Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 365)

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The FA Cup has always been an important competition to Yeovil Town – who still hold the record for the most League club scalps as a non-League club – and this season’s campaign got underway with a 0-0 draw at home to Taunton Town yesterday.

The final whistle was met with boos from the stands at Huish Park and a recognition that it will take a journey up the A358 to the county town for a replay on Tuesday night if Chris Hargreaves’ men are to make it to the competition’s first round.

It was a hard watch for any Yeovil fan and here Rich Willcox-Smith, who some of you will have heard on last Friday’s podcast was in the away end this weekend, gives his  conclusions…..

Grant Smith. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Yeovil were slow to start: After last weekend’s impressive 1-0 home win over a decent Solihull Moors side, I was expecting Yeovil to come out with an extra spring in there step but actually they were very slow to start. For large parts of the first half, they were second best to a side sat a division below them. The crossbar was the Glovers’ friend to save them going into the half-time interval a goal down. Taunton midfielder Ross Stearns effort hitting the woodwork gave the Yeovil back line a sigh of relief. The big frame of Ben Richards-Everton is usually enough to scare most forwards. But today he looked like he had met his match in visiting striker Nick McCootie.

Players looked uninterested and frustrated: The first shot on target for the home side did not come until a minute in to the second half, by which time Taunton had called Grant Smith in the Yeovil goal in to action on a number of occasions. There was at least a fr*st*a*t*ion [the F-word is still banned here, Rich – Ed] from the Glovers players which could easily have been described as many of them looking uninterested. Presumably something was said in the dressing room at half-time – possibly ‘have a shot’ – but it was still limited to efforts from outside the box and not enough to test Jack Bycroft in the Taunton goal.

Malachi Linton. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The lack of goals is concerning: Building upon my previous two points, we saw Malachi Linton, Alex Fisher and Jake Scrimshaw – the three out-and-out strikers in the Yeovil Town squad – and there was very little to threaten. No Charlie Wakefield isn’t a striker. It is now 14 games in to the season and 13 goals have been scored with our top scorer is still left wing-back Jamie Reckord. For context, that’s exactly the same number we scored in the first 14 games of last season when our strike force was widely considered as powder puff. Yeovil could still have been playing come Sunday morning and no goals would have come, the only saving grace from that is that Taunton didn’t really give Grant Smith much to do.

There’s no Plan B: The plan yesterday seemed to be to play the ball sideways and back, there was very little going forwards and even when Fisher and Scrimshaw came on, it seemed to be the same tactics and nothing to try and take on a fired up Taunton side. We can only hope that seeing the Peacocks in the flesh will give Chris Hargreaves something to work on in the 72 hours before the replay – otherwise, it’s difficult to have too much confidence going in to the replay.

The final whistle was toxic: The final whistle was met by boos from the home supporters in the biggest crowd of the season at Huish Park. I could hear it over the cheers coming from the away supporters, so it must have been loud! I’ve not heard anything like that since the dark days of Darren Way’s time as manager and our slump out of the Football League. I thought those days were gone, but it looked – or more to the point sounded – like they were back with a vengeance yesterday. To be fair, it’s hard to argue with the response of the paying public – that was one of the poorest displays I have seen from a team playing in green-and-white.

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Toby Stephens

Toby Stephens made his debut for Plymouth Parkway on Saturday after making his second loan move from Huish Park.

Stephens, who had spent a couple of months with Truro City where he found first-team minutes hard to come by, played the full 90 minutes and a pivotal role in Parkway’s 1-0 at Harrow Borough in Southern League Premier Division South, the same division he played in with table-topping Truro.

The Parkway side also included two former Glovers with striker Ben Seymour starting and ex-academy talent Pedro Borges on the bench as part of his loan deal from Exeter City.

Congratulations on the win, Toby.

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Yeovil Town midfielder Matt Worthington says his side need to ‘up their game’ in the replay against Taunton on Tuesday after the Glovers were held to a 0-0 draw in the FA Cup.

Matt Worthington. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the stalemate, he used a word we’ve banned on the Gloverscast, so we’ve used some asterisks…

“A replay on Tuesday is not ideal, I don’t think we hurt them enough today, it was difficult at times as they put a lot of bodies behind the ball and we had a lot of possession, we needed to open them up a bit more and drag them out a try to hurt them which we didn’t do.

“We’re very fr*str*t*d, but we can go and win the game on Tuesday.

“We started slow in the first 20 minutes… they had a couple of chances but we improved in the second bit of the first half, we had a lot of ball and I feel we should have capitalised, so yeah, very fr*str*t*d.”

“Us midfielders were getting the ball deep and us midfielders were struggling to break them down, but yeah… fr*str*t*ng”

Thankfully, that was the last of Matt’s use of ‘that’ word. He gave Taunton some credit, but admitted that the replay would require more from the squad.

“Fair play to them, they had a game plan of staying in the game as long as they could putting bodies behind the ball trying to make it as hard as possible for us as they could and they did that, so credit to them.

But we need to be better opening them up and scoring goals.”

“We need to up our game on Tuesday, 100%, it’s going to be a difficult game again at their place so, we need to be on it.”

Worthington said that he hoped the fitness of the Glovers would help with the quick turnaround and said how much he was enjoying playing with ‘freedom’ in this Chris Hargreaves side.

The Glovers will find out their potential first round opposition on Monday evening before heading across the county on Tuesday evening for the replay.

 

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A disappointed and annoyed Chris Hargreaves said his Glovers side were ‘nowhere near good enough’ after National League South Taunton Town held Yeovil to a 0-0 draw at Huish Park this afternoon.

The part-timers held their own against Yeovil and the draw means a trip back on the A358 to Taunton this Tuesday in a replay.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the match, Hargreaves said his players’ decision making was wrong at moments and that the Glovers didn’t ‘mix the game up’ enough.

He said: “It’s disappointing today. From the highs of beating one of the best teams in league [Solihull] last week and then today. [There was] not enough quality in the final third and [we] didn’t play the conditions or the opposition well enough. Credit to Taunton, I thought they set up really well, but extremely disappointed with that.

“They had openings where we’ve made the wrong decision. Some of the lads are still learning and we could have been punished. We had opportunities where we also probably made the wrong decisions in the final third, which we haven’t been doing. We’ve been very good in the main, especially at home.

“We just didn’t mix the game up well enough. We didn’t go long when we had to and we didn’t play when we had to, we got those decisions wrong. That’s something the lads have got to learn about each other. When I’m making changes and putting players on, play to their strengths. That’s what we didn’t do. credit to Taunton, they were very good on the day, we weren’t and that’s what can happen in the cup.”

Although it’s a short trip to Taunton Hargreaves said he didn’t want a replay with a busy National League schedule coming up. He praised Taunton for their performance and creating a difficult challenge for Yeovil.

“I thought the fans stayed with us as long as they could, it’s always a difficult challenge. We’re expected to roll a team like that over – I played in plenty of games as a player when you’re playing against Premier League and Championship opposition and it’s not always the case.

“We’ve got no divine right. You’re playing against a team with a lot of ex-pros in it and a lot of lads that have played at a decent level, so we knew that it was a tough opposition especially after they had a negative result [5-0 defeat against Ebbsfleet] in their previous game. It always raises an opposition ten fold. They had a good following. So all the elements were built for that resilient performance.

“But we weren’t good enough, no excuses on that, nowhere near good enough for the standards we’ve set, certainly at home.”

On to Tuesday then eh? The banana skin just got more slippery.

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Venue: Huish Park
Saturday October 15th, 3pm kick-off

Conditions: Dry but blustery wind
Pitch: Heavily watered, but held up okay

Attendance: 3,093 (964 away supporters)

Scorers: None

Bookings: 

Yeovil Town:  None
Taunton Town: Lee Lucas 78, Zac Smith 80

Referee: Daniel Middleton

 

Yeovil Town : (3-5-2)

Grant Smith

Owen Bevan  Josh Staunton Ben Richards-Everton

                                 Morgan Williams                                                          Chiori Johnson

Sam Pearson Sam Perry Matt Worthington

Charlie Wakefield (for Jake Scrimshaw, 79) Malachi Linton (for Alex Fisher, 61)

Substitutes: Will Buse, Max Hunt, Callum Rowe, Ollie Haste, Will Dawes.

Taunton Town: Bycroft, Foulston, Grimes, Ball, Chamberlain, James, Jarvis, McCootie (for Guest, 87), Stearn (for Morgan, 66), Smith, Lucas (for Budd, 87). Substitutes: Warwick, Staley, Sims-Burgess, Staley. 

 

Match Report

Yeovil Town face an FA Cup replay at Somerset rivals Taunton Town on Tuesday night after being held to a stalemate at Huish Park.

The National League South side, who sit 17th in their division as the Glovers do one tier higher up the pyramid, dominated the opening 45 minutes but could not turn their dominance in to a goal.

In the second half, the Glovers at least created a couple of opportunities to test the visiting keeper with Matt Worthington and Charlie Wakefield both going close.

But, the final whistle was met by boos from the Yeovil Town supporters in the biggest crowd of the season at Huish Park and raucous celebrations from the visiting supporters who will welcome their Somerset rivals to Wordsworth Drive in 72 hours time.

First half

It was the visitors who started the stronger with Nat Jarvis heading a Lloyd James free-kick over after just five minutes, but on 16 minutes Taunton’s best chance fell to Ross Stearn. The midfielder was found five yards by  Jarvis’ nod down from an Ollie Chamberlain cross, but inexplicably his effort came off the post and away.

Grant Smith turns a shot over the bar. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The Peacocks’ bright start was exacerbated by a sluggish one from Yeovil as they grew in to the game a little with Sam Pearson’s ball almost finding Morgan Williams. Not quite though.

Chamberlain’s effort forced a stop out of Grant Smith on 27 minutes, turning the half-volley over the bar and a goal would have been nothing more than the National League South side, separated by 24 league places from the Glovers, deserved having dominated the first half to this point.

As so often has been the case this season, on loan Bristol City winger Sam Pearson was the catalyst for Yeovil’s best chance on 34 minutes when his cross was headed over by captain Josh Staunton, and four minutes later fellow loanee Sam Perry had a great opportunity having been found by a ball from Charlie Wakefield.

But, half chances were as good as it got for the home side whilst Taunton will have gone in the more frustrated to be goalless at the half-time interval.

Half time:  Yeovil Town 0 Taunton Town 0

Second half

Yeovil came out for the second half stronger than the finished the first half and carved out their first meaningful chance when Williams beat his marker to get on to a pass from Matt Worthington to force visiting keeper Jack Bycroft in to action.

Sam Perry had a shot blocked on 52 minutes after impressive play by Pearson and two minutes later a speculative effort by Wakefield tried to catch Bycroft off his lead – speculatively, it is fair to say.

Chiori Johnson tussles for a ball. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

In the middle of the park, there was more impetus from Worthington and just before the hour mark his strike took a deflection and went just wide.

Stearn had another good opportunity on 63 minutes which was palmed wide by Grant Smith who needed Williams to clear for a corner with Zac Smith closing in.

With the wind in their favour in the second half, the visitors had a string of corners which Yeovil had to defend before Wakefield, still looking to get off the mark having had a prolific Cup campaign last season, had a gilt-edged chance. On 67 minutes, Pearson found him within six yards but the frontman’s effort went tamely wide.

Taunton striker Jarvis had a great opportunity with 78 minutes on the clock, but a combination of Ben Richards-Everton and Smith were enough to deny him. Another good opportunity for the visitors.

Worthington headed over with seven minutes remaining and Williams put a tame header wide as the game crept in to injury time.

But, the game finished goalless, deservedly for the visitors who were more than good enough to deserve a replay at Wordsworth Drive on Tuesday night.

The result was a repeat of the last time the two sides met in a competitive fixture back in September 1996 – with a goalless draw at Huish Park followed by a 5-3 win in the county town in that second qualifying round tie.

Full time:  Yeovil Town 0 Taunton Town 0

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Finley Craske has been named on the substitutes’ bench for Plymouth Argyle following his recall from a loan spell at Yeovil Town.

The 19-year-old is in the squad for the Pilgrims’ visit to MK Dons in League One today.

Glovers’ boss Chris Hargreaves told BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins that the return to Devon was “a great opportunity” for the versatile youngster, who made two appearances after joining in August.

Craske’s last appearance came as a 65th minute substitute in the 1-0 defeat at Southend United with his previous outing coming on after 67 minutes in the 2-2 home draw with Chesterfield.

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Yeovil Town have made just one change with Morgan Williams replacing Lawson D’Ath as they prepare to take on Taunton Town in the FA Cup fourth qualifying round this afternoon (3pm).

Boss Chris Hargreaves spoke before the match about taking precautions with D’Ath who was replaced by Williams early in the second half of last weekend’s 1-0 home win over Solihull Moors.

That switch saw Williams go to right wing-back in place of Sam Pearson who moved further forward in to midfield, so we’re guessing that is how the Glovers will set-up today.

On the bench, Callum Rowe is back a month after he was ruled out for six weeks for his third appearance in the Glovers’ squad and his first since the goalless draw at Wealdstone on August Bank Holiday Monday.

Goalkeeper Will Buse, who spent last season on loan at Taunton, is also on the bench.

Speak to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins ahead of the match, Hargreaves said: “Lawson was very sore after the last game and I had to bring him off to stop him doing further damage on an Achilles’ problem, so he’s definitely there in spirit and has been working his socks off to get himself fit.

“It would be good to see some of the other lads in the squad, but I have to stay strong and consistent because those lads (who are starting) have put in a real shift in recent weeks.”

Yeovil Town : (3-4-3)

Grant Smith

Owen Bevan  Josh Staunton Ben Richards-Everton

                                 Morgan Williams                                                          Chiori Johnson

Sam Pearson Sam Perry Matt Worthington

Charlie Wakefield Malachi Linton

Substitutes: Will Buse, Max Hunt, Callum Rowe, Ollie Haste, Will Dawes,  Jake Scrimshaw, Alex Fisher.

Taunton Town: Bycroft, Foulston, Grimes, Ball, Chamberlain, James, Jarvis, McCootie, Stearn, Smith, Lucas. Substitutes: Budd, Guest, Warwick, Staley, Sims-Burgess, Staley, Morgan.

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Yeovil Town Under-18s are back on home soil taking on BRS Coaching Youth in the South West Counties Youth League at Alvington on Saturday (10.30am kick-off).

The young Glovers picked up a 3-0 win away at Wimborne Town last weekend to move up to third in the division and will be looking for three more points against an opponent who have suffered a number of heavy defeats this season.

The Ringwood-based outfit lost their first two matches of the season 11-0 at league leaders Bridgwater United and 7-1 against Cirencester Town, but picked up a 3-1 home win over Mangotsfield United last weekend.

The club’s other age group teams, playing as part of the Yeovil Town Community Sports Trust, are also in Junior Premier League action on Saturday.

The Under-13s, Under-14s, Under-15s and Under-16s all take on opposition from the Mid-Somerset Regional Talent Centre. The Under-11s and Under-12s teams do not have a fixture this weekend.

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  • Yeovil Town chairman Scott Priestnall has spoken about the different debts the club has in an update posted this morning.

The owner confirmed the following in his update published on the club’s website on Friday morning – see here:

  • The club still owes Sport England almost £1m from loans it took out to handle the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic – but the chairman is still working with the National League to get these written off.
  • £600,000 in shareholder loans have been written off by Yeovil Town Holdings Limited (YTFC Holdings), one of the two business which operates as part of the club.
  • The £1.35m loan taken out by Priestnall and Errol Pope, the businessman who he bought the club with in 2019, has been paid off.

The writing off of £600,000 in loans appears to be a financial arrangement between YTFC Holdings and Yeovil Football & Athletic Club (YF&AC). We’ll certainly not claim to be financial experts, but any figure of that magnitude being written off certainly sounds like a good thing.

The two companies were set up back in 2010 when then-owners Norman Hayward and John Fry separated the clubs assets with YTFC Holdings taking ownership of the land around Huish Park and YF&AC taking ownership of the stadium and the club’s football operations.

Priestnall is the only director of YTFC Holdings whilst YF&AC counts the chairman and fellow director Stuart Robins among its board members – and, according to another part of the update, soon will include Martyn Starnes, who is returning as the club’s Chief Executive Officer, read more on that – here. Starnes was previously involved in the club for six years up until 2013 when he joined Plymouth Argyle.

In his update, the chairman confirmed that any charges owed to MSP Capital, the Poole-based finance group which lent money to Priestnall and Pope when they bought the club in 2019, had been removed.

We reported back in May that the money had been repaid to MSP Capital following a filing made at the time – see here.

In his Friday statement, Priestnall said: “All MSP Capital charges have been removed from Yeovil Town Holdings Limited and Yeovil Football & Athletic (Club) Limited. Any MSP Capital charges still showing as outstanding at Companies House should show as cleared when their website is updated.”

In summary, nearly £1m still owed to Sport England but discussions to write it off still continuing, £600,000 in shareholder loans written off and money owed to MSP Capital written off as well.

 

The Sport England loans get quite a bit of focus in the update with Priestnall first confirming that the almost £1m (£998,538, to be precise) has not been paid off by money raised from the sale of Huish Park and surrounding land to South Somerset District Council in May.

The chairman has reiterated that at the time the club took the loans the National League “were given assurances that in time these loans would be written off“.

Now, when the Gloverscast contacted the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) last month to ask them what the current situation was with regards to the loans they gave out as part of the Sport Survival Package and they told us: “The terms of the loan repayment remain the same as when it was provided in early 2021. We expect every loan recipient to fulfil the terms of their loan.”

However, it seems Priestnall, a member of the National League’s board of directors, is working alongside his counterparts to keep up the fight to get the debts cancelled.

He added: “I will continue to work with The National League, who have regular meetings with DCMS, and other National League System clubs to get these loans written off.

“Like all National League clubs who took loans, a four-year holiday period was granted before repayment begins and I will be pushing the National League to ensure those assurances are upheld.”

‘Gate Money – Inside Non-League Football’s Funding Fiasco’ is a documentary due to air in November.

The chairman’s update also makes reference to a documentary – titled ‘Gate Money: Inside Non-League Football’s Funding Fiasco’ – which he says has “been produced to investigate the distribution of payments to National League clubs to help support them through the recent lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic.”

The documentary, produced by SPNJRT Media Productions and Moody Shots Production, is due for broadcast in November and a trailer can be viewed – here.

In his update, Priestnall says he opposed the way the money was distributed despite the club receiving “the highest level of distribution” of funding.

The chairman said: “As board minutes will show, although YTFC were one of the clubs that received the highest level of distribution, I was one director who voted against and regularly opposed the formula and the way the process was dealt with.

“I never believed it directly addressed what the funds were for. While primarily it kept the League operating, it did not replace lost revenues as publicly stated by DCMS and, in my view, was disproportionately distributed to clubs.

“Clubs with higher average attendance in the National League, National League North and National League South lost out, while clubs which had lower average attendances in the National League pyramid benefited dramatically. Additionally, I also endorsed the publishing of the so-called “Bernstein Report” and could not understand why it had not been published in full at its completion.”

The (so-called) Bernstein Report was written by former FA chairman David Bernstein who led an independent panel charged with looking in to the way money was distributed by the League.

There’s been no statement made by the National League in response to the documentary’s trailer which features Bernstein, so we will wait to see what happens when the full version appears next month.

 

The other parts of the update make reference to “recent reports” and “comments on social media” which the chairman is responding to.

Yeovil Town chairman Scott Priestnall has said he has no ambitions to take over Worcester Warriors.

The first relates to Worcester Warriors, the Premiership Rugby side which has been wound-up by administrators after running in to financial difficulty responds to “recent reports.”

Priestnall says: “I have not been involved in any capacity with Worcester Warriors Rugby Club or any consortium looking to acquire the club since taking over at Yeovil Town FC. I have not had any and have no plan for discussions with any parties regarding an involvement in a new ownership or management team.

“I sincerely hope the club finds a new owner soon who can help get them through a traumatic time for everyone involved with the club.”

In October 2018, the rugby club announced the Glovers’ chairman was part of a consortium which had bought it. That consortium included Errol Pope, who would work with Priestnall to take over at Huish Park a little more than a year later, Jed McCrory and David Seymour, a former Premiership Rugby player.

McCrory took a role on the club’s Executive Board, but there was no mention of either Priestnall or Pope after the initial takeover.

In June 2019, it was announced that Colin Goldring and Jason Whittingham had taken over as joint owners at Worcester with McCrory stepping down from his role on the board.

By this point, Priestnall and Pope were completing their takeover of Yeovil Town and it appears no longer involved with Worcester.

 

In the other part of his update, the chairman said that CV Leisure, the company which he used to take over at Huish Park in 2019, had not claimed support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the initiative otherwise known as ‘furlough’ set up by the Government.

The updated said: “There have been comments on social media regarding a Coronavirus job retention scheme claim for CV Leisure Ltd. I can confirm that CV Leisure never made an application to claim support and therefore any information circulating on social media is incorrect.“

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Young midfielder Toby Stephens has joined Plymouth Parkway on a three-month loan deal.

The 19-year-old has joined the Southern League Division One South side ahead of their trip to Harrow Borough this weekend.

Stephens has recently ended a loan spell at Truro City where he struggled to get minutes, but the surroundings will be familiar as Parkway share their Bolitho Park with Truro.