Highlights of the goalless draw at home to Solihull Moors on Saturday are now available on the club’s YouTube channel.
If you can stick with with the psychedelic contrast for the opening 35 seconds, someone has fiddled with the settings after that – and four seconds later you’ll see Charlie Wakefield‘s golden chance to open the scoring.
Start the week off in the right direction with Ian, Ben and Dave’s conversation about the Glovers 0-0 with Solihull Moors.
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As always, we’ve drawn some conclusions from yesterday’s 0-0 against Solihull Moors. Here are Ian’s key takeaways from the afternoon…
Oh Charlie! Our star man had the most golden of opportunities to take us into the half time break with an advantage. A through ball from Tom Knowles gave Wakefield freedom of the Solihull Moors half, but as he bore down on goal you could just feel the confidence ebbing away. He had so long to make a decision and in the end his shot was poor and easy for Boot to make the save. It was a big moment and it felt like it was weighing on Charlie for a while, before he got back into his rhythm.
We defended with our lives. I thought the match was a good tactical battle. Neither side let up, and both changed their shape. We weathered the storm in the first quarter of an hour, with Grant Smith making a good save from Maycock and Sbarra missing a header. The game ebbed and flowed after with both sides sharing possession and territory. As the game wore on though, and fatigue set in Solihull took a bit more control and we had to defend resolutely. There was that typical defensive determination as shots were charged down by Staunton, Wilkinson, Williams, Barclay et al as we clung on to a clean sheet.
Lawson D’Ath gives us something different. Forced into an early change with Jordan Barnett’s injury, I was surprised to see Darren Sarll opt for Lawson D’Ath over Sonny Blu Lo Everton. But Lawson gave us all a timely reminder of what he’s capable of with an unexpected 70 minutes. He’s always offering to take the ball of his teammates, in any position and he’s always looking forward. The way he brings the ball down is always positive and forward-thinking. I think his arrival forced Solihull to be a bit more wary of us than they were with Barnett. Although we didn’t anticipate it, this amount of time from D’Ath will be beneficial for him. It gave him enough time to influence and get in to a flow and built up a good chunk of fitness ahead of next week.
People are voting with their feet. Less than 2000 were in attendance on Saturday after a midweek game which had roughly 3400 home supporters. Did Friday’s statement about anti-social behaviour have anything to do with that? Maybe, but the statement was the right thing to do. But let’s be clear, there are a plethora of reasons why supporters aren’t at games. Chiefly, Scott Priestnall and his absenteeism as the owner and chairman. Huish Park needs more than a lick of paint. You can read a blog here about that though.
We are actually unbeaten in three games. It’s been quite challenging to reconcile thoughts these past few weeks, but we’ve stopped the run of defeats and, in-truth, picked up good points. Had we drawn at Woking with 10 men, then beaten Weymouth and then drawn with in-from Solihull I think we’d be happy? The last three results have yielded the same points tally at that hypothetical scenario, yet there’s still a cloud. Personally, I think the off-the-pitch uncertainty and lack of clarity keeps this cloud hovering over us, no matter what happens on-the-pitch. A 0-0 draw against Solihull is a decent result given both teams’ form, position and resources. I just think I want to be able to enjoy it without the opaqueness which surrounds our future. We’ve got a big week ahead of us on the pitch, but what I would give for a big week off it.
Darren Sarll says he believes his Yeovil Town side are getting back on a run of form having gone three matches unbeaten with a goalless draw against Solihull Moors today.
The point against the visitors, who moved in to sixth in the National League table with the result means, the Glovers have now won one and drawn two of their last three matches, having lost their previous six in all competitions.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Ian Randall after the game at Huish Park, the manager said he was pleased to have another match coming up on Tuesday night at Wealdstone to try and keep the momentum going.
Sarll said: “I feel we are back on a mini run now. We go (to Wealdstone) with a lot of confidence.
“We have conceded one goal in three games, I know we have only scored one (well, W*ymouth scored the other for us – sorry Adi) but defensively we have given ourselves a really strong foundation to move forward from again.
“The players will come out from seven days with belief they can defend and keep clean sheets and that gives us confidence throughout the team.
“The team knows they only need one or two chances to win a game and that is probably the team we are, and we either make the most of those chances and take the three points or don’t and settle for one – but at least we are settling for points.”
He described his back four of Mark Little, Ben Barclay, Luke Wilkinson and Morgan Williams as “a different class” as they kept out a Solihull side which had scored 15 times in their previous four matches
But, for all their defensive qualities, the lack of a goal-scorer was painfully apparent as the Glovers drew a blank in front of goal.
Sarll said he believed Joe Quigley, who was departed for Chesterfield last month with chairman Scott Priestnall blaming falling attendances for the sale, would have “thrived” on the chances created today.
He said: “We obviously need a centre forward of a Rhys Murphy-type, who is going to concentrate on goals.
“We have Adi Yussuf who is a wonderful foil and Reuben Reid who is excellent with his back to go, but we could do with another.
“But, we are working with what we have, I don’t see any cavalry coming to support, so we have go to keep improving them as players.
“The more they get in there, the more they will have seen it and the more they will go through the process of what is right and wrong.”
Sarll said agreed with the interviewer that the best chance of game fell to Charlie Wakefield as the first half drew to a close.
The former Chelsea youngster burst clear of the Solihull defence, but his effort was saved by the foot of Moors’ keeper Ryan Boot.
The manager said: “(Charlie) is re-training because he’s been a wide player all his life, but, because of his pace, he creates a different type of chance than those we have been creating.
“So we have to allow him the experience of getting in to those positions and having time to think about it before he makes the next step of being a potent goal-scorer. I think Charlie can get there.”
Jordan Barnett, who limped off after 22 minutes this afternoon with an ankle injury, is “one of two or three” injuries which the boss will be taking in to the midweek trip to Wealdstone.
But, the manager praised Barnett’s replacement, Lawson D’Ath, who played the rest of the match despite it being only his second appearance after a nine-month lay-off through injury.
Sarll said: “I asked (Lawson) if he could achieve 70 minutes and he said ‘of course’, like they always do, but at the end there he had a little stretch off where cramp was starting to seep in.
“Straight away when he came on he turned the momentum of the game because he’s such an intelligent footballer.
“He takes up the right positions with no preparation in that role and he handles the ball beautifully, so to get him through 70 was great which will hopefully stand him in good stead for next Saturday (at Eastleigh).
“I’m not sure his body will allow him to go again on Tuesday, but maybe.”
Yeovil Town midfielder Dale Gorman says the 0-0 result against Solihull Moors was a fair result after two solid defensive sides kept each other at arms length.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Ian Randall he said that the Glovers knew what was coming and dealt with it well.
He said: “It was a tough battle out there, to be fair, we knew what they would bring today and we matched it throughout”
“I thought we were very accountable today, each and every one of us.”
“These games are going to be tight games and one goal could win them, Charlie (Wakefield) has had that chance in the first half, we’ve had a few sniffs and on the other side we’ve made some terrific blocks and I think a 0-0 is a fair outcome of the game”
The Northern Irishman was asked about the performance of the returning Lawson D’Ath who played over an hour replacing the injured Jordan Barnett and was confident that with a little extra quality that draws will turn into wins soon.
He said: “I thought we did well, that’s three game where we are unbeaten and that’s a clean sheet against a side that’s up there and that’s something you can’t throw away easy”
“At this stage of the season, when you’re playing teams above you, you can’t lose to them or the gap gets too big, we took a point, we move on to Tuesday.”
“Them 0-0’s will hopefully turn into 1-0’s, 2-0’s hopefully, it’s important we didn’t lose today… we’ve got our game in hand on Tuesday, away at Wealdstone, we need to back up today with a win there to put some pressure on the teams above us.”
The Glovers travel to Wealdstone this Tuesday, with the hosts 20th in the table having not played since the 29th January and with only two wins over bottom side Dover in the last 10 league games.
Venue: Huish Park
Tuesday, February 5th, 3pm kick-off
Conditions: Swirling wind
Pitch: Held up well
Attendance: 1,965 (65 away supporters)
Scorers: None
Referee: Greg Rollason
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: None
Solihull Moors: Cranston, 88.
Sending off: Cranston 90+2 (second bookable offence)
Yeovil Town : (4-4-2)
Grant Smith
Mark Little (for Jack Robinson, 76) Luke Wilkinson Ben Barclay Morgan Williams
Matt Worthington (for Reuben Reid, 71) Josh Staunton Dale Gorman Jordan Barnett (for Lawson D’Ath, 22)
Charlie Wakefield Tom Knowles
Substitutes: Jack Robinson, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, Adi Yussuf.
Solihull Moors: Boot, Clarke, Cranston, Gudger, Sbarra, Maycock (for Storer, 86), Osborne (for Barnett, 86), Dallas, Ellis, Newton, Maynard. Substitutes: Rooney, McNally, Myatt.
Yeovil Town made it five points for the week with a goalless draw at home to in-form Solihull Moors at a windy Huish Park.
Once again, it was a solid defensive performance from the Glovers who kept out the visitors’ forward line who had scored 15 times in their previous four games, but going forward was (yet again) the struggle.
The best chance for the home side came right at the end of the first half when Charlie Wakefield broke clear but his shot was saved by visiting keeper Ryan Boot.
Having been dominated in the opening period, the Glovers upped the tempo after the break but for all their resoluteness at the back, could not find a breakthrough.
The result sees us drop one place to 12th in the National League table, leap-frogged by Torquay United who have played a game more, ten points off the play-offs and 19 off W*ymouth who occupy top spot in the division’s relegation zone.
For the first 30 minutes of the half, there was very little to make any of the missing home fans who decided against returning after the midweek draw against W*ymouth to question their decision.
Solihull certainly looked the more confident and controlled on the ball, perhaps unsurprising given they had won their last four matches, scoring 15 times and conceding none in the process, whereas Yeovil looked more than a little disjointed.
The first chance of the game fell to Moors’ midfielder Callum Maycock who was found by Andrew Dallas‘ ball in from the right after six minutes, but Grant Smith in the Yeovil goal was equal to the effort.
The visitors stranglehold on the game continued with full-back Jordan Cranston, who saw red in the reverse fixture in the Midlands at the end of October, found defensive colleague James Clarke who was unable to get a shot on target.
On 22 minutes, Jordan Barnett limped off with what looked to be an injury to his foot and he was replaced by Lawson D’Ath, who had played 23 minutes in the past nine months. The took up Barnett’s position on the right side of midfield.
To say his manager was less than impressed with Barnett’s decision to come off would be an understatement.
Solihull forward Joe Sbarra, who has eleven goals to his name this season, had a great opportunity on 36 minutes when Maycock found him inside the box, but his header went wide.
As we crept in to the final five minutes of the half, the hosts were still looking for their first shot of the match.
It came in the 42nd minute when Charlie Wakefield broke clear of the defence, but seemed to have too much time to think on it as he journeyed from the edge of the centre circle, and Ryan Boot in the visitors’ goal saved with his feet.
Three minutes later, Knowles tried an audacious chip over Boot from almost on the halfway line which went off target.
Having weathered a storm for the majority of the half, those opportunities towards the end of the half gave the performance a bit more of a balanced feel. Goalless at the interval.
There was a swirling wind blowing around Huish Park which seemed to be favouring the team shooting towards the Thatcher’s End, and that was Yeovil Town.
It was certainly a brighter start for the Glovers with the quality of D’Ath shining through whenever he had the ball on the left side of midfield.
On the 56th minute, Matt Worthington found Knowles who broke in to the box, beating two visiting defenders and poked a shot in and his effort was deflected away for a corner.
Just after the hour mark, Danny Newton fashioned the visitors’ first opportunity of the second half when he got clear of Luke Wilkinson, rounded Smith but fired his shot in to the side-netting.
With Solihull starting to carve out more opportunities and the shot-shy Yeovil forward line starting to quieten down, Sarll brought on striker Reuben Reid in place of Worthington after 72 minutes.
As the game entered the final ten minutes, Maynard had another good opportunity blocked at one end before Wakefield went forward at the other and his ball found Knowles whose shot went for the near post, but only found the side netting.
Five minutes from time, good forward play by Dallas saw him clipped, the referee played the advantage and Cranston fired wide.
That was the final chance of the game, but there was still time for Cranston to get his second red card of the season against Yeovil, picking up his second booking for a cynical foul on Tom Knowles.
Yeovil Town made three changes for the visit of free-scoring Solihull Moors to Huish Park
Full-back Mark Little and forward Tom Knowles both returned having missed the midweek derby draw with W*ymouth through suspension, and there was a return for Josh Staunton, who had missed the past two matches through injury.
Jack Robinson, Adi Yussuf and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton all dropped to the substitutes’ bench, where there was no sign of stand-in goalkeeper Max Evans, the versatile Alex Bradley and young midfielder Toby Stephens, who have all featured recent weeks.
For the visitors, who occupied the National League’s final play-off spot, full-back Jordan Cranston, who was sent off in the reverse fixture at the end of October, returned in place of on-loan Harry Boyes.
Yeovil Town: Grant Smith, Mark Little, Ben Barclay, Luke Wilkinson, Morgan Williams, Josh Staunton, Dale Gorman, Matt Worthington, Jordan Barnett, Tom Knowles, Charlie Wakefield.
Substitutes: Jack Robinson, Lawson D’Ath, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, Adi Yussuf, Reuben Reid.
Solihull Moors: Boot, Clarke, Cranston, Gudger, Sbarra, Maycock, Osborne, Dallas, Ellis, Newton, Maynard. Substitutes: Storey, Rooney, Barnett, McNally, Myatt.
Yeovil Town Goalkeeper, Grant Smith has praised the defensive unit that has proved so strong this season.
The Glovers have conceded just 25 goals during the league season, one of the best defensive records in the division.
speaking ahead of the Solihull game, the a Number 1 was proud of the team’s efforts.
“We don’t concede many chances, a lot of the games where we’ve kept clean sheets, I’ve barely had a save to make, we work very hard on that.”
‘Shakira Hips’ Smith said that whilst he used to set himself targets for clean sheets that was no longer the case as he preferred to keep his focus elsewhere it did admit to the Gloverscast, he’s been known to celebrate a save like a goal and enjoys a scrappy 1-0 win more than most.
“For a goalkeeper, nothing beats a 1-0 win, everyone would love to win four or five-nil and have an easy win, but when you walk off the pitch at the end of the game having dug in for that last 30 minutes, they’ve been throwing absolutely everything at you and you’ve kept a clean sheet, it makes you feel like you’ve done a god job”
“That one on one save in the Stevenage game, I did celebrate it like a goal, I think it comes down to an important save at an important time, it wasn’t necessarily an unbelievable save, it was just an important moment in that game.”
Smith praised Luke Wilkinson for his consistency, Morgan Williams for his flexibility in different roles and Ben Barclay for the way he’s settled into the side but finished by saying that the side were up for the challenge of keeping Solihull’s front men out.
“It’s a good challenge, everyone wants to challenge themselves against the best in the league… But we take it for face value and give them all the respect”
Yeovil Town released a statement this evening condemning the behaviour of a minority of supporters at recent matches.
There have been several incidents involving pyrotechnics at Huish Park and at away matches this season as well as inappropriate chants, some of which are rife across football stadia at the moment.
The statement reads:
In recent weeks, the Club have become aware of an increase in anti-social behaviour by a small minority Yeovil Town supporters at home and away fixtures.
There has been an increase in wholly unacceptable language and chanting by this minority of supporters, something the football club strongly condemns. In recent months, there has also been an increase in pyrotechnics which we remind supporters are banned from all football stadia.
As a football club, we want Huish Park to be a welcoming environment for all and will work hard to ensure incidents like this do not happen again.
We would also like to thank the vast majority of fans who continue to showcase the football club in a positive light, both at Huish Park and when travelling to away grounds.”
It won’t be an instant fix, but fair play to the club for condemning behaviour which we’ve talked about on the podcast more than once this season.
Do better, we’re a better club than that.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.
In his pre-match press conference held on Friday morning, Darren Sarll spoke about the need for strikers Adi Yussuf and Reuben Reid to get more goals, but was full of praise for both players.
Yussuf has seven goals this season (sorry, we can’t give him the equaliser against W*ymouth on Tuesday) whilst Reid only has his injury time consolation goal in the defeat at Southend.
Sarll said the different style of his forwards meant he was “trying to use them to best effect.”
On Yussuf: he said: “He works harder for this club than I have seen him work for any club, the only problem I have is finding the balance with Adi and the other forwards. Adi has played more goals for me this season than he did for both his clubs last season combined, so he’s done brilliantly.
“I thought he was right to be used on Tuesday because we needed an awkward, bustling centre forward – but he missed two absolute, glorious chances, and that’s his job.”
On Reid: The manager also spoke about how he saw signs in midweek of Reid being ready for a starting place against Solihull.
He said he felt the development and subsequent success of his forward line during the 33-year-old’s absence through injury had worked against him.
Sarll said: “Reuben’s been a victim of our form in that moment and I don’t think he suits the way the team has learnt to play because that dynamic changed. He’s a very frustrated individual, he does not want to see out his career, we have had some open and honest conversations and I thought he was the best I have seen him in terms of threat when he came on in Tuesday night.
“We can’t pigeon hole him as this link up man because a link up man without a goal threat is a defensive midfield player. He still has to bring elements of forward play whilst doing that link up. He needs to retain a goal threat, but he’s getting closer.“