance was an average of 4.8 out of 7 so above average and entertainment value was 5.1, so those who went had an enjoyable afternoon, up until stoppage time!

 

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Yeovil fell to a dismal 1-0 loss at the hands of York City at Huish Park yesterday. Here’s how Ian saw it from the press box.

We didn’t compete in the midfield battle. For a lot of the match it felt like we were playing with seven at the back and three up front. The gap between the midfield was so large that it was no wonder we resorted to playing it long from back to front and exposing our deficiencies. York City’s centre midfield were finding pockets of space (much like Dagenham’s did last weekend) and kept possession effectively. I can’t recall Sam Perry or Lawson D’Ath grabbing the game or getting us a decent few minutes of possession once. We missed Matt Worthington in their for sure, but our focus on recruiting attack-minded players and centre-backs has left us short in centre midfield.

Charlie Wakefield. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

I think it’s time to try something different tactically. The 3-5-2 worked well against Wrexham and was effective in holding firm against Dagenham but we really didn’t look comfortable with it at all yesterday. Alex Fisher isn’t the kind of striker who’s going to hold up the ball and bring others into it. Charlie Wakefield isn’t a wingback and, although I like Josh Staunton at centre back, yesterday wasn’t his greatest performance. I would have liked to have seen him brought forward into a deep midfield role yesterday to help us compete in those areas and switch to a back four. We tried to build up from the back, but it just didn’t happen. If we conceded the ball cheaply once, we did it a thousand times. Max Hunt and Ben Richards-Everton struggled to get us moving forward but they weren’t helped by their teammates offering to get the ball from them and had to resort to lumping it down the channels forcing our strikers to feed off scraps.

We looked tired. That was one of the managers observations yesterday adding that he’d review what they did in the week following the Bank Holiday double header, suggesting the preparation hadn’t been right for yesterday. We didn’t keep the ball, we weren’t offering to get take it from each other, we felt overrun on numerous occasions and we didn’t play like a team. Maybe we missed the legs of Matt Worthington in midfield, but it felt like most weren’t at the races at all yesterday. That fatigue led to poor decision making, a lack of willing runners and no execution of the manager’s plan. We can’t criticise these players for not looking fit, because we know they are, but yesterday something was off. 

Matt Worthington. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Credit has to go to York City, they played like a team that’s been at this level for a while. The Minstermen looked comfortable on the ball and didn’t give us a look-in in the second half. Lenell John-Lewis gave a complete strikers performance, winning aerial duels, getting into dangerous spaces in the box and causing our three centre backs problems all afternoon. John-Lewis was thwarted from the spot by Grant Smith, but he deserved his deflected winner. The pressed our defence and goalkeeper when the time was right and were really well organised. But for a couple of saves from their keeper, they rarely felt stretched by our attacking play.

We said last week had to be the low point of the season, and now THIS has to be the low point of the season. Boos rang out at Huish Park yesterday following the final whistle, whether you agree with that or not, the performance was straight out of the Darren Way-era so you could understand the frustration in the stands. It has to be an off-day. Although there’s more certainty off-the-pitch this season than last, the clouds from the climax of last season are still there and it feels like they’re gathering quickly again. People won’t forget about the talk of plans for new investment and concrete frameworks from April and here we are five months later with one additional director. If there are repeats of yesterday, the pressure will be on the owner again.

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Toby Stephens in action for Truro City. Picture courtesy of Cameron Weldon/Truro City FC.

Only one of Yeovil Town’s loan duo was in action on Saturday as Toby Stephens completed his first 90 minutes for Truro.

The Cornish side were dumped out of the FA Cup by Merthyr Town losing 5-2 in the First Qualifying Round.

Paul Wotton‘s side were depleted through injury and availability naming just five subs on the bench with a full seven allowed.

Ollie Haste was not involved in the squad with Wotton saying post match that two of his loan signings – one of which was presumably Haste – was “not eligible to play in the FA Cup”.

We can assume then that Haste had not been given permission to play to avoid the youngster being cup-tied should the Glovers require him later on in the competition.

The White Tigers next fixture is… almost inexplicably… away at Merthyr Town again, this time in the league next Saturday.

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Yeovil Town Under-18s came from behind three times to kick off their season with a 3-3 draw at home to Cirencester Town at Alvington on Saturday.

On the scoresheet for young Glovers’ were Benjani Junior, Charlie Bateson and Nathan Hart in an entertaining match in the South West Counties Youth League.

The result puts them third in  table – after one match, of course – with Bridgwater United making an impressive start to the new campaign with an 11-0 win over the division’s newcomers, BRS Coaching Academy of Ringwood.

They travel to Salisbury FC Under-18s next Saturday for a match played at the British Army’s Bulford Barracks camp.

The Under-18s had lost just one of their five pre-season friendlies with victories over their counterparts at Bristol Manor Farm and Tiverton Town and ending with a 5-2 win over Sherborne Town Reserves.

 

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Chris Hargreaves admitted his Yeovil Town side were “below par” after they went down to a 1-0 defeat at home to National League newcomers York City.

The Glovers’ boss said he felt his players looked fatigued and cited a strong wind blowing across Huish Park as reasons for the loss which means they have won just one of their opening seven matches.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the game, Hargreaves said substitutions to bring on Gime Toure and Sam Pearson after an hour did not work.

He said: “We can’t hide away from the fact that a few (players) were below par, I don’t think there’s any getting away from that fact.

“I tried to change it at 0-0 and it didn’t really affect it for whatever reason, and that was disappointing because we try and change it to get more chances, but it didn’t.”

He added: “There’s been some very good performances this season and today wasn’t one, I accept that 100%.

“No-one will be doing anything other than looking at themselves in the Hargreaves household that’s for sure, because that’s my job.

“I’ll review it, I’ll review what I could have done better, we were at home, we were 0-0, I tried to make the changes, I tried to be positive with the changes, didn’t come off and we conceded a very poor goal.”

Goalkeeper Grant Smith pulled off a 70th minute penalty save from eventual goalscorer Lennell John-Lewis and made two other great saves to deny the striker.

Midfielder Matt Worthington missed the game with an injury which the manager said was “not too serious” and there was no place in the squad for new signing Will Dawes, signed for an undisclosed five-figure fee from Stratford Town in the week.

Charlie Wakefield had another frustrating game having started in a more central position and ending the game as a centre forward with strikers Alex Fisher and Malachi Linton both withdrawn before the end.

The manager said: “We’ve seen him play in two or three positions, one of those was late on up front, he didn’t quite have the legs to get away when we did have one chance where he was sort of clean through or one-v-one.

“They are my decisions and I’ve got to stick them, did I see enough before then? No, which is why I made the changes.”

The Glovers’ now have seven days until they travel to Woking, managed by former manager Darren Sarll, for their next National League encounter.

Asked how he would pick up his players, Hargreaves said: “They’re professional footballers, they’ll pick themselves up, they’ll be desperate to train, they’ll be desperate for the next game I’ve got no concerns about that.

“They’re a fantastic group of lads, they know what we want from them – we didn’t quite put the action plan together today for a number of reasons which we need to review very quickly.

“But I’ve got no problem with the morale of the group, they know they’ll be together and be fighting from the first until the last minute next week.”

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Venue: Huish Park
Saturday September 3rd, 3pm kick-off

Conditions: Unpredictably windy
Pitch: Looking good

Attendance: 2294 (127 away supporters)

Scorers: Lennell John-Lewis 80

Bookings: 

Yeovil Town: Lawson D’Ath 15,
York City: Fraser Kerr 36, Lennell John-Lewis 42

Referee: Aji Ajibola


Yeovil Town : (3-5-2)

Grant Smith

Max Hunt  Josh Staunton  Ben Richards-Everton

Morgan Williams (for Sam Pearson, 60) Lawson D’Ath Sam Perry Jamie Reckord

 Charlie Wakefield

Alex Fisher (for Chiori Johnson, 81)  Malachi Linton (for Gime Toure, 60)

Substitutes: Owen Bevan, Jake Scrimshaw.

York City: Ross, Kouogun, Kerr, Sanders, Fallowfield, Pybus, Dyson, Hancox, Hurst (for Boden, 65), Kouhyar, John-Lewis. Substitutes: Whitley, Whittle, Greaves, Duku.

Match Report

A frustrating afternoon saw Yeovil Town outclassed by a York City side who were unfortunate to only go away from Huish Park with a 1-0 victory.

It looked like the Glovers might have got out of jail after a lacklustre showing when Grant Smith saved a penalty from visiting striker Lennell John-Lewis on 70 minutes, but ten minutes later the experienced striker was found inside the box and fired the opener.

The sponsors’ man of the match was awarded to Smith who made two impressive saves to deny John-Lewis whilst at the other end one tame effort from Alex Fisher was all the hosts offered.

Not a good day at the office, here’s how it went…….

 

First half

Yeovil Town made three changes  from the Bank Holiday Monday stalemate at Wealdstone with Charlie Wakefield returning in a more advanced possession in place of Gime Toure who dropped to the bench.

The other changes was Max Hunt return in place of Alfie Pond, whose loan stay was cut short by his deadline day move from Exeter City to Wolves, and Lawson D’Ath replaced Matt Worthington who boss Chris Hargreaves said was injured albeit “not serious.”

On-loan Bristol City winger Sam Pearson returned to the bench having missed the previous three matches through injury. He was joined by Owen Bevan, the teenage centre half who joined from AFC Bournemouth on Friday.

After a bright start from the home side without threatening on goal, visiting midfielder Alex Hurst had a ninth-minute shot just over had Grant Smith scrambling in the Yeovil goal and moments later striker Lennell John-Lewis forced a fine stop out of the keeper, albeit the linesman’s flag was raised.

Linton, who missed a penalty five days earlier at Wealdstone, had an opportunity denied by the flag on 15 minutes, but it’s fair to say opportunities were at a premium in the opening quarter-of-an-hour.

The assistant was involved again four minutes later when Reckord’s free-kick was well met by Ben Richards-Everton, and a minute later Hurst was denied by a well-timed tackle.

On 39 minutes, a quick throw caught the Yeovil defence napping and John-Lewis nicked the ball over the leg of Josh Staunton and fired in a shot which Grant Smith did well to deny the powerful striker. Far and away the best chance of the match.

Three minutes later, John-Lewis was at the heart of the action soon after he caught Sam Perry with what looked like a stray elbow. There were cries for a red card from the home crowd although it looked as if a heavy landing was more damaging for the Walsall loanee. He was eventually fine to continue.

On 44 minutes, it was John-Lewis who was at the heart of a quick break and was forced wide and had a shot block, it dropped to Dyson whose effort went wide.

The issue for Yeovil was a lack of creative spark and energy in the centre of midfield (again, I know!) with D’Ath lying deeper and the absence of the industrious Worthington, there was not much forward play from Perry and Wakefield isolated in a more central role.

Goalless at the break. Very goalless.

Half time: Yeovil Town 0 York City 0

Second half

There were no changes for either side at the break and with the exception of an Alex Fisher flicked header flicked which went over there was not a meaningful opportunity for either side by the time we reached the hour mark.

It was the visitors who looked the more cohesive in their play and showing some attacking intent which was sorely lacking from the home side.

On the hour mark, Pearson and Toure entered the fray in place of Morgan Williams and Linton.

Alex Fisher forced York keeper Ethan Ross in to his first meaningful action of the match when he picked the ball up on the edge of the box and fired in an effort.

The changes failed to have an instant impact with neither Toure or Pearson unable to become the player able to get on the ball and cause a threat.

On 69 minutes, Staunton looked to go to head a ball away, it struck his arm and the referee awarded a clear-cut penalty. John-Lewis took the ball but also took an age to take the spot kick and, when he eventually did, Smith saved with his legs.

Sloppy play from Yeovil gifted John-Lewis an opportunity to rectify his mistake soon after, but he headed his effort wide. On another day, the former Grimsby man could have had a hat-trick and no-one could have grumbled.

The penalty miss did not deter York with substitute Scott Boden heading wide and then Smith denying Dyson with Yeovil dropping deeper and deeper against the frantic waving of Chris Hargreaves in the opposite direction. The frustration around Huish Park was audible.

With ten minutes gone, the inevitable happened with York taking the lead and it was the outstanding Lennell JOHN-LEWIS who got it. A low cross from the man they call ‘The Shop’ inside the box, he got a bit of luck with a deflection past Smith, but you could not deny the visitors deserved their lead.

In the first minute of stoppage time, substitute Chiori Johnson header a D’Ath corner against the crossbar. It could have been an equaliser but it would have been completely undeserved.

The final whistle was met by boos from the Huish Park crowd and you can’t blame them on that performance. For York City, well played, thoroughly deserved it.

Full time: Yeovil Town 0 York City 1