Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 372)

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An penalty in second half injury time saw Mark Cooper kick off his career as Yeovil Town manager with a draw at Maidstone United.

The result leaves the Glovers one point inside the National League relegation places as they prepare to take on Darren Sarll’s Woking on Tuesday night.

Inexplicably, Dave made the trip to Kent from his Lancashire home and here’s how he saw it…..

 

It was better than it has been. Let’s start with the positives. There was much more desire and bravery to attack the game in the first half (we’ll get to the second half soon enough) and we completely deserved to be in at the break more than one goal ahead. Was it the shame of knowing they held a good slice of responsibility for Chris Hargreaves’ sacking, or some pearls of wisdom from their new manager, Mark Cooper? Who knows, but it had an impact…..in the first half.

Alex Fisher. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Feed the Fish and there’s a chance he’ll score. Having come in for some unwarranted stick from his own ‘supporters’ four days  earlier, Alex Fisher responded in the best possible way. In the first half, he held the ball up well, brought team-mates in to play and, most importantly, scored our first goal since Chiori Johnson’s winner against Solihull three games prior. He benefited from the Maidstone keeper being out of position, but never the less.

Confidence is key. Having put so much good work in during the first half, I dearly hoped we would have come out and done more of the same in the second half. But, sadly it was an all too familiar story of dropping deeper and deeper and inviting Maidstone to attack us. This is a poor Maidstone side, but our tactics gave them confidence and as it poured in to their performance, it visibly drained from ours.

Too many round pegs in square holes. Call them fish out of water or round pegs in square holes, a big part of our problem was players not in their best positions. Ben Richards-Everton is no more a left wing-back than I am and Chiori

Mark Cooper watches on from the stand at Maidstone United.

Johnson, who seems every bit a wing-back capable of playing on either side, is not suited to the midfield. I have managed zero EFL matches, never played professional football and have more Cub Scout badges than UEFA ones – but playing players out of position when better options exist is not good.

There’s a lot of work to be done. There was plenty of gesticulating from Mark Cooper in his position in the stands where he will have been able to “get a good look” (don’t mention the ban) at his new squad. That second half performance will tell him a lot about what needs needs putting right – I doubt he’ll read this though. He knows there’s a lot of work to be done and there undoubtedly is. But, to finish as I started, it was better……in the first half.

There is a sixth conclusion but it completely smashes Rule 1 [Gloverscast Rule #1 – Don’t complain about National League officials, they are all awful] and, on the balance of opportunities created, Maidstone did deserve a point from the game. But, if you’re wondering what I am talking about watch until 8 minutes and 20 seconds in to these highlights……

 

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Both Truro City and Plymouth Parkway were in first round action of the FA Trophy on Saturday with different outcomes for the Glovers loanees.

Ollie Haste was not named in Paul Wotton’s side as Truro were dumped out of the competition.

Presumably, he was withdrawn from availability to avoid being cup tied for later rounds should Yeovil require him.

No such selection issues for Toby Stephens, fresh off an impressive midweek display he was allowed to compete in Parkway’s tie.

He started, and played an hour as Ben Seymour sent them through to the second round.

As per the competition rules, Stephens is now ineligible to represent Yeovil in the FA Trophy.

 

 

 

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Glovers goalscorer Alex Fisher said the draw at Maidstone felt like a defeat. A late penalty decision, questioned by Fisher and new boss Mark Cooper, saw Yeovil let their one goal advantage slip.

Speaking to BBC Somerset, Fisher said: “Any team is vulnerable when they’re only one goal up. You’re just one decision away from being pegged back.It really hurts to concede to late on, it’s a draw but it feels like a defeat.”

Fisher scored an impressive header after 13 minutes, with his new manager watching on in the stands, and he said that Cooper had kept things simple in his first two days in charge, but that he expected him to ‘stamp his print’ on the squad soon enough.

Alex Fisher. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

“He’s kept everything very simple. It’s a fresh start and we wanted to try and get the three points today, as we do every week, and its a shame that we could quite get that today.

“I think in time, any manager would like to stamp their print on things. And I’m sure in the coming weeks he’ll start to do that. Today our game plan was to try and enjoy the game as much as we could and keep things simple and for 94/5 minutes it seemed to work.”

“Often when there is a change you do get a spike, everyone’s playing for their position as they always have been, but there’s that extra impetus when there’s a new manager. We tried to go out an play with as much freedom as possible.”

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Mark Cooper watched on from the stands as his Yeovil Town side conceded a stoppage time penalty to draw 1-1 with Maidstone this afternoon, and the new Glovers boss was pleased with aspects of the performance – but said his side had to get the balance right.

Speaking to BBC Somerset following the match, Cooper said: “We asked the players to be more front foot, to play more in the opposition’s half, to try and get more balls in the opposition box, which is where the goal came from. We had another couple of little bits that we maybe we could have extended the lead – that was good.

“And the second half we conceded too much possession, and we allowed the opposition to have too much of the ball. so that’s the big part, we’ve got to get the balance right between playing too much football and being effective.”

Chris Todd was in the dugout, but in constant communication with Cooper, who *we think* was serving game seven of his eight match ban picked up when manager of Barrow. From his vantage point, Cooper said he noticed the side’s commitment and defensive strength.

“I think you saw the commitment. We defended really well, we cleared lots of balls, headed lots of balls. Listen all you can ask for is commitment, 100%, they gave us that and a little bit of quality. But, like I knew, we’ve got work to do and that’ll start again on Monday.”

He refused to be drawn on the penalty decision, which appeared to be a soft one: “I think when you get that deep into a game, you expect to win it. With seconds to go, you should really win the game. I don’t want to talk about the goal, I don’t want to talk about the penalty. I think when everybody sees it back, they’ll make their own assumptions about what it was.”

Alex Fisher opened the scoring in the 13th minute with his second of the season and Cooper was impressed with his front man’s performance and that his goal came from a result of the gameplan.

“It was ball in the box. We wanted to put more balls in the box to give the striker something to go off. I said to him today, I don’t want you running in the channels, I want you sating the width of the six yard box, always in the frame of the goal and that’s how the goal came about.”

Before the match, Cooper said he would be looking to add a couple of players to ‘freshen up’ the group and when asked after the match he reaffirmed the point. “We need to try and make us more competitive. More competition [for places], a little bit more legs, athleticism. So, if we can make the team better, we’ll try and do it.”

The new manager apologised for not being able to thank the travelling support and hoped that with spirited performances, supporters would continue to get behind the team.

“[Getting more supporters at games] only comes with winning games and getting spirited performances. If you do that they’ll come. So we have to keep doing that and if you keep getting results the fans will support the the team. They were great today,. I’m sorry I couldn’t get down to thank them today because I was up in the stands, they were great.”

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Venue: Gallagher Stadium, Maidstone
Saturday 29th October, 3pm kick-off

Conditions: Unseasonably hot for late October
Pitch: Fluffed plastic

Attendance: 2,147 (133 away supporters)

Scorers:  Alex Fisher 13 (0-1), Regan Booty 90+6 pen (1-1)

Bookings:

Yeovil Town: Clarke 45, Richards-Everton 60, Worthington 71
Maidstone: Odusanya 23, Barkers 37, Booty 41, Galvin 45, Greenidge 52,

Referee: Jacob Miles

Yeovil Town:

Grant Smith

Morgan Williams   Owen Bevan   Max Hunt   Ben Richards-Everton

Josh Staunton

Matt Worthington (Ollie Hulbert 72)    Sam Perry (Charlie Wakefield 63)

Ewan Clarke (Chiori Johnson 63)                                                           Malachi Linton

Alex Fisher

Substitutes (not used): Gime Toure, Will Dawes

Maidstone United: Sandford, Hoyte, Galvin, Barham, Mensah, Odusanya, Booty, Pattisson, Greenidge, Deacon, Barkers. Subs: Mersin, Ellul, Alabi, Fawole, Gurung

Match Report

A stoppage time penalty from Regan Booty prevented Yeovil Town from recording their first away win of the season at fellow relegation zone residents Maidstone United.

David Coates⁩ (almost inexplicably) travelled from Lancashire to Kent for the match, here’s how he saw the Glovers’ eighth draw of the season.

First half

New Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper watched his first game in charge from the stands in Kent, shielding his eyes as he looked out on the pitch – much like every travelling supporter risking a late October sunburn from behind the goal defended by hosts’ keeper Ryan Sandford.

An effort from Josh Staunton skied high, wide and not so handsome over the bar after just seven minutes was as close as the visitors got in the opening exchanges.

Maidstone were the first to carve out an opening when on nine minutes when a defence-splitting pass from Regan Booty picked out Christie Pattison whose cross evaded everyone.

Five minutes later, Yeovil were ahead. A beautifully struck ball forward from Owen Bevan was met by the head of Alex FISHER who beat his defender Jacob Mensah from the edge of the box to loop a ball over the out-of-position Sandford and give the Glovers the lead.

On 22 minutes, the ball was in the net from the visitors when Ewan Clark’s free-kick was flicked in to the net by Ben Richards-Everton following a scramble, but was adjudged to be offside. From behind the goal with the sun burning my corneas, it did not look offside but I’ll give the official the benefit of the doubt.

In the 40th minute, Yeovil should have doubled their advantage. A deft touch forward by Fisher played Matt Worthington on who didn’t either try to touch it round the susceptible Sandford or leather it and it ran harmlessly through to the keeper.

If there’s one thing the Mark Cooper era brought in that first half, it was more fight. Ethan Clark, quite possible the slightest player in the Yeovil line-up, gave a shove in the back of his marker and sent him flying over a chair on the sideline.  The foul he drew from his marker immediately afterwards told you that this may be exactly what he needed to do a against a Maidstone team low on confidence. [Okay, having seeing this on the highlights, the Maidstone player made more of it than it was, but I will wager the push in the back would not have happened four days earlier].

The first half finished 1-0 but should have been more.

Half time: Maidstone 0 Yeovil Town 1

Second half

A early Richards-Everton header saw Yeovil come close after, but it was Maidstone who came closer on 53 minutes. They were given time and space on the edge of the visitors’ box to work Booty in to a shooting position which was nothing more than routine for Grant Smith, but cue some alarm bells.

Two minutes later, Smith was called in to his first meaningful action of the day to turn Jack Barham’s header from a left-wing cross over the bar.

The home side certainly came out with more of a spring in their step, but they were met by a more resilient response from Yeovil. But, whilst managing to keep their opponents out, the tendency to sit deep which has cost us so many times this season still appears to be there. And, if Cooper’s wild gesticulating was anything to go by, the new manager saw it too.

As the home side grew in confidence, the scars of the season so far on Yeovil’s confidence began to show. Substitute Josh Fawole poked an effort wide and with ten minutes to go Ryan Galvin’s speculative header hit the bar.

With two minutes to go Gavin Hoyte was given a free header from a corner which he should have done better before Fawole was denied by a well-timed tackle from Owen Bevan.

To say the second half was attritional would have been an understatement, but just when you thought Cooper’s reign may begin with a win, the fourth official held up six minutes of injury time. My heart wavered at that, I admit.

And in the fifth minute of time added on, Yeovil paid the price for their defensive second half display when Roarie Deacon tumbled under a tackle from Ollie Hulbert. From the angle I was at it did look like some of Hulbert’s boot connected with Alabi’s but the attacker was on his way down long before the contact was made.

When home supporters outside the ground tell you that it was never a penalty you know your luck is out. BOOTY fire the spot kick expertly in to the corner and the spoils were settled.

Alex Fisher, Chiori Johnson and Max Hunt applaud the fans at Maidstone
? David Coates

Full time: Maidstone United 1 Yeovil Town 1

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New Yeovil manager Mark Cooper spoke to BBC’s Matt Mesiano ahead of the his first match in-charge of the Glovers against Maidstone.

MM: First thing to say, welcome to the club, how have the first day for you been?

“Busy as you’d expect, trying to get to know the players, the staff, how the club works. So, it’s been hectic but enjoyable.”

MM: The fans have been left fr*strated for most of this season, with just two victories from 15 league games and a disappointing exit from the cup. I suppose the questions the fans want to know is can you turn this team around and give the fans something to smile about again?

“Well I wouldn’t have come if I didn’t think I could, which is the first thing. I think the previous manager got a bit unlucky, played some decent football and probably didn’t get what they deserved in some games. So we’ve got to try and get the players to feel good about themselves, get some confidence back and get them on the front foot and get the fans behind them again. And that’s the aim, certainly from the start today.

MM: A bit of baptism of fire today, after just one day with the players. I understand you’ve had an input in todays game but Chris Todd will be actually taking it from the touchline?

“That’s right yeah, I’m going to watch the game from upstairs today so I can get a really good picture of it, a good view and I’ll be on the phone to Chris if need be.”

MM: I think an issue that a lot of the fans had is that they didn’t really feel like the formation was working, they said 3-5-2 didn’t have the suitability for the players. How do you like playing and what have you seen so far that gives you an idea of how you’d like to play with this team?

“I don’t want to get to het up about systems. It’s more of a mentality and intent. Its more about committing to the game plan and how you’re going to play. any system can be adapted within five yards so whatever system we play its about the intent and committing tot he gameplan which is what were going to try and do to today.”

Would you like to try and bring in some new blood to help you go forward with that?

“I think its natural that well add a couple just to freshen the group up, not to replace anyone but to freshen the group up and give us a little bit more depth and bit more competition.”

MM: I suppose on of the big issues is your top scorer is a left back with three and he’s suspended today so where are the goals going to come from?

“Well, I hope you brought your boots, firstly. No, we want the goals to come from all around the team, of course we do. But its about the mentality to get in off the balls in the penalty area for different sorts of goals and for the opposition to make mistakes.”

MM: I suppose today is quite a good chance for you to get back on a winning track because your playing a team in a similar position to yourselves who’ve also not been able to score recently?

“They did brilliant last year to get promoted. And obviously coming into the this league as a part time or hybrid team is tough. Its a tough game obviously, it’s a plastic pitch which is a huge advantage for the opposition. But we have to try and concentrate on us, which is what we’ve tried to do in the last two days.”

Finally from me, what are the realistic aims for this season? Promotion would be fantastic but I suppose sustaining where are currently is the first goal right?

“Promotion, first thing I haven’t got a magic wand. And I think its important that wejust deal with the immediate future and that’s today. If we look too far ahead we can get in a bit of a mess, so it’s importasnt we just concentrate on today and that’s trying to get three points.”

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Yeovil Town have their first starting XI of the Mark Cooper era.

In what looks like 4-3-3 formation, Morgan Williams comes back into the side at Right back. Max Hunt is restored to the starting line up alongside Owen Bevan at centre half with Ben Richards-Everton switching to left back with Jamie Reckord suspended.

Skipper Josh Staunton is back in midfield, with Malachi Linton coming in for Ollie Hulbert who drops to the bench.

Charlie Wakefield is also back amongst the Substitutes.

The side in full.

Grant Smith

Morgan Williams – Owen Bevan – Max Hunt – Ben Richards-Everton

Matt Worthington – Josh Staunton – Sam Perry

Malachi Linton – Alex Fisher – Ewan Clark

Subs

Toure, Wakefield, Dawes, Hulbert, Johnson

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Yeovil Town chairman Scott Priestnall has given “assurances” to new manager Mark Cooper, according to the new boss.

He told the club’s YouTube channel that he had received a late night phone call from the owner and had to do “a bit of soul searching” before deciding to step back in to front line having parted company with League Two Barrow in March.

The interview which appears to have been recorded on Thursday when the former Swindon Town and Forest Green Rovers manager visited Huish Park.

Cooper said: “I had a good chat with the owner and decided to go for it. I wanted to get back to work, I have been out now for six months so it was important I got back to work somewhere I can get my teeth in to.

“I knew a few of the players and staff so I am excited and really looking forward to it.”

Asked about his conversation with the chairman, he added: “(It was) pretty detailed in terms of what the job entails, the squad and whether we can add to it and assurances for the future, he gave me those (and told me) he would let me come in and get on with it which was a big thing.

“It’s important you know the level and the players. At the moment, it’s about simplifying things for the players and trying to give them a platform to regain confidence.”

Asked what it was attracted him to want to take over at Huish a Park, Cooper recalled his previous visits to Somerset in charge of Swindon Town and Forest Green Rovers.

“Historically this can be a big club, I think we need to unite the players, the supporters, everybody needs to come together.

“If we can get the supporters on board we can get big attendances here. I think the squad is alright and the fact it is a big club historically is what attracted me.”

Cooper took charge of Swindon for a 1-1 draw in Somerset in October 2014 and a 2-1 win for his Forest Green side over Darren Way’s Yeovil in December 2018. Both games ended with Cooper’s men having ten men and the most recent fixture saw them score twice in injury time to take three points – including a goal from a certain Reuben Reid.

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Businessman Martin Hellier, the owner of Hellier Group which sponsors the Main Stand at Huish Park has spoken to the BBC’s Matt Faulkner about his interest in Yeovil Town and what he would do if he were the owner. Here’s a transcript from his interview yesterday.

MH: “I think in business it would always be a wonderful luxury to be acquiring a very successful, very achieving business but by sheer definition it is probably unlikely to be for sale at any reasonable price for someone like my point of view. One of the main enjoyments of business for me is the challenge of it, taking something that might not be in the best possible condition and making efficiencies and improvements.”

MF: You mentioned your tweet earlier about expressing an interest in the club, you also stated that you wouldn’t be interested in being in a part-owner. So does that mean on some level, you’d actually like to run the club?

MH: “I think in terms of running the club, running it as the chairman of the club, but any successful business does surround itself with some very clever people and that is certainly how we operate as a group.

“I think in terms of consortiums and so on, when suddenly, with eh greatest of respect, everyone’s coming out of the woodwork and saying I’ll run it with this person, we’ll run it together with these people, well I can only look at my history in a sense of without being in the driving seat of being able to make decisions, your voice and opinions and the way you want to take things forward can become very diluted and then you’ve suddenly got multiple directors arguing about how much we should charge for a cup of coffee down there or something.

“That’s not to say I know everything, I have some very clever advisors in our group who will give me the best advice that they feel is right.

“It goes back to how you run a business and how good you are at running a business and how free you are to make those choices and, quite rightly, how you are the only one to blame when it goes wrong.”

MF: Martin, fans will hear you talking about business, and I think will set alarm bells going. We hear on bigger stages of football clubs, we hear fans think that the board is removed from the lcub, they only want to make money, they don’t want to see the club successful, other than to make money. How are you going to convince them that actually there is a proper balance that you can have here that could allow you to do what you want to do and the fans to see what they want to see on the pitch?

MH: “Of many opportunities which have come up to me before, I have never felt so committed to wanting to make this one work and at the same time I have never been more realistic of the unlikelihood of possibly getting very much back from it.

“I can understand the suspicion and concern – what’s the hidden agenda? I think you can only portray yourself at this stage to someone who is genuinely committed. There’s several elements to this business and none of which are mutually exclusive to each other in my view, of what the problem is.

“First and foremost, player investment is lacking. From what I have seen recently, players need the confidence to press forward and take opportunities. Recently they are a little stiff on the pitch, partly down to the feeling of low morale throughout the stadium, the general animosity on social media and the pressure they are under when you are hovering around the relegation zone. And that is reflecting the confidence of the players who’ve not got the sort of mavericks.

“I believe also the mechanism of feeding up players from grass roots no longer exists and that need to be addressed along with the heritage, we don’t seem to call ourselves giant-killers so much these days.

“The next point is clearly there is a disconnect between the fan base and the current owner which would need restoring. Retail business is consumer driven and football clubs are fan driven. You have to restore the dialogue between representatives of the fans like the Glovers’ Trust and so on and the club itself.

“The (lack of) matchday experience is a coming through a lot from fans and needs to be addressed. There needs to be a programme of continual improvement of standards for the fans in terms of the amenities, the outdated decor of the bar and catering facilities and so on – it’s not just one thing, it’s many things.”