Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 359)

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Yeovil Town manager Darren Sarll believes the return to fitness of playmaker Lawson D’Ath has helped change his side’s attacking mentality as they look to find some scoring form.

The Glovers are now the third-lowest scorers in the National League with just 27 goals in 28 matches with only the division’s bottom two, Dover Athletic (21 goals) and King’s Lynn Town (24), having scored fewer.

D’Ath has shown his quality in his first start of the season at Maidenhead United in midweek where he played 62 minutes, having played 68 minutes in the goalless draw at home to Solihull Moors earlier in the month.

Speaking ahead of the weekend’s trip to Chesterfield, Sarll said: “Lawson has been a breath of fresh air and when I talk about us working on the attacking side more, it’s because of Lawson.

“The fact we could re-sign him meant we had a really good attacking, constructive player and he gives us a different feel. That is what squad depth gives you when you can have it.”

Lawson D’Ath talking to the media ahead of the trip to Chesterfield.

D’Ath also faced the media on Friday morning and described his own performance as “average” saying he could have done more in the attacking third.

But, he said that the responsibility for finding more goals had to be a collective one, saying: “You need that responsibility and you take that on, that’s what we’re paid to do. But it’s not just strikers and midfielders, it’s about all areas of the pitch.”

The Maidenhead match was the former Reading youngster’s third appearance, having come off the bench on two previous occasions against W*ymouth and Solihull, and he admits it has been a baptism of fire.

Those minutes were his first for nine months having suffered a knee injury in the final game of last season against Stockport County.

D’Ath said: “I want to play as many minutes as I can, it’s about building them back in to my body. I was training for a month but that is not the same as a pre-season when you do a lot of running and hard graft.

“You can’t replicate that and you can’t replicate the build-up of minutes you get in pre-season, so I have had to come in full throttle. It’s going to take a few games to get back to fitness.”

Asked whether he felt the Glovers could still make the play-offs this season, he said: “Of course we can, why not? I got through nine months of not being paid and grafting to get back so anything is achievable!”

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On-loan striker Olufela Olomola is expected to miss tomorrow’s trip to high-flying Chesterfield, Yeovil Town manager Darren Sarll has said.

The Hartlepool United man came off after 56 minutes of the 1-1 draw at Maidenhead United after a heavy challenge.

Olufela Olomola. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Speaking ahead of the televised trip to the Peak District, the manager said he was trying to build the frontman up having played just over two games worth of football since the start of December.

Sarll said: “Fela has been great. He needs resilience in games and his fitness which was a tell-tale the other night when we had to bring him off.

“I don’t think he’ll make Saturday, but that will be beneficial for the long run in the way we have with Lawson (D’Ath).

“He’s not played (regularly) for three years, he’s not played more than 15 games in the season, so we need him to be resilient and robust to carry on for the rest of the season.”

The news is a blow for the Glovers with Olomola having scored his first goal in his third spell at the club in the week, leaving Reuben Reid and Adi Yussuf, who both came off the bench in Berkshire, as attacking options alongside Tom Knowles and Charlie Wakefield.

Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, who was an unused substitute, is the other option.

There were no questions asked in the pre-match ‘presser’ on Friday morning about whether on-loan central defender Ben Barclay would remain beyond his initial loan spell, which is up after the trip to Chesterfield.

Talking after the Maidenhead draw, Sarll said he was waiting on “the big man” to sign off on an extension to the loan – we’ll wait and see on Saturday if anyone asks him about it.

But, the boss did say that he would not be giving undue attention to former Yeovil man Joe Quigley who is likely to be in the opposition squad at the weekend.

Joe Quigley celebrates vs Bournemouth

He said: “There’s ten other players aside from Joe, he’s less than ten per cent of the team. You have to plan for how a team plays, not just Joe.

“We obviously know Joe and his attributes, but they may use him in a different way that we used them. Unless you are on the training pitch with the squad he’s in, they might want something completely different from what I wanted.

“There’s no acceleration in getting a plan of how they are going to attack because Joe is in there.”

Sarll also revealed the club was facing a disciplinary charge after the incident which saw Knowles booked in the goalless draw at Eastleigh following a clash with the hosts’ Ryan Hill.

The incident – watch it again here at 02:22 – appeared to show Hill shove Knowles to the floor in retribution for what he saw as a late challenge on Spitfires’ keeper Joe McDonnell.

Both Hill and Knowles received yellow cards for their part in the scuffle.

Sarll said: “We are talking to the FA now about a punishment to our players because Tom Knowles got thrown to the floor against Eastleigh.

“We went over to the referee to say ‘you can’t do that!’, if he ran up in the street and did that, that’s assault.

“I just can’t work out where they are coming from. I’m 19-1 down to the FA now!”

That response came to a question about the two goals we had ruled out at Maidenhead in midweek with the manager concluding that Reid was offside for a late ‘winner’.

But, he questioned how defender Luke Wilkinson‘s first half header was ruled out for a foul on Magpies’ striker Nathan Blissett.

Sarll said: “The second goal is offside. I have watched Wilkinson’s goal a million times and that was a perfectly good goal.

“That is a side of our game that we are improving on in recent weeks, our attacking set plays have got better.”

 

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There’s certainly never a dull moment being a Chesterfield (Cashterfield?) supporter this season.

After Chief Executive John Croot predicted the global pandemic and bought an insurance policy which paid the type of finance to bankroll a string of big money signings, the Spireites looked unstoppable for the first half of this season.

Up until a 3-2 defeat at Maidenhead United in mid-January, they had won 13 National League matches, made the third round of the FA Cup and had a striker in Kabongo Tshimanga who literally could not stop scoring.

But, that loss in Berkshire is where things started to go wrong. Having lost that match, then-manager James Rowe signed Yeovil’s top-scorer Joe Quigley (it’s still our fault he left by the way, Glovers’ fans) and he played in a goalless draw at home to Aldershot Town which followed.

Joe Quigley, still our top-scorer with seven goals for Yeovil this season.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz,

Poor old Joe, the following Monday, the manager who signed him had been suspended amid allegations of misconduct which led to him being dismissed and former Glovers’ player Danny Webb was placed in charge.

To be fair to Webb, who had a fairly anonymous spell on the Huish Park staff, he picked up two wins and a draw (the latter coming against fellow big spenders, $tockport County) before he was replaced by Paul Cook, a legend in the Peak District having managed the club out of League Two in 2014.

But, in his first game in charge, Tshimanga suffered a horrific leg break down at W*ymouth in a match they drew thanks to a late equaliser and then last weekend midfielder Jak McCourt was stretchered off in the 3-2 home defeat to Solihull Moors and is out for the season.

They followed that up with the defeat at home to Wrexham on Tuesday night, after which, Cook said: “At the minute with suspensions and injuries, it’s horrific but we can’t make excuses, we can’t think we’re not where we want to be.

“That disappointment must be felt and we’re feeling it at the minute, but that’s the thing that drives you on to be more successful.

“We’ve had a really good season to date and won a lot of football games, but at the moment it’s not going for us and we’ve got to take that medicine and get better.”

 

FROM THE MANAGER

Speaking after the midweek defeat against fellow big-spenders Wrexham, Chesterfield manager Paul Cook called on the club’s fans to stick with the team:

“We’re a little bit of a blip and, when you are going through it like we are, if you don’t take your chances, it will come back to bite you and it did tonight.

“It’s a tough league and at the moment we’re feeling a bit flattened out, my job is to lift the players and make sure we don’t feel the same going in to the next few games.

“Our fans know what we are going through behind-the-scenes, that is obvious, we are going through a bit of pain and we need to stick together to make sure that pain goes away.”

In front of the BT Sport cameras, Cook said the weekend’s game gives his side an opportunity to bounce back from a recent run of poor form:

“It’s a big opportunity for us in front of the cameras (against Yeovil) and then we have Notts County and Southend, they’re all good games for us.

“If we want to be in that shake up at the end of the season, we must win games so the next game is a big one.”

 

TEAM NEWS

Injuries and suspensions? There’s quite a number at Technique Stadium, Chesterfield. It is probably simplest to list them out…..

Defenders

Gavin Gunning – missing since the FA Cup third round tie at Chelsea on January 8 with a shin and calf injury, thought to be approaching fitness.
Luke Croll – suffered a knee injury in the draw with Stockport, not expected to return until towards the end of this season.
Haydn Hollis – injured his Achilles and is out for the season.

Midfielders

George Carline – last season’s player of the year suffered a bad injury in October and seems likely to be out for the season.
Manny Oyeleke – looked superb against us at Huish Park but out for four to six weeks with a torn calf.
Jak McCourt – suffered serious ligament damage in last weekend’s home defeat to Solihull Moors, will be unavailable.
Jack Clarke – former Yeovil loanee out for the season with a hamstring injury.
Curtis Weston – suspended for a red card against Solihull

Strikers

Kabongo Tshimanga – suffered a broken leg and a dislocated ankle in the draw at W*ymouth earlier this month.
Danny Rowe – not featured since October due to an ongoing “health issue”.

But, in better news for our hosts this weekend, right wing-back Jeff King is back after serving his suspension for a red card at Stockport, and striker Tom Denton and midfielder Joe Rowley both impressed Cook having come off the substitutes’ bench in midweek.

Denton scored Chesterfield’s winner in the days before their money at Huish Park last season, whilst Rowley impressed whilst on loan at King’s Lynn Town in their  opening day win over the Glovers.

A FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS

If a few weeks ago you had asked us to name two ex-players who we were fearful of facing for Chesterfield, midfielder Tom Whelan and (still) our top-scorer Joe Quigley would not have been our first picks.

More likely we’d have gone for free-scoring striker Kabongo Tshimanga, who probably does look back on his time at Huish Park with a great deal of fondness, and one-time loanee Jack Clarke, who was awful in green and white but impressed in the blue of Chesterfield.

The latter two are injured, but the former two seem likely to be among those we face on Saturday. Whelan is facing us for the third time having played against us twice for Eastleigh this season and is undoubtedly a talented playmaker, whilst Quigley has suffered a torrid time since moving north but remains our top-scorer.

Goalkeeper Scott Loach is the other player expected to be in the visitors’ starting XI who has been in both camps is goalkeeper Scott Loach, who played six times during a one-month loan spell at Huish Park in 2015.

In the Yeovil side of the pitch, Glovers’ keeper Grant Smith and striker Adi Yussuf both turned out for the visitors’ last season.

Smith played 18 times after joining Chesterfield in the second half of last season, whilst Yussuf scored twice in a 10-game spell on loan at Chesterfield whilst a Blackpool player last season.

Going back even further, Glovers’ full-back Mark Little had a spell on loan at Chesterfield from Wolves in 2009-10.

Even Chesterfield first-team coach Danny Webb has Yeovil Town connections after following his dad, former Glovers’ manager and owner David, to the club. He played seven times in a couple of years at Huish Park, but failed to score.

As ever, there’s a fair list of players who have done time with both clubs, so we’ve stuck with the ones who will have some involvement this weekend, here’s a few others:

  • Mike Hughes
  • Daniel Johnson
  • Marc Richards
  • Nathan Smith
  • Terrell Forbes
  • Martin Gritton
  • Adam Rooney

There’s probably more, but that’s enough to be getting on with.

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Dave and Ben are joined by Marcus Duncomb to chat about the draw at Maidenhead and we catch up with our friends at SpireritesWrites about our opponents on Saturday, Chesterfield.

Thanks for listening!

 

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Yeovil Town have been handed a home tie in the Semi Final of the Somerset Premier Cup against either Odd Down or Wells City.

The Glovers’ won their quarter final against Chedder and are one game away from Wembley  the final.

The schedule suggests this game is meant to take place in the week commencing 21st March, but Yeovil host Bromley in the National League on Tuesday 22nd, suggesting this may get moved, we will bring you details once they are confirmed.

Odd Down will face Wells City on Tuesday 1st March for the right to play at Huish Park after their first attempt on February 15th was postponed.

The other semi-final sees Frome Town host Jerry Gill’s Bath City, the final date and venue are yet to be confirmed, in case you were hoping to book the day off work.

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Doncaster Rovers 4 Yeovil Town 5 – Saturday 23rd February 2002

When Yeovil played Doncaster in the FA Trophy Fourth Round in 2001/02, the Glovers were in a free-scoring run of form. Since the rebuilding job begun by Gary Johnson in the summer, the addition of Adam Stansfield from Elmore in November turned Yeovil from mid-table inconsistency to a more dangerous proposition. They continued to be dogged by defensive problems, caused by a new-look back line of (when fit) Lockwood, Tonkin, Skiverton and Pluck, who were taking time to get used to each other given significant injury problems in defence. Colin Pluck (later Miles) was missing for much of the first part of the season and when he returned, Skiverton was out for an equally long time. Meanwhile Roy O’Brien suffered a broken leg, forcing Tom White to play on through very difficult personal circumstances, which he did admirably. Defending in the first half of the season was often disastrous to the point of being comical, but at least once Stansfield arrived goals started to go in at the other end with more frequency.

In February 2002, Yeovil were in an incredible run of games – a 4-0 spanking of Hayes in a monsoon at Church Road was followed by a remarkable 5-1 win at Morecambe. The following week, the Glovers played out an entertaining 3-3 draw with leaders Dagenham, which they arguably could have won. A run of 20 league and cup games unbeaten saw them up to 3rd in the table behind leading pair Boston and Dagenham. The week after the Doncaster replay came a dramatic late 2-1 win at home over rivals Hereford. After a decidedly dodgy first three months or so of the season, things were finally starting to come together for Gary Johnson’s side. Between the beginning of January and the middle of March the Glovers were unbeaten, scoring 36 goals in 13 games but also conceding 16 – in this time they scored in every single game, but also only kept three clean sheets, the goals were flying in.

Following the 3-1 win at Tiverton Town in the Third Round, Yeovil were drawn at home against fourth-placed Doncaster. The original tie was due to be played on 2nd February, but was postponed three times due to a waterlogged pitch, as Huish Park was an absolute quagmire at the time. It finally went ahead on Tuesday 19th, and of course ended in a draw – Paul Barnes capitalised on a Lockwood mistake early on, but Adam Stansfield secured a replay with a 79th minute header. Stansfield was in a rich vein of form at the time, scoring 13 goals in 13 games and also grabbing 7 assists, scoring in 6 out of the 7 games prior to Doncaster so it was no surprise to see him pop up with a late equaliser.

The original tie had been so delayed that the replay took place on Saturday 23rd February, the day the 5th Round had been scheduled to take place, so the winners already knew they would be facing Trophy holders Canvey Island at home in the next round.

Despite the Glovers’ good form at the time, they were suffering from severe selection problems. A bout of flu had run through the club, with Colin Pluck, Olivier Brassart, Darren Way and even Gary Johnson among the victims. In addition, Lee Johnson and Kim Grant had been injured during the first game and were unavailable for the replay. This left severe shortages in midfield, with only 39-year old Steve Thompson, already pulled out of retirement to cover the ongoing injury crisis, fully fit. Roy O’Brien was on the bench, but had not started a game since breaking a leg against Scarborough in September.

Playing into a strong wind, Yeovil got off to a terrible start, conceding a penalty after five minutes, although even with the benefit of a replay it is not clear what the offence was as nobody appealed for it. Jamie Paterson converted, and young striker Robert Gill scored a header to make it 2-0 after 22 minutes. The Glovers went in at half time 2-0 down and it could have been a lot worse as Doncaster had multiple chances to increase their lead, with only the post and at least two goal line clearances keeping the score down to two.

Brassart and Way had started in midfield alongside Thommo, but were both forced to withdraw due to illness, on 29 minutes and 52 minutes respectively. To make matters worse, Thompson pulled a muscle and had to be withdrawn at half time to be replaced by Roy O’Brien, playing pretty much alone in central midfield on his first game in five months.

Playing with the wind behind them, the odds were still very much against Yeovil in the second half. Donny continued to dominate, and there was at least one more goal line clearance and a last ditch save from Weale before the Glovers got back into it. Before that though, from a Yeovil corner that was cleared, Robert Gill ran half the length of the pitch to beat Weale and put the home side 3-0 up after 49 minutes. Surely game over, as some Yeovil fans in the 150 or so away following took that as their cue to head back to Somerset, and the stadium PA announced that the next round would take place against Canvey Island the following Tuesday.

The tide soon turned though, as on 52 minutes Darren Way, who had made a mistake in letting the ball pass him in the build-up to Doncaster’s third goal, was replaced by Carl Alford as Yeovil went to three up front with Giles and Stansfield. Just five minutes later, the comeback began as an in-swinging Nick Crittenden free kick was headed home from close range by Colin Pluck to make it 3-1. On 75 minutes, it was Crittenden again who provided the assist, using the wind to his advantage to swing in another deep cross, for Alford to head home for 3-2.

At this point Doncaster made the mistake of withdrawing top scorer Paul Barnes, replacing him with the giant Mark Sale, presumably in an effort to hold up the ball. However Sale is not a goalscorer, and clumsily fell over the ball when if he had controlled it better he would have been through on goal.

For the last 15 minutes, it rained goals as there was almost no time for any action in between – following Alford’s goal on 75 minutes, a deep McIndoe free kick on 79 minutes was stabbed home from close range by Adam Stansfield to make it 3-3. On 86 minutes, Stansfield scored easily the best goal of the game with an incredible 30-yard lob to put the Glovers 4-3 up. With Yeovil finally in front, you’d think this would be the last of the scoring, but just two minutes later Doncaster broke forward, and a cross was converted by Gareth Owen in the box to make it 4-4, as hundreds of home fans flooding for the exits suddenly stopped to watch the game again.

However, precisely 10 seconds after the re-start, a foul on McIndoe on the half-way line gave Yeovil a free kick. McIndoe passed inside to White, who launched a long ball into the box. A headed clearance fell to Skiverton 20 yards out, who shot through a melee of players to beat the keeper and put Yeovil 5-4 up for the last goal of the game. Despite the flood of goals there was still a minute plus four more of injury time, during which the home side did push forward, and had a late appeal for a penalty turned down. It wasn’t the end of the action but it was the end of the scoring, as the whistle finally blew with Yeovil winning incredibly 5-4 with four goals in the last 15 minutes with, let’s not forget, about half of their team missing through illness and injury.

It is probably fair to say that despite Yeovil’s fairly poor record in the FA Trophy up until this point, a lot of people felt that after that incredible game, our name was on the cup. However it was still early in the competition, with four more rounds to go. Holders Canvey Island awaited in the next round, which was due to be played the following Tuesday but was again postponed. Ishtmian League Canvey had beaten Conference sides Stevenage, Telford, Chester and Forest Green on their way to winning the Trophy in 2001, but were yet to face a Conference team in this season’s competition.

That game ended up being played on Tuesday 5th March – the Tuesday after that dramatic late win against Hereford that would see McIndoe sent off and Andy Lindegaard score an injury time winner – and was a bit more comfortable this time, with Yeovil going 2-0 up through Stansfield and Crittenden, and surviving a late scare to win 2-1. The next round saw the Glovers in the Quarter Final for the first time in almost ten years, drawn away at Northwich Victoria, the other team in green and white, and time to dust off the sky blue away kit for only the second time.

Team that day: Chris Weale, Adam Lockwood, Terry Skiverton, Colin Pluck, Darren Way (sub. Carl Alford, 52), Steve Thompson (sub. Roy O’Brien, 46), Olivier Brassart (sub. Tom White, 29), Nick Crittenden, Michael McIndoe, Chris Giles, Adam Stansfield. Subs not used: Jon Sheffield, Andy Lindegaard

 

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A point gained or two more dropped? Whatever your opinion, Yeovil Town’s draw at a Maidenhead United side with an impressive record on home turf fixes us even more firmly in to mid-table in the National League.

Here are Coatesie’s conclusions from the game in Berkshire from the away end….

For the first half Yeovil Town carried a threat going forward and, for the first time I can recall, it was not all built around Charlie Wakefield and Tom Knowles. It became obvious when both departed that we lost our attacking threat with the loss of Olufela Olomola and Lawson D’Ath. Neither player is obviously fully match fit as they both find their way back after a lack of regular football for different reasons. On the positive, we have two players capable of making a real difference going forward, but on the negative D’Ath tired after the break and was sensibly replaced and Fela took heavy challenge which he seemed to still be feeling after the game.

The more worrying thing was that despite our bench looking strong on paper none of our substitutions made much of an impression. Reuben Reid showed some good touches and looked like he got the winner (see next Conclusion), but otherwise did not carry the same scoring threat as Fela. Jordan Barnett didn’t have much of an impact, though on numerous occasions I had wished it had been him accelerating down the pitch from left-back instead of Morgan Williams. No real criticism of Morgan’s performance, but I just am still not convinced he is full-back.

Now I know referee’s are off the agenda (Rule 1 and all that) but what about assistant’s? Okay, I am biased but I saw little wrong with either goal that

Reuben Reid. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

was ruled out. In the first half, Luke Wilkinson did exactly what his manager had been calling for and got himself on the end of a great ball in to the box to head home, he jumped, but he was looked simply more committed than the Maidenhead player he was competing against. Even on a replay I don’t put it beyond ‘seen them given’. Then the injury time ‘winner’ from Reid, well, my angle behind the goal was not the best to judge, the linesman had his flag up early but the fact the ref checked with his assistant suggested even the man in the middle was unsure of the decision.

We saw the best and the worst of Grant Smith. The Yeovil keeper kept us in the game particularly in the second half when we couldn’t seem to keep Maidenhead away. He was involved in a one-on-one battle with the hosts’ Dan Sparkes with some brilliant saves, but sadly his error for the equaliser was even more telling. From the away end it was difficult to see exactly what happened, but it looked pretty inexplicable from what I could make of it.

Sadly, it was another performance which made me convinced we are every inch a mid-table side and unless we can magic up a fully fit D’Ath, get Fela firing or get Wakefield and Knowles back to their unplayable best, it hard to see how it is going to change. But let’s end on a positive, Charlie Lee is going to be an entertaining watch in the technical area. At the start, Darren Sarll shouted to supporters waiting to see which end we were shooting towards that his assistant was nailed on for a yellow card. Invading the pitch for the ‘winner’ from Reid. If there’s nothing to play for other than the pride this season, his antics could be worth a watch.

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Yeovil Town Manager Darren Sarll said he was frustrated to come away with only a point on Tuesday night against Maidenhead.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins, he spoke of his disappointment at not picking up the win.

“I was disappointed in the end that we haven’t won the game, I’m frustrated we haven’t won the game because the players and I are hugely ambitious, we don’t want to be a mid table team, our play is improving, but I want us to be more than that.”

“I don’t want to keep leaning on age, or resources, because that’s not fair to the supporters who travel so far and spend so much money. 

The last two away games, that should be six point rather than two.”

The Glovers had two goals ruled out during the game, one for a foul by Luke Wilkinson in the first half and a late strike by Rueben Reid ruled out for offside.

Luke Wilkinson and Reuben Reid celebrate the FA Cup win over Stevenage. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

In all, Sarll was disappointed by the officials.

“I thought the first goal – the Wilkinson header – was a goal, he’s just more aggressive and builds momentum from the delivery and heads it in. If you’re going to give free kicks for that then oh my life.”

“He (the Ref) was poor all night, some of the decisions were astronomical, they were really poor and it just spoils the game”

“We’ll look at it, report it and nothing will get done”

On a brighter note, Olufela Olomola scored his first goal of his third loan spell with a neat finish, unfortunately his match was cut short by injury in the second half.

“He’s got good technique, I’m a little bit worried about what he’s come off for… but it was a good strike, he was a threat, a real threat and he’s got that capability of receiving back to goal and being strong and also really threatening in behind”

Regarding the injury, Sarll says he expects the on loan Hartlepool front man to get a scan ahead of the weekend trip to Chesterfield.

“I’d be a little bit concerned about that right now… or he’s a wimp and I don’t know him well enough and he rocks up fit for Saturday”

  • Ben Barclay‘s loan is expected to be extended until the end of the season, we reported earlier that the Manchester Evening News had reported that an extension was on the way, but Sarll himself confirmed he was waiting on the final paperwork to be completed. “I think that’ll go through tomorrow (Wednesday), we’re just waiting on the big man (we presume he means Scott Preistnall, rather than God, Santa Claus or Peter Crouch) to authorise it. Ben wants to stay, he’s been fantastic for us, I think we’ve conceded something like three goals since he’s been with us.”
  • Lawson D’ath completed 60 minutes and the manager was pleased as he continued his recovery from long term injury. “He’s fabulous, some of his touches and awareness. I just thought the 60 minute mark was enough because he started to look fairly frail, bless him, but he will push with that game time he will push, the great thing with Lawson is he is a big player for us, even in that 60 minutes, it’s better for us to have Lawson out there”

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Alex Bradley in conversation with manager Darren Sarll.

Yeovil Town midfielder Alex Bradley spoke to the BBC after the Glovers’ 1-1 draw away at Maidenhead and he said it was disappointing not to get the win on his return to the side.

The former Finland youth international was making his first league start of the season and played 87 minutes before being replaced by Adi Yussuf.

“I really enjoyed being back playing with the lads, just disappointed we haven’t come away with all three points”

“I’ll play wherever I’m told to play, when the manager wants me to play… I feel fit, I feel really fit, the gaffer has got me doing extra running and extra training so yeah, I do feel fit and tonight I felt good out there”

The game saw no fewer than three goals ruled out for various reasons, two for the Glovers; and Bradley says there’s more to come from this side.

“We’ve got to want more, we’ve got to keep pushing as a team and as a squad, we can’t be satisfied with coming here tonight and going away with a point because these are the places we have to come and look to get all three points”

With Chesterfield on the horizon, Bradley is adamant the Glovers will be out for the win, with confidence remaining high.

“I think every game we have to go into with confidence, if you don’t you’ve already lost the game, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing – top of the league or bottom of the league – the objective has to be the same, to be going to game to try and win”

He also praised the return of Charlie Lee as assistant manager in his first league game in his new role, saying Lee is a “great bloke” and it’s “great to have him back”.

Bradley and Yeovil head to Derbyshire to face Chesterfield this Saturday at 17:20.

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Venue: York Road
Tuesday, February 22nd, 7.45pm kick-off

Conditions: Cold but dry
Pitch: Sandy in the penalty areas and cutting up everywhere else.

Attendance: 1153

Scorers: Olomola 18, Ferdinand 44

Bookings: Wilkinson, Williams, Massey, Clerima

Referee:


Yeovil Town : (4-4-2)

Grant Smith

Mark Little, Luke Wilkinson, Ben Barclay, Morgan Williams

Lawson D’Ath (Jordan Barnett 62), Josh Staunton, Alex Bradley(Adi Yussuf 87)

Charlie Wakefield, Olufela Olomola (Reuben Reid 54), Tom Knowles

Substitutes: Matt Worthington, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton

Maidenhead United

Gyollai, Beckwith, Blissett (Smith 77), Clerima, De Havilland, Donnellan, Ferdinand, Kelly, Massey, Sheckleford, Sparkes (McCoulsky 83)

Substitutes: Adams, Parry, Upward

Match Report

A first half goal for both sides saw Yeovil Town earn a point on the road at Maidenhead United this evening.

The Glovers had two goals disallowed on the night, but Olufela Olomola’s 18th minute opener. Kane Ferdinand levelled things up before half time and neither side could find a winner in the 2nd half. Although, Reuben Reid was denied a late winner by an offside flag which our man at the ground, David Coates couldn’t understand.

Here’s how he saw the game… 

First half

It was Maidenhead danger man Josh Kelly who had the first opportunity, the ball breaking to him inside and Grant Smith was equal to his effort from a tight angle.

Shortly after Olomola was found from a long throw by Tom Knowles but could not get an effort in on goal.

The first opportunity half-chance for the Glovers as Tom Knowles’ long-throw escaped everyone and fell to Olufela Olomola who couldn’t get a clean connection on the ball.

But on 14 minutes, the visitors had the ball in the net when Alex Bradley (released from incarceration) found Luke Wilkinson at the back post and he headed home.

A pint went up from the away end but it was in ruled out for climbing – seen a lot worse.

The officials levelled it up on 16 minutes when Maidenhead were denied by the offside flag. Smith pulled off a fine save before a barrage of shots with the ball in the net from Remus Clerima, but the flag denied him.

The deadlock was broken on 18 minutes when Knowles’ persistence saw the ball broke to Olufela OLOMOLA whose effort took a deflection on its way in to the net. If Adi get the one against W*ymouth, they one belongs to Fela. 1-0

A free-kick from Dan Sparkes came rattling back of the back off the bar and, from the second ball, a superb intervention from Ben Barclay denied the home side on 24 minutes.

For the remaining 20 minutes, neither side threatened with the combination between Olomola and Lawson D’Ath proving fruitful without carving out a meaningful chance.

The punishment came a minute from the break when a corner from Sparkes appeared to be missed everyone including Smith for Kane FERDINAND to prod home the equaliser. 1-1

Nathan Blissett put a header wide for hosts moments later, but the game was level at half time.

Half time: Maidenhead United 1 Yeovil Town 1

Second half

The first action of the second half saw Olomola hit with a heavy tackle. The loanee got up and carried off, but went down in the 55th minute replaced by Reuben Reid.

In only his second match, Olomola again showed flashes of what he is about and his desire to have a shot shows a lot of what we have been missing up front. Let’s hope the change was precautionary.

Sparkes had a free-kick deflected wide, which Smith may have got a touch on, it was hard to see from the away end. But there was no doubt the keeper did superbly to deny Sparkes with a smart stop on 63 minutes.

D’Ath was replaced by Barnett and he took much of the quality out of midfield, and at the other end it was Sparkes versus Smith.

The Magpies’ number 11 fizzed in another effort from the edge of the box which the keeper turned wide with another stop.

In the away, the supporters broke in to a burst of The Great Escape and there was a feeling of holding on.

Knowles had a free kick deflected wide before another effort from the edge of the box was dragged wide.

Three minutes from the end we threw Adi Yussuf as a Hail Mary, but there was no sign of divine inspiration.

It almost came when a minute in to stoppage time a corner was met by the head of Wilkinson and broke to Reid and whose stabbed it in, only to be denied by the the offside flag.

The linesman had his flag up early but, for the life of me, I don’t see how he can be offside from there.

Three points for either side would have been an injustice, so perhaps there was a divinity involved.

Full time: Maidenhead United 1 Yeovil Town 1