Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 359)

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Tom Knowles wanted to leave Yeovil Town when League Two Walsall came in for him on the eve of the new season, according to Glovers’ boss Chris Hargreaves.

The forward scored ten times in 46 appearances for the Glovers last season and that form caught the eye of the Saddlers – perhaps when they came to check out their own loanee midfielder Sam Perry during pre-season.

Asked about the decision to sell one of his main assets just 48 hours before the opening day trip to Scunthorpe United, Hargreaves told BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins the situation was “not ideal.”

Chris Hargreaves talks to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins ahead of the 2-1 defeat at Scunthorpe United.

He added: “I have only got good things to say about (Tom), he was brilliant with me and always gave it everything, I didn’t want to lose him and the football club didn’t but an amount of money was offered and the player wanted to go.

“You have to let it be about the player’s decision because you don’t want an unhappy player. I’m not saying he would have been but sometimes things are out of my hands and all I can focus on now is the players I have got.

“They are the ones who are working hard to get in to the team and now I have to work on finding that person who replaces Tom and can be our match-winner and talisman who can turn something in to nothing in the final third.”

Asked whether he had been made any assurances that the funds from the transfer would be available to strengthen the squad, the manager said chairman Scott Priestnall had “made it clear” he would be supported.

Hargreaves added: “The likelihood of Tom going at the end of the season was high, so a decision had to be made at some point. As manager I can only focus on what is in front of me, I didn’t want him to go but we have got to move on, we wish him all the best and we have to focus on what we have now.”

Following the departure of Knowles, Hargreaves brought in 19-year-old Matt Grivosti on a youth loan from Bolton Wanderers. The length of the loan was not disclosed.

Grivosti joins goalkeeper Will Buse (Bristol City), defender Finley Craske (Plymouth Argyle) and midfielders Sam Perry (Walsall) and Sam Pearson (Bristol City) who make up the other four loanees at Huish Park.

In terms of permanent arrivals, strikers Alex Fisher and Malachi Linton and full-back Jamie Reckord have joined in the summer having been released by Newport County, Wycombe Wanderers and Boreham Wood respectively.

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Jamie Reckord has said he and his Yeovil Town team-mates will take a look at the video nasties of the two goals they conceded in the opening day defeat to Scunthorpe United.

The Glovers’ allowed Iron defender Andrew Boyce freedom inside the box to head home the opener after 26 minutes before Jacob Butterfield was allowed to bomb forward and smash home a second just after the hour mark.

Jamie Reckord speaks to YTFC YouTube.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the game, Reckord said: “Every goal you look at and feel you could have stopped it, but I feel like we could have stopped these ones, everyone could have done better in the build up to each goal.

“We are going to have to break it down, look at it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The former Solihull Moors and Wrexham player and fellow wing-back Charlie Wakefield were given more licence to go forward in the second half as the visitors reverted from a five-man defence, and Reckord scored his first goal for his new club to set up a frenetic finish.

Of the change, Reckord said: “The gaffer has worked on us being able to change shape quite a bit and I felt like we were a lot more fluent (after the change of shape) and created more chances, unfortunately we couldn’t get the second even though we created a lot of chances.

“I like getting forward, when you play 4-3-3 against 4-3-3 like we did in the second half, it gives you licence to bomb on. I enjoy attacking, so that’s not a problem.”

He added: “The first half neither side really took control of the game, I didn’t feel there was much in it from either side but we gave a sloppy goal away and goals change games.

“We went in at half-time and regroup and created some chances, we probably should have done better and put more chances away and nicked a draw at least there.”

Next up for the Glovers is big-spending Wrexham, the club which Reckord played nearly 50 times for up until January this year when he departed for Boreham Wood where he finished last season.

The Welsh side came from 1-0 down to win 2-1 at home to Eastleigh on the opening day with Elliott Lee, who joined from Championship side Luton Town in the summer, getting both goals.

Reckord said: “I’m going to be up for (that game), that’s one game in the calendar that I looked for straight away. Everyone knows what Wrexham have been doing with the transformation of the club, so everyone is going to be up for it.

“You can’t be too high or low after the first game, everyone wants to win each game, but there’s plenty more to go and we will feel like we can win on Saturday.

“It’s still early in the season, we’ve lost this one and we’ve got to pick ourselves up and move on to the next one.”

 

 

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Chris Hargreaves’ first match as manager ended in defeat at Scunthorpe this evening and he was disappointed with the result but praised the bravery of his players – and reiterated the need for additions.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sheridan Robins, the manager said: “[I’m] disappointed, so are the lads, bitterly disappointed. I think we did enough. We changed the shape, maybe we were a little bit on the backfoot [in the] first half, just too protective. A lot of lads probably just on a fine line between being able to play or not. They did well to even be on the pitch a couple of them.”

The Glovers went 2-0 down before Jamie Reckord scored a consolation and they certainly created chances to find an equaliser. Hargreaves thought once his side were calmer, they improved.

“It was an okay performance, once we go the belief and once we were calmer on the ball and switched play and did what we’ve done in a lot of the pre season training sessions and games. We looked excellent, we looked a threat, we looked like we had width, we looked like we were going to score a second goal.

“I’m baffled as to why we couldn’t get on the end of one of the crosses, numerous corners, chances. It was front-foot football and I always reference the fans at the end of a game cos they usually tell you what they done and I have to thank them for their support today, they were absolutely brilliant.”

Jacob Butterfield’s second half strike was one that the defence will not want to watch back, and the manager admitted it was a poor goal to concede.

“I think the second goal was a killer, really, because of the backing off. We lost the ball when we probably think we’re in good possession. We’ve still got to react, we’ve still got to get back in numbers and some point someone’s got to transition to go and press and try and affect the ball and we didn’t, so that was really poor from us,” he said.

Following the departure of Tom Knowles on Thursday, there is a clear need for additions in the squad and Hargreaves is determined to add.

He said: “I’m still going to be on the phone all next week, because we want to add to what we’ve got, we’ve got to add to the quality we have, we just need a little bit more to be able to go into a full season with a squad of real depth.”

When asked by our very own Ben Barrett about if he was looking to add experience to his squad, Hargreaves said: “Experience costs a lot of money, in the main, and we have to cut our cloth to our own club and our own finances. And, I maintain that we cant be frivolous because you can’t exist as a football club because someone’s got to put the money in and it’s a lot of money to run a football club. I would love millions of pounds, everybody would. But, the reality is, we want to be competitive with what we have, and we were today.

“So we’ve got to get that recruitment right and try and get the players in. And I can assure you that 24/7 for the last six weeks I have tried to do that. Its fallen through a couple of times at the last minute which is disappointing, which happens, but lets hope it doesn’t fall through next week,” he added.

  • One notable absentee was Lawson D’Ath, who has had a reoccurrence of a previous injury. Hargreaves said he was hoping to get Lawson back training more intensely towards the end of next week.

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Venue: Glanford Park
Saturday August 6th, 5:20pm kick-off

Conditions: Sunny Scunny – no seriously!
Pitch: Green….all over.

Attendance: 3,131 (141 away supporters)

Scorers: Andrew Boyce 25 (0-1), Jacob Butterfield 62 (0-2), Jamie Reckord (1-2)

Bookings: Grivosti 90+5
Sendings off: None

Referee: Scott Tallis


Yeovil Town : (3-5-2)

Grant Smith

 Morgan Williams, Max Hunt, Ben Richards-Everton,

Charlie Wakefield, Sam Perry (for Sam Pearson, 66), Josh Staunton, Matt Worthington, Jamie Reckord

Alex Fisher (for Matt Grivosti, 83) , Malachi Linton

Substitutes (not used): Will Buse, Chiori Johnson, Oliver Craske.

 

Scunthorpe United: Dewhurst, Ogle, O’Malley, Boyce, Taft, Daniel (for Carver, 73), Whitehouse, Feeney, Butterfield, Beestin (for Gallimore, 80), Nuttall (for Wilson, 90+4). Substitutes (not used): Lewis, Rowe.

 

Match Report

Two pieces of defending which defied belief saw Yeovil Town fall to a 2-1 defeat at Scunthorpe United on the opening day of the National League season.

Having given giant Iron centre half Andrew Boyce the freedom of the box to head home the opener with 26 minutes gone, the Glovers gifted Jacob Butterfield the freedom of Glanford Park to smash home the second on the hour.

The first half was utterly abject from the visitors with a five-man defence with Charlie Wakefield and Jamie Reckord operating as wing backs repeatedly pulled apart by the home side, playing their first game since relegation out of League Two in May.

Glovers’ boss Chris Hargreaves responded with a change of shape with Wakefield and Reckord given more licence to go forward and, albeit with a low bar to reach, the second was an improvement with Reckord pulling a goal back on 74 minutes to set up an interesting finish.

Here’s how Dave saw it from his vantage point in the away end in Lincolnshire…..

First half

After a shaky opening few seconds, a long ball forward from Max Hunt set Malachi Linton away on two minutes, his ball in dropped to Jamie Reckord, up from left wing-back, to lash one wide from the angle.

Two minutes later, the hosts worked an opening down their left with Charlie Wakefield and Morgan Williams found wanting and the ball dropped to Alfie Beestin whose effort was tipped over by Grant Smith.

What could at best be described as half-chances fell to Linton and Reckord at one end whilst Beestin’s effort from the edge of the box did little more than warm Smith’s palms.

The back five certainly looked stretched at times with Wakefield exposed on a number of occasions and on 13 minutes Reagan Ogle got the better of him to whip a ball in from the right and Andrew Boyce had a free header which went just wide.

There was what can only be described as ‘a full and frank exchange of views’ between Wakefield and Smith following. Perhaps asking quite what Charlie was doing at right wing back!

Unsurprisingly, when Scunthorpe found a breakthrough on 25 minutes it was from the left albeit Wakefield was not in attendance. Instead a free-kick broke out to the flank where Mason O’Malley delivered in and BOYCE rose highest to head home. The visitors’ defence certainly couldn’t say they didn’t see the giant centre half coming!

In the words of Adam Virgo (Gloverscast #182): “If you can’t defend set pieces in this division, you are going to struggle.” I’m not saying we can’t, but we definitely didn’t this time.

Wakefield lashed one over and Beestin (loves a shot from outside the box, that lad) has another from distance, before Wakefield popped up further forward on 34 minutes. Linton’s positive play found him on the right side of the box but he dragged his effort wide. Good chance.

A Reckord header that was comfortably held after Josh Staunton scooped a ball in to the box with two minutes of the half remaining was as good as it got for Yeovil.

It is difficult to know quite what to say. Defence looked like it hadn’t played together. Midfield bypassed. Up front….well, Linton or Alex Fisher barely saw the ball. The only positive I can find is it is only half-time in the first game of the season.

 Half time:  Scunthorpe United 1 Yeovil Town 0

Second half

Having come out first after the interval (difficult to check for fleas in ears from this range) there was a change of shape and some more impetus from Yeovil going forward, though the hosts did seem to have less of a spring in their step.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the change in shape saw Wakefield further forward and looking far more dangerous with Williams offering more cover on the right side and therefore looking more solid. If that is the last we see if that experiment, I will be quite happy.

On 56 minutes, the ball was worked out wide to Wakefield who beat his man and got in to the box to put a ball across the six-yard box. There was no-one there to apply a finishing touch, but Reckord was on his backside protesting inside the box. Have to rely on VAR for that one.

Shortly after the hour mark the home side doubled their advantage. From my vantage point at the other end of Glanford Park, I watched Jacob BUTTERFIELD pick the ball up in midfield and proceed to run in a gap as wide as the pitch and unleash a thunderous effort past Smith. The defending (if I can call it that) was absolutely criminal.

On 66 minutes, Perry limped off after a hefty tackle and was replaced by fellow loanee Sam Pearson, whose first effort saw his left-wing cross land on top of the net.

The most frustrating thing about that weak second goal was that it came after a much improved performance from Yeovil. I know, it couldn’t have been much worse.

But on 74 minutes, Linton got the ball forward with real positivity and the ball broke to RECKORD who coolly slotted home his first goal for the club. It was nothing less than the visitors deserved.

Three minutes later Fisher stretched but could not quite get on the end of a Worthington ball across the box. Then, on 88 minutes a great free-kick in from Worthington found Hunt sliding in and his connection was turned aside by Dewhurst in the Iron goal.

With Yeovil pressing forward in search of an equaliser, space (yes, even more of it) was left for Scunthorpe and they nearly made the visitors’ pay when Feeney and Butterfield combined for the letter’s shot to be turned over the bar by Smith.

Although improved in the second half, there was still plenty to cause concern for those travelling back to Somerset – and, of course, boss Chris Hargreaves.

Full time:  Scunthorpe United 2 Yeovil Town 1

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Chris Hargreaves has named his first National League side of the season to face Scunthorpe United with a side that probably picked itself.

There are debuts for Ben Richards-Everton, Sam Perry, Jamie Reckord, Malachi Linton and Alex Fisher (again) and a very youthful looking bench of loanees and Chiori Johnson.

It looks like Charlie Wakefield and Reckord start at wingbacks with a back three of Richards-Everton, Morgan Williams and Max Hunt.

Grant Smith, Morgan Williams, Max Hunt, Ben Richards-Everton, Charlie Wakefield, Sam Perry, Josh Staunton, Matt Worthington, Jamie Reckord, Alex Fisher, Malachi Linton

Substitutes: Buse, Johnson, Craske, Pearson, Grivosti

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Morgan Williams. ? Mike Kunz.

For those who care about these kind of things, (it’s got to be more than just Ben, right!?) Yeovil have confirmed the squad numbers for the upcoming season.

They are as follows;

1 – Grant Smith

2 – Morgan Williams

3 – Jamie Reckord

5 – Max Hunt

6 – Ben Richards-Everton

7 – Matt Worthington

8 – Lawson D’Ath

9 – Alex Fisher

12 – Max Evans (on loan at Larkhall AFC)

14 – Malachi Linton

15 – Sam Pearson

16 – Sam Perry

17 – Chiori Johnson

18 – Finley Craske

19 – Charlie Wakefield

20 – Will Buse

21 – Toby Stephens (on loan at Truro City)

22 – Ollie Hulbert

24 – Matt Grivosti

29 – Ollie Haste (on loan at Truro City)

32 – Josh Staunton (captain)

Morgan Williams switches from 13 to 2, which is his 4th different number as a Glovers player with loan spells seeing him wear 17 and 29 – can anyone think of any Yeovil player to match that!?

No number 10 or 11 is currently listed after Joe Quigley and Tom Knowles’ numbers were vacated, whilst the latest duo of loan signings Will Buse (20) and Matt Grivosti (24) are assigned their first squad numbers for the club.

None of the other retained members of the squad have switched their numbers, good news for anyone who got a player on the back of a replica shirt last season.

 

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Pearson & Grivosti

Yeovil Town have announced the signing of Bolton attacker Matty Grivosti on a youth loan.

A winger by trade, the former Warrington man made a permanent switch to Bolton in the summer having impressed in the same College team played in by Ollie Haste and coached by Chris Todd.

Chris Hargreaves told YTFC.net

“Matt arrives as an exciting addition to our group. He’s shown a real maturity in front of goal at such a young age.

“He is an individual who is already battle-hardened, from competing and thriving within the Northern Premier League at such a young age, that is a huge testament to him. He has all the attributes to make a big impact here.“

The length of the deal has not been disclosed, but its expected he’ll be available for the opening game against Scunthorpe on Saturday evening.

Welcome to Huish Park, Matty.

 

 

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Will Buse. Picture courtesy of bcfc.co.uk.

Yeovil Town have confirmed the addition of Bristol City goalkeeper Will Buse ahead of the season opener against Scunthorpe.

Joining on a season-long loan, the keeper will challenge Grant Smith for the number one spot following the temporary departure of Max Evans on loan to Larkhall Athletic.

Speaking about the departure of Evans and Buse, manager Chris Hargreaves said: “Both these loans are crucial for the development of each individual. 

“Firstly with Max, he is at a stage where he needs to be out there playing games on a consistent basis. He can only learn so much on the training pitch, so this loan is the next stage in his development. 

“We all think very highly of Max and know he will return an even better player.

“Obviously with Max departing, there is a need for another goalkeeper in the squad. Will arrives as the perfect candidate to bolster the goalkeeping department.

“As a local lad, his connection to the club was a huge draw, but more importantly, he is a very good goalkeeper as those who watched our friendly against Taunton saw.

“He is strong competition for Grant Smith and will go into the squad for Saturday’s game.”

Buse, played against the Glovers in pre-season for Taunton Town, where he was expecting to spend the season, but after being recalled is now a Yeovil player.

Will, is a direct relative of Matt who has spent the summer on trial at Huish Park, but at time of writing hasn’t been given a deal.

Welcome to Yeovil, Will.

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Captain Josh Staunton has urged his Yeovil Town team-mates to use their increasing physical presence as the National League season gets underway.

With the arrivals of strikers Malachi Linton (5’9″) and Alex Fisher (6’3″) up front and 6’4″ defensive team-mate Ben Richards-Everton who arrived at Huish Park last week, the skipper wants to ensure the Glovers make the most of their increased threat.

Yeovil Town captain Josh Staunton.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Speaking about Richards-Everton ahead of the opening game against Scunthorpe United on Saturday, Staunton said: “He’s a big lad, Ben. He’s a good talker, aggressive aerially and is what you’d expect from a centre half of his experience.

“He’s a good addition to the club which gives us a good, experienced option in an important area of the pitch.

“It gives us another option because this year we are a massive team, you look around the team and you think you we are going to be a big team.

“We have to utilise that and dominate teams aerially, especially at set pieces because we definitely did not do that enough last season.”

Last season, our defensive players managed just six goals throughout the entire season with Morgan Williams top scoring with two of them, and Staunton has targeted adding more goals to his game in the coming campaign.

His only strike came in the opener in a 2-0 win at big-spending Wrexham, the only defeat the Welsh side suffered on home soil last season.

Staunton said: “It’s important we take the responsibility (of scoring goals) as well and don’t just point the finger and say ‘they should be scoring, we’re doing this’ because we are a team.

“If someone else is chipping in with goals, it takes pressure off the strikers and they will play with more freedom and that is when good things come.

“That makes us a more dynamic and diverse teams which is harder to defend against when you have one 30-goal a season man and rely on that one person to put them in.”

With goals at a premium last season and the same issue rearing its head throughout pre-season, goals from other positions may be a necessity for Chris Hargreaves’ men.