Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 395)

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We’ve got points on the board!! Here to revel in the glory of a win at Woking are Ian, Ben and the man who made the trip, Dave. We take your questions and take a look ahead to W*ymouth on Tuesday.

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Well, it wasn’t pretty, but a hard-earned three points for ten-man Yeovil Town at Woking are the first we’ve got on the board in 2022. Here’s how Coatesie saw it from his vantage point at the Kingfield Stadium….

 

It probably doesn’t bear counting as a conclusion any longer, but this team really is putting everything on the line for points this season.
In a profession where there is a dwindling amount of loyalty, we have a team constructed of those at either ends of their careers who are playing like their lives depend on it.
There’s no experienced heads looking to see out their autumn years on easy street, or youngsters who see this as simply a step on the ladder – or if they do, they are going to kick and fight their way up it.
I cannot help being drawn back to the comparison of the side which took us out of the Football League…..if that side had half the spirit of this one….anyway, that’s a conversation for another day.

Luke Wilkinson.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

How much do we need Luke Wilkinson? The manager described his performance as “great, rubbish and great all in the same game” but even at his most ‘rubbish’ he was inspiring.
Ben Barclay alongside him looks a useful addition and when the kitchen sink came from Woking with us down to ten men, they ran in to a Wilko and Barclay-shaped wall.
The stats in all competitions where he’s featured speak for themselves.
With Wilko: P17 W11 D1 L5.
Without Wilko: P12 W1 D6 L5.
That is if you count the penalty shoot-outs against W*ymouth and Needham Market (both without Wilko) as draws at 90 minutes, and give him a win for his two-minute cameo at the end of the victory at Wrexham.

Whilst you can only beat what’s in front of you, this was a very poor Woking team.
Missing their only decent player in Max Kretzschmar and now without their only goal threat, Tahvon Campbell, who moved back in to the League at the, they were devoid of any quality.
A better side or one with a player able to find a bovine’s behind with a string instrument would surely have put away some of the chances Woking wasted.
Even with ten men for half-an-hour, there was only one occasion where Grant Smith was forced in to serious action.
The effort we put in saw is over the line, but let’s make no mistake this was a poor opponent.

I could complain about the referee, Tom Bishop, who was seemingly intent on sending someone off from the opening moments….oh, I just did a bit!
But, there were too many occasions where we gave the referee an invitation he didn’t need to go to his pocket.
Darren Sarll described Tom Knowles as a “daft bugger” for getting his fifth yellow for delaying play, and it felt like both sides gave away fouls which you can afford to do  against a trigger-happy referee.
When both benches are throwing their hands up in frustration at decisions, you get the impression of the kind of game Mr Bishop had.

Finally, who’s still standing? With Tom Knowles now suspended for Tuesday’s derby with W*ymouth, Jordan Barnett having limped off with a hamstring strain to go with the ankle injury he went in to Saturday with, it’s looking threadbare.
The addition of Barclay was a plus and it was great to see Lawson D’Ath back on the bench – oh how we could do with his skill in midfield – but more reinforcements are needed.

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Yeovil Town manager Darren Sarll talks to BBC Radio Somerset

Darren Sarll praised his ‘excellent’ Yeovil Town side after the Glovers grabbed 1-0 win at Woking.

Charlie Wakefield scored a 15th minute winner at Kingfield Stadium, where more than 500 Yeovil fans made the trip to will the Glovers over the line.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sheridan Robins after the game, Sarll said: “Sometimes you just have those days where you’re resolute and you hold on for dear life and today was one of them. I thought the players were excellent and the team that finished were such a young team.

I thought it [the performance] typified their spirit and we all know this is a group that wants to roll their sleeves up and give it a good go and a good fight.

It was a very hard-earned win, and it doesn’t matter how they come, we’ll take has many as we can.”

Yeovil go into Weymouth with a couple of suspensions, Mark Little was sent off after a second yellow card, and Tom Knowles picked up his fifth booking of the season on the one match he had to get through without a booking.

Sarll seemed frustrated with Knowles’ yellow, saying: “I spoke to Tom [Knowles] before the game about his four bookings and that he had to get through today. He’s gone through quite a long time without getting booked and then the daft bugger received a caution for delaying the start which was true Tom Knowles dopey fashion.”

Little was due to be rested on Tuesday, as he continues his return to fitness and Sarll felt his second yellow was ‘unfortunate’.

“I think Mark [Little] slips into it [the tackle] really, I think he loses his footing, that’s how I saw it. I don’t think Mark’s dopey enough, at 33, to dive in on a booking, so that was unfortunate,” he said.

Yeovil Town face W*ymouth on Tuesday, buoyed by a victory, while the seagull botherers lost 1-0 at Aldershot thanks to Brandon Goodship’s stoppage time own goal. Oh dear.

  • Jordan Barnett left the pitch with a hamstring injury, Sarll said he would be touch-and-go for Tuesday.
  • On the performance of new signing Ben Barclay, he said: “I thought Ben was excellent. He’s a good player Ben, he’s a very good player. He just needed, maybe, a new changing room, a new set of walls, maybe some new teammates to re-ignite that performance level.”
  • On Morgan Williams, Sarll added: “Williams is in the form of his life, for me he’s faultless at the minute.”

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Tom Knowles, who has five goals so far this season.

The Football Association have confirmed the one-match suspensions of Mark Little and Tom Knowles.

Little was shown two yellow cards on Saturday against Woking, whilst Tom Knowles picked up his fifth booking of the season in the same game… his first one since mid-October.

Knowle’s booking has been listed as a “Time Wasting – Delaying the Restart” booking, hence Darren Sarll’s “dopey” comment post match. 

With the Glovers having now completed 23 league games the ‘5-yellow card’ suspension rules has ended with those picking up their tenth still expected to miss two games.

Both Little and Knowles will be absent for the visit of W*ymouth on Tuesday night but will be available again at the weekend.

 

 

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Venue: Kingfield Stadium
Saturday, January 29th 3pm kick-off

Conditions: Blustery but dry
Pitch: Perfect, deserved more quality than it saw

Attendance: 2496 (501 away)

Scorers: Wakefield 15 (1-0)

Referee: Tom Bishop

Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Knowles 37, Little 39, Barclay 48, Wilkinson 57
Woking: McNerney 38, Casey 61

Sending off: Little 62 (2nd Booking)


Yeovil Town : (4-3-1-2)

Grant Smith
Mark Little Luke Wilkinson Ben Barclay Morgan Williams
Dale Gorman Matt Worthington Jordan Barnett (Bradley 78)
Sonny Blu Lo-Everton (Robinson 64)
Charlie Wakefield Tom Knowles (Yussuf 72)

Substitutes: Lawson D’Ath, Reuben Reid

Woking: Smith, Anderson, Diarra, Effiong, Ince, Johnson (Kabamba 62), Lofthouse, Longe-King, Loza, McNerney (Casey 46), Nwabuokei (Allarakhia 46)
Substitutes: Ross, Rumble

Match Report

Yeovil Town picked up their first points of 2022 against Woking this afternoon thanks to a first half goal from Charlie Wakefield.

Mark Little was sent off in the second half after receiving two bookings, giving the ten-man Glovers a difficult final half an hour to keep Woking out.

It wasn’t pretty, there were plenty of bodies put on the line in the second half, but Yeovil go into Tuesday’s derby against Weymouth with a bit of wind in their sails.

Here’s how Coatesie saw it…

First half

The main talking points of the team news was a start for loan signing Ben Barclay alongside captain Luke Wilkinson, who was returning from injury, in the heart of defence.

Up front, manager Darren Sarll stuck with a front three of Charlie Wakefield, Tom Knowles and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, who had impressed for large parts of the previous match against Wrexham.

The first chance fell to the home side after just three minutes as a corner routine found its way to central defender Joe McNerney, but his effort sailed over the bar.

A lung-bursting run from Matt Worthington created the first opening for Yeovil which fell to Lo-Everton, whose shot was blocked.

But as the game got going, Yeovil’s pressing game began to tell.

It was that tactic which told after you 15 minutes when a through ball forward from Morgan Williams, back in a left-back position to accommodate for the arrival of Barclay and Wilkinson, set Charlie WAKEFIELD free, he moved forward made no mistake to smash the visitors in front. 1-0.

That put Yeovil tails up and Jordan Barnett was the next to have an effort which well stopped by Woking keeper Mark Smith.

The fans in the stand behind the goal unfurled a banner in protest against owner Scott Priestnall, which seemed to spark an atmosphere – perhaps sponsored by O’Neill’s, Woking!

A goal in front and with an opposition struggling to create anything, there was not a huge amount of feed the atmosphere after that.

The biggest talking point of the final 25 minutes of the first half was a booking for Tom Knowles. It is easy to blame Ben for mentioning that a yellow card would keep him out of the derby with W*ymouth, but in reality it was self-inflicted. Not retreating for a free-kick definitely goes on the list of ‘did you need to?’ reasons for picking up a yellow.

From that you can tell the rest of the half there was nothing much to write home about.

Woking’s inadequacies, admittedly minus star man Max Kretzschmar and top scorer Tahvon Campbell who had departed in the week, had as much to do with the lack of goal-scoring opportunities as anything.

For Yeovil, the tactic was to get the ball to their front three and you got the feeling they could create something.

There was huffing and puffing on both sides, but it was the visitors who went in ahead at the break.

Half time: Woking 0 Yeovil Town 1

 

Second half

The opening 15 minutes saw Yeovil have to weather a storm with the home side turning up the pressure, whilst balls up forward for Yeovil relied on us having a player to hold the ball up. For all their qualities, neither Wakefield, Knowles or Sonny are that, which meant possession repeatedly returned to the home side.

For the entire first half referee, Tom Bishop, was drawn in to giving easy yellow cards and the howls  of abuse he got from both sets of supporters and benches indicated his quality. That is within Rule 1, right?

But too often the fouls were easy decisions for the official to give, and on 62 minutes a tackle from Mark Little in front of the home dug out as too much of an opportunity. His second yellow and he was off.

Lo-Everton was sacrificed for Jack Robinson and the Cards smelt blood, but could not find the quality necessary to make the most of their numerical advantage.

On 72 minutes, Adi Yussuf, who came on to some effect in the FA Trophy game at Huish Park, came on in place of Knowles. A man to hold the ball up, says the optimist in me*.

Two minutes after that change came a moment of (almost) quality from the hosts, when former Yeovil loanee Rohan Ince found space to unleash a shot which was blocked by Wilkinson.

If Yeovil were to get anything it was going to be from a breakaway, and they got one on 79 minutes when Wakefield got away and found the onrushing Bradley who tried to curl an effort wide.

For the rest, it was wave after wave of attacks from the home side. There were bodies in the way, blocking shots, whilst the home side spurned opportunities time and again.

The final whistle sounded to a roar of relief and exaltation from the travelling faithful. It wasn’t pretty  but three more points are on the board.

Full time: Woking 0 Yeovil Town 1

* – I was too optimistic about Adi. Sorry.

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Hi I New signing defender Ben Barclay is handed his Yeovil Town debut at Woking this afternoon (3pm kick-off).

Luke Wilkinson, who returns to the Yeovil Town defence at Woking. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

He is joined at the heart of the Glovers defence by captain Luke Wilkinson, who makes his first appearance since picking up an injury in the defeat at Southend United.

The pair replace the injured Josh Staunton and Jack Robinson, who drops to the substitute’s bench alongside Lawson D’Ath, who has signed a new deal to keep him at the club until the end of the season.

Stand-by goalkeeper Max Evans and youngster Toby Stephens drop from the bench.

Yeovil Town (4-3-3): Grant Smith, Mark Little, Ben Barclay, Luke Wilkinson, Morgan Williams, Dale Gorman, Matt Worthington, Jordan Barnett, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, Tom Knowles, Charlie Wakefield.
Substitutes: Alex Bradley,Jack Robinson, Lawson D’Ath, Adi Yussuf, Reuben Reid.

 

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Lawson D’Ath – Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz

Yeovil Town have confirmed the re-signing of Lawson D’Ath until the end of the season.

The midfielder, who has been a popular addition to the BBC commentaries this season (sorry, Ben!), will finally be back on the pitch, after rehabilitating at the club for nine months.

Speaking to the club website, D’Ath said: “I’m absolutely buzzing to be back involved and available again for this club, but also for the gaffer who I have huge respect for. I can’t wait to play for him again, a manager that will go right to the top! 

“It’s been a long tough nine months and I’m so lucky to have great people in my life who’ve allowed me to keep the dream going. So, a massive thank you to my family, gaffer, Terry, Craig, Scott, Adam, Martin, Simon, and my teammates past and present. 

“The hard work starts now though. We will give it everything until the end of the season. With your support, who knows what can happen?”

Lawson D’Ath suffered a knee injury in the final game of last season.

Darren Sarll said: “Of all the players we could have signed this year Lawson was the one I wanted the most. 

“He has been with the club since my appointment, and he has seen the very best and worst during his time. He has remained loyal when he could have drifted away, and nothing pleases me more than to have him back involved with the squad. 

“There is no one I trust more. A wonderful player but an even better person. He will lift us from now until the end of the season.”

Speaking in August, Sarll made no secret of his desire to sign D’Ath when the opportunity arose, he said: “I am desperate for Lawson to get back in our shirt and play because at the end of last year I saw a different Lawson, there was a maturity to him. He is a very good player, so Scott (Priestnall, the club chairman) if you are listening, I want Lawson for January!”

Welcome back Lawson, we can’t wait to see you back on the pitch!

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Yeovil Town forward Tom Knowles believes playing as part of a front three generated “some of the best attacking football of the season” against Wrexham last weekend.

The forward was paired alongside Charlie Wakefield and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton in that match and put his side ahead with a stunning first half opener.

Tom Knowles, who has five goals so far this season.

Speaking to the Gloverscast ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Woking, Knowles said: “I think we played some of our best attacking football last weekend, we created a lot of chances, we just needed to score a couple more.

“I played predominantly on the right last week which was nice because I had been playing mostly on the left this season.

“I think we complement each other nicely up there and whoever it is playing in those attacking positions, we have to create and score as many as possible.

“I enjoyed playing up there with Chaz and Sonny, but Reubs (Reid) and Adi (Yussuf) have qualities, so if I get my chance I know I have to do my best whoever I am playing alongside.”

Both Reid and Yussuf started on the bench last weekend and manager Darren Sarll admitted that playing the three young forwards up front together was something he had been thinking about for a while.

He said: “Even when we had Joe (Quigley), we had not scored enough goals and there was something there that I had been thinking about for a while, but we had Joe in good form or Adi in good form.

“Sonny is only going to get better if he is rolled out, he has an extraordinary talent, he works so hard and has a brilliant attitude.

“Knowles is the form player and Wakefield is probably first name on our team-sheet, he has been brilliant for us.”

Knowles praised the impact that striker Reuben Reid, who sits next to him in the Huish Park dressing room, has had in improving his performances so far this season.

The 23-year-old’s goal against Wrexham was his fifth goal of the season in and is hoping to add to that tally at Woking this weekend, having  already scored twice in Yeovil’s two encounters with the Cards this season.

He said: “The senior lads have helped all of the young lads, even Litts (Mark Little) and Reubs (Reuben Reid) were injured they have still come in and helped us.

“Reubs has been massive for me, he’s helped me on and off the pitch, sitting next to him in the changing rooms has been really good.

“Even just learning off the older players, you have to work it our yourself because you are still going to be playing when they are not.”

He revealed he is behind his own goal-scoring target for the campaign so far as he looks to improve on the eight he got in 38 appearances last season.

Knowles said: “I set myself (goal) targets every season and I am slightly behind where I want to be but there’s still a lot of games to play.

“The main thing is the team and the club are in a position to achieve what we want as a team rather than as individuals.”

The former Cambridge United player is one of a number of players – well, everyone except defender Morgan Williams – who is out of contract come the end of this season.

Asked about his long-term future, he said: “That’s up to the club and the manager, I can only do what I can to help myself and put myself in the best position possible to earn a contract.

“Nothing is given to you, that is given to you and I have to go out and earn it, so all I can do is go and do my best and if that is enough to earn a new contract then I will be very happy.“

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Josh Staunton is expected to be missing for Yeovil Town‘s next three games through injury, manager Darren Sarll has confirmed.

But, the Glovers’ boss has said he expects captain Luke Wilkinson to be available for this weekend’s trip to Woking.

Josh Staunton.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The loss of Staunton, who limped off in last weekend’s 2-1 home defeat to Wrexham, comes on top of an injury to central defender Max Hunt who is expected to be out for “a couple of months” with an injury picked up in training at the end of last week.

Speaking ahead of the weekend, Sarll spoke highly of new signing Ben Barclay who joined on a one-month loan deal from National League leaders Stockport County on Friday.

The manager said: “Ben has some really good attributes and he helps us in a time where we have not got Hunt and Staunton.

“He gives us a more mature figure in comparison with what we have had to recruit in younger, inexperienced players and the one position you don’t want inexperience is the centre of defence.

“Ben is a good athlete, attacks the ball very well, he’s committed, and he’s here for the right reasons.

“Sometimes the reasons can be not in the interests of the loan club which is not a winning mentality, but he’s here for the right reasons.”

If Staunton is unavailable for the next three games, he will miss Saturday’s trip to Woking, the derby at home to W*ymouth on Tuesday and next weekend’s home match with Solihull Moors.

The manager added that left-back Jordan Barnett will have scan on an ankle injury ahead of the trip to Surrey where the Glovers are trying to end of six successive defeats.

In the manager’s press conference, the manager also said:

  • He was “drowning in names” of players who could be new recruits to his squad and admitted that the absence of an assistant manager since the departure of Terry Skiverton has made that tough.
    Sarll said: “Normally Terry and I would split that role, so there have been some long days.
    “It’s been a tough week with recruitment drive and it’s important that we acquire people within our means and try and get the best players we can.”

    Terry Skiverton, who joined Charlton Athletic at the start of last week.
  • On the number two vacancy, the manager said he has spoken with people about the position, but has not been able to focus on it this week due to the need to bring in new players.
    But, he admitted he would not be able to replace Skiverton, who left to join League One Charlton Athletic last week after nearly 23 years with the club.
    Sarll said: “You can’t replace like for like. Terry has individual qualities, I have to try and whittle down the minimum requirements and work from there.
    “But, we are talking a three months job in the South West of the country and they are not going to get rich from it.
    “When I got here I brought in Andrew Crofts as a player-coach (who promptly left to take up a role at Brighton), I was not going to have an assistant because of the budget at the time.
    “But even that (senior player) market is not great, there’s not a raft of Carl Dickinson’s and alike out there.”
  • Sarll described speculation linking him with the vacant manager’s job at National League rivals Eastleigh as “unfounded.”
    The Hampshire side sacked Ben Strevens in the week, igniting rumours on social media that Sarll’s name was in the frame to replace him.
    He said: “If I had to comment on everything social media threw out, I would not do anything other than comment on them.
    “My dressing room is the best I have ever had, so for me to disrespect them for talking about that. It’s unfounded. I would prefer to just get on with my job.”
  • Sunny Gill, the referee who took charge of last weekend’s defeat at home to Wrexham got a “one out of 100” rating from the manager for his performance.
    The boss criticised the official for not stopping play which led up to the Welsh side’s equaliser with Glovers’ midfielder Dale Gorman on the floor with a head injury.
    Sarll said: “It was a head injury in the middle third, the game should have been stopped. Does the referee lose his job? He got 1 out of 100.
    “Did the clear and obvious (lack of a decision) impact the course of the game? Absolutely.
    “What more important job does a referee have than to command the environment so players health and safety is at the forefront of the situation?”
    He had a discussion with the Referees’ Association today (Friday) having submitted a significant report in to Mr Gill’s report for his performance.

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The departure of former Glovers’ loanee Tahvon Campbell is the talk of the town (well, Woking town) ahead of the visit of Yeovil Town this weekend.

Tahvon Campbell in action for Yeovil Town in 2016. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The striker, who scored 14 times in 22 appearances this season including at Huish Park in December’s FA Trophy tie, joined League Two Rochdale for an undisclosed six-figure fee on Thursday.

Cards’ chief executive John Katz said the 25-year-old had rejected a new contract offer “which would have made him the club’s top earner” and with his deal up in the summer, Woking decided to cash their chips.

Campbell was “not available for selection” for the 1-0 defeat at Bromley in midweek sparking transfer speculation which did not take long to come to fruition.

That was their sixth defeat in the past nine games albeit they picked up a 2-0 win on their last outing at Kingfield beating Wealdstone last weekend with another former Yeovil loanee, Jamar Loza, on target.

The other win saw them edging out bottom-placed Dover Athletic on home soil between Christmas and New Year – something Yeovil Town didn’t achieve.

 

FROM THE MANAGER

Woking manager Alan Dowson said he believed that his side were “on the right lines” despite a midweek defeat away at Bromley on Tuesday night.

The Cards’ boss said he thought his side’s second half performance should have seen them go away from Kent with all three points.

He said: “I thought the performance was very good, we were camped in their half for the second half.

“We should have had a goal, we should have had a penalty, it was a freak of a goal, we should have cleared it but then it rebounds off somebody and trickles in the net.

“Apart from that I can’t remember Craig (Ross) having to make a save.

“I thought we were the better team, it’s just those fine margins, but I think we are going in the right direction and the players are battling very hard for each other.

“There’s little tiny things that could have got us the result, we were excellent in the second half and I feel we are on the right lines.”

 

TEAM NEWS

Woking’s big injury worry from the midweek defeat against Bromley was star midfielder Max Kretzschmar who limped off with a recurrence of a hamstring injury after an hour.

The hosts will certainly be pushing to get the former Wycombe Wanderers man back having found the net nine times this season.

Speaking about Kretzschmar on Tuesday night, manager Alan Dowson said: “He keeps coming off with his hamstring, it’s when he gets tired it’s a weird injury but hopefully he’ll be alright for Saturday.

“He’ll be everything he can to try and get back, it’s a shame because when you have him on the pitch its a goal-scoring threat.”

Definitely out is on-loan Blackburn Rovers’ central defender Louie John Annesley who was sent off for two yellow cards at Bromley.

Defender Josh Casey and midfielder Jermaine Anderson have not featured since the home defeat to local rivals Aldershot Town on January 2 due to COVID-19, but are expected to be available.

FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS

Tahvon Campbell and Joe Quigley are two players we can scrub off the list of players on the current staff with connections between both sides since the last time we met at the end of December.

However, Woking striker Jamar Loza is another between the clubs. He played five times on loan from Norwich City in 2015 and returned for his third spell at Woking last season.

He started the last two matches on the bench but did come on to score the Cards’ second in a 2-0 home win over Wealdstone last weekend.

Rohan Ince, who made two Yeovil Town appearances in a two-month stint on loan from Chelsea in 2012, arrived from Maidenhead in the summer returned to the line-up at Bromley in midweek as he makes his way back from injry.

A few other players with connections with both clubs include:

  • Tahvon Campbell
  • Joe Quigley
  • Josh Neufville
  • Jake Gray
  • Kieran Murtagh
  • Nathan Ralph
  • Kevin Betsy
  • Steve Thompson
  • Matt Hayfield
  • Chris Giles
  • Warren Patmore
  • Colin Fielder
  • Kevan Brown
  • Robbie Carroll
  • Richard Nugent
  • Andy Clement
  • Dave Piper
  • Steve Stott
  • Tom White
  • Shaun Donnellan
  • Jamie Pitman
  • Luke Oliver

There are probably more. If you think of any, let us know and we’ll add them to the list.