Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 411)

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Max Evans

Glovers’ boss Darren Sarll has promised to send a strong side for the Somerset Premier Cup tie against Cheddar on Tuesday night.

Speaking before the weekend’s game with Eastleigh, he said it would be the first team who line up.

He told the media: “Who else is going to play the game, the reserve team? Haven’t got one. Youth team? Haven’t got one.

“I’m not going to put 16 year olds out there, minors, I wouldn’t put 12 of them against men, someone is going to get hurt. I might be able to put two or three in and surround them with some big boys, but we have to play the competition and we’ve got one football team.”

Sarll confirmed later to the Gloverscast, that there would be some rotation within the smaller squad with a couple of obvious names in the frame to get some game time with the versatile Alex Bradley, young midfielder Toby Stephens and stand-in goalkeeper Max Evans all in line to start or play a key role.

“Max (Evans) like any young lad has had those games, Toby (Stephens) has had a loan spell at Hemel and he’s probably due another spell and we’d like to get him out especially now Lawson (D’Ath) is back.

“I don’t want that young man sitting idle, Toby is training very well by the way…they will definitely be involved, all three will play. I need to check on Toby to make sure we’re not breaking any regulations.”

Ticket and travel details for the trip to Bowden Park can be found HERE

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Ben, Dave and Ian are here to brighten up your Valentine’s Day with some chatter about the 0-0 draw at Eastleigh and we kind of preview our trip to the Theatre of Cheese.

 

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Dale Gorman.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The FA has confirmed Dale Gorman’s two-match ban following his tenth yellow card of the season in the goalless draw at Eastleigh at the weekend.

The FA Website has updated to show his 83rd minute booking has been listed as a ‘foul tackle’ and as such, he will be sat in the stands for a couple of games.

The Northern Irishman will miss the Glovers’ upcoming games against Dagenham and Redbridge on Saturday and Maidenhead United three days later.

He will be back for the trip to Chesterfield on Saturday, February 26.

As a note, he is available to Darren Sarll for the Somerset Premier Cup tie against Cheddar, which is not considered a first-team fixture for disciplinary issues.

 

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Ben Barclay
Pic: YTFC YouTube

Yeovil Town’s on loan defender Ben Barclay has been named in the Non-League Paper’s Team of the Week for his performance in the Glovers’ 0-0 with Eastleigh.

The centre back, on a temporary deal from Stockport has been named alongside Aaron Drewe of W*ymouth and Wealdstone’s Jaydn Mundle-Smith in the mythical back three.

Barclay is scheduled to remain at Huish Park for four more games including this Tuesday’s Somerset Premier Cup tie at Cheddar.

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After a disappointing defeat in midweek, Yeovil Town picked up a point with a goalless draw away at Eastleigh yesterday.

Boss Darren Sarll said his side were “dominant” for 80 minutes of the match, whilst on-loan defender Ben Barclay was pleased to secure another clean sheet – but the lack of goals were (yet again) the main talking point.

Here’s what Coatesie thought from the away end on the South Coast….

Yeovil players after the 0-0 draw with Solihull

Now this wasn’t vintage, free-flowing, exciting Yeovil Town, but it was an improvement from the defeat at Wealdstone where even the players questioned their own character.

This looked more like two teams determined not to lose, only coming to life when they thought they could win, before reverting back to trying not to lose.

There were long spells, particularly in the first half, where all the possession was with the visitors, but the same old problems exist going forward.

Yesterday we could not turn our possession in to clear-cut opportunities and it always felt as if there needed to be a mistake or a moment of brilliance to break the deadlock.

Sadly, the latter never looked likely to happen, though the former almost did at the end when Eastleigh striker Tyrone Barnett passed up a glorious opportunity to win it at the death.

Olomola chats to Sam Collard
? @YTFC

The man all those who travelled to the Silverlake Stadium was hoping could be the difference was new boy Olufela Olomola, back for his third loan spell at Huish Park.

It did not quite click straight away, but there was enough there from Fela to make you think it could.

He has had two appearances for his parent club, Hartlepool United, in the past month, playing less than 90 minutes in total in those matches, so it’s going to take him a bit of time to get up to speed.

There were some signs of a link with Tom Knowles and Charlie Wakefield forming, and his chance at the end of the first half suggests there is more to come.

Fela didn’t affect the game as we’d hoped, but give him a full week of training and let’s see how he looks against Dagenham next weekend.

Ben Barclay
Pic: YTFC YouTube


But defensively Yeovil looked sound again after some errors in midweek and Ben Barclay is looking a very shrewd signing on loan from Stockport County.

It was the centre half who actually came closest to breaking the deadlock when his header came off the crossbar following a header from his defensive partner Luke Wilkinson.

Wilko spoke before the game about the need for the Glovers’ backline to chip in with goals, and on another day that corner routine could have done just that.

The fact the absence of Max Hunt, one of our top performers this season, has gone pretty much unnoticed says everything you need to know about Barclay’s performances since his arrival.

This one could be a little controversial, but I do think Tom Knowles was lucky only to only see a yellow card at the end there.

And, yes, before you start swearing at your mobile/laptop/tablet, Eastleigh’s Ryan Hill was even more fortunate to remain on the pitch!

I held my breath when Knowles went in late on keeper Joe McDonnell the action which incensed Hill to shove his opponent to the ground.

Both McDonnell and Knowles were more than a little theatrical in their responses to the fouls.

Knowles went down for treatment, giving the referee a lot of time to confer with his assistants, and the result was a yellow card apiece.

Had the ref decided to go for red, there was every chance a National League ref (*Rule 1 invoked*) could have tried to keep the numbers level.

In summary, it was either a yellow card apiece or a red one apiece.

Charlie Lee rises highest
? Mike Kunz

Finally, it was lovely to see Charlie Lee waiting outside the player’s entrance after the game.

Since retiring from football at Billericay Town a couple of months ago, I imagine he has his Saturday afternoon’s spare.

I wonder if he got inside in time to hear Darren Sarll refer to the assistant he plans to appoint next week as “a super intelligent chap” in his post-match interview.

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Ben Barclay
Pic: YTFC YouTube

On loan Glovers defender Ben Barclay is pleased with the point gained against Eastleigh but hopes the side will build on their defensive resoluteness to win more games.

Speaking to BBC Somerset, he said;

“After Tuesday night’s result, we had to come here and prove a point to ourselves, to the manager, to the fans, we owed it to them. We were a bit soft on Tuesday, so we performed and come (away with) a clean sheet”

The visitors did see off a late scare with Eastleigh nearly grabbing the points at the death, but Barclay was happy to have made the last ditch block

“You see it in the programme every week, we discuss it in the changing room ‘would you rather a last minute goal or a last minute block’ us defenders always say a last minute block that was nice”

There was plenty of praise for both Luke Wilkinson beside him and the returning Fela Olomola on his 3rd debut, but there was an admittance that the focus needs to be on scoring a few more.

“Since I’ve been here, we’ve had three clean sheets out of five, which is not bad… we’ve shown real control today, in the territory, as a centre half I’ve spent most of the game on the half way line. We just need a bit of quality in the final third and the goals will start coming.”

Barclay has 4 more games with the Glovers (including the SPC on Tuesday) before his initial one month loan spell comes to an end.

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Darren Sarll was pleased with his side’s dominant performance but disappointed that Yeovil couldn’t get the win in this afternoon’s match at Eastleigh.

Speaking after the Glovers’ 0-0 draw with Eastleigh, Sarll said: “I thought we played very very well. There’s not many times in these divisions, we’ll say League One down, that you get 80 plus minutes of dominance but I actually thought today we were very dominant for 80 plus minutes. And we’re disappointed not to win the game. When you’re that dominant and you play that well, and we did, I thought we should have, quite rightly, won the game.”

Tom Knowles received a booking seven minutes from time, when all the reports suggest it should have been a red card for an Eastleigh player. When asked about the red card, Sarll didn’t go into great depth saying: “It’s a red card isn’t it? When you run and throw someone to the floor?”

Followed up quickly with: “I don’t really care about all the crap, it was irrelevant. There was a good a edge to it [the match] to be fair, I thought both teams had an edge. We’re just disappointed that we don’t win the game because we’re so comfortable and so on top, it was a good a performance I’ve seen from us for a while.”

Striker Olufela Olomola in action during his loan spell with Yeovil Town.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Yeovil announced the loan-signing of Olufela Olomola last night, and the striker went straight into the forward line with Tom Knowles and Charlie Wakefield. Sarll used quite the image when describing the signing from Hartlepool.

“We’ve flirted for many years, Fela and I, without really getting to, excuse the pun, second base. But he’s got good qualities. I thought he was very good, he obviously needs to improve physically but that only comes at this level now with game time and playing week in week out. He’s got some really good qualities, pace and power being the obvious ones. I thought he carried a threat for us. It will be nice to get him to a point, because he has had injury problems in the past, where he’s operational how we’d like him for 90 minutes. But, he’s going to score goals.”

Sarll also confirmed that the club will confirm who will fill the vacant assistant manager position left by Terry Skiverton. He said he had a couple of conditions when it came to finding the right man.

“I’m quite a dominant character in terms of the coaching pitch so its making sure that we get the right fit for the gaps that need filling. I broke this into a specification of two, of; does the individual know me and my character? Can they work with me and my character, because I’m not an easy man to work with at times. And, does he need to learn the role? Because if he didn’t know me and needed to learn the role I may as well have done it by myself. We’ve found someone who definitely knows me and will need to learn the role, but is a super intelligent chap and will be a brilliant addition to us.”

Let the guessing begin…

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Venue: Silverlake Stadium
Saturday, February 12th, 3pm kick-off

Conditions: Dry but still
Pitch: Fine

Attendance: 2716 (no away figure given)

Scorers: None

Referee: Lee Collins

Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Gorman ’79, Knowles ’83, Bradley ’90+
Eastleigh: Miley ’30, De Barr ’67, Hill ’83, Boyce ’83,

Sending off: None


Yeovil Town : (4-3-3)

Grant Smith

Mark Little, Ben Barclay, Luke Wilkinson, Morgan Williams

Josh Staunton, Dale Gorman, Jordan Barnett (Yussuff ’88)

Charlie Wakefield, Olufela Olomola (Lo-Everton ’72), Tom Knowles (Bradley ’90)

Substitutes: Max Evans, Alex Bradley, Rueben Reid, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, Adi Yussuf.

Eastleigh: McDonnell, Boyce, Broadbent, Hare, Harper, Hill, Miley, Pitman, Pritchard, Whelan, Whitehall.
Substitutes: Hesketh (for Pritchard 62), De Barr (for Whitehall), Barnett (for Pitman 88), Bragg, Kelly.

Match Report

It was another story of what could have been for Yeovil Town as our ability to find a killer ball or a goal (or both) saw us peter out to another goalless draw.

The story was one of two sides with inability to turn chances in to meaningful opportunities with Yeovil dominating the play in the first half but a late strike from debutant Olufela Olomola was as good as it got.

After the break, the visitors imposed themselves on the game, but it was Glovers’ defender Ben Barclay who came closest to scoring when his header came off the top of the crossbar from a corner.

A late surge from the Spitfires saw a fine stop from Grant Smith parried to striker Tyrone Barnett who fired wide.


First half

The talk of the team news was a (third) debut for Olufela Olomola, following his arrival on loan from Hartlepool United until the end of the season.

He was joined in a front three by Tom Knowles and Charlie Wakefield with Mark Little returning at right back and Jordan Barnett coming in midfield. Jack Robinson and Matt Worthington dropped out from the midweek defeat at Wealdstone.

The first chance for either side came after ten minutes when done good approach play broke to Tom Knowles from the edge of the box and his effort was tipped over over Joe McDonnell in the hosts’ goal.

Ben Barclay’s header flashed over from a corner three minutes later, but that was all Yeovil had to show for the greater attacking pressure in the opening 20 minutes.

There was not much opportunity for Olomola to show much until the 23rd when he lashed a shot just over but a neat link up with Knowles shortly after to set Wakefield away showed what the new boy can bring. Charlie’s run was just too soon to beat the offside flag, however.

There was good movement, nice touches from the new boy, enough to suggest a partnership with Knowles and Wakefield could be fruitful – but just lacking that final well, anything.

Then with the final minute of the half ticking away, Dale Gorman latched on to a loose ball fed it to Olomola inside the box and the striker got his shot away but crept over. Best chance of the half.

The fact that Grant Smith did not have a meaningful effort to deal with says everything about the hosts’ attack and the visitors’ defence.

Indeed, a weakness in the structurally unsound away end from jumping Yeovil fans proved the highlight of the action in that direction during the opening 45 minutes.

Half time: Eastleigh 0 Yeovil Town 0

Second half

A bit of harem scarem in the both boxes did not lead to an effort on goal until the 53rd minute when Wakefield cut inside the box and found Josh Staunton whose shot was blocked.

Though they could not have created less than their first half tally, the opening 15 minutes of the second period with winger Ryan Hill in the thick of the action.

Spitfires’ striker Brett Pitman put an effort over soon after before defender Josh Hare’s low ball in to the box shortly before the hour mark took a deflection off a Yeovil defender and away.

The momentum had certainly swung the way of Eastleigh, but on the 66th minute a corner found Luke Wilkinson at the back post and his header across goal came to defensive partner Ben Barclay who got his head to it but saw his effort come off the top of the bar.

Olomola’s afternoon came to an end when he was replaced by Sonny Blu Lo-Everton. It was far from a dream return for the former Southampton youngster, but there seemed to be enough in his performance to think he will help out lacklustre attack.

After 75 minutes, former Yeovil midfielder Tom Whelan fired a shot over from fully 20 yards which in the second period could be counted as an opportunity.

Barclay broke forward and his shot was deflected wide, and that is what it is going to take to break the deadlock. A mistake, a lucky break, a moment of brilliance.

Brilliance was in short supply, from as the resulting corner, the hosts took the ball away and broke away only for Gorman to make a ‘necessary’ foul. Unfortunately, it led to a booking, his inevitable tenth of the season. A two-match ban awaits.

Seven minutes from the end, Wakefield broke forward and forced a good save out of McDonnell.

Grant Smith didn’t have a lot to do, but he did pull off an important stop at the end. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

In the aftermath, Knowles charged down the keeper, Hill took exception and put a hand in to the throat of his opponent. Referee Lee Collins decided it was a booking apiece. Hill can certainly count himself lucky not to have seen red.

But the best chance of the match took until the final chance of the match when Smith reacted smartly to push a shot out as far as substitute Tyrone Barnett who inexplicably fired wide.

Full time: Eastleigh 0 Yeovil Town 0

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Captain Wilkinson

Yeovil Town defender Luke Wilkinson has said that he is desperate to add to his goal tally for the Glovers to take the pressure off the forwards and to boost his own performances.

Speaking to the Gloverscast before the Eastleigh game Wilko said it had been too long since he last found the net himself.

“I don’t think I’ve gone this long in my career without a goal, I’m a bit disappointed in myself actually. I think it’s so important, especially from set plays because we get so many throughout the season, we need to start capitalising on them”

“Some of the deliveries we get are absolutely brilliant, but we’re not getting on the end of them.”

“That’s a massive thing, the gaffer has brought it up as well, and we need to start attacking these set plays a lot better and making the most of them.

Wilkinson, who’s last league goal came over a year ago – the last gasp winner against Torquay on January 2nd 2021 – simply said “fingers crossed” with a wry smile when asked if he fancies breaking that streak at the weekend.

There was plenty of praise for Ben Barclay who has come into the club on a short term deal with all eyes on Eastleigh, Wilkinson said he would be trying to add their formidable front line, including new recruit Brett Pitman to the long list of strikers who the Glovers have kept quiet.

“It builds confidence as a defensive unit against these players whoare banging in goals left, right and centre every other week, then they come up against us and we keep them quiet, it obviously does build confidence… it’s not just us at the back either, the midfielders work so hard when we are in the defencive shape and obviously Granty (Smith) behind us as well”

 

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Yeovil Town have announced the return of striker Olufela Olomola on loan until the end of the season.

The 24-year-old joins from League Two Hartlepool United for what will be his third stint at Huish Park.

Striker Olufela Olomola in action during his loan spell with Yeovil Town.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

He will go straight in to the squad for tomorrow’s visit to Eastleigh bolstering the squad which has scored the fourth lowest number of goals in the National League this season.

Speaking following the move, Olomola said: “I’m happy. I’m delighted the deals been done and I can’t wait to get going. 

“Darren Sarll was very enthusiastic about getting me down here. I want to make an impact on the team, help climb up the table and get some wins.”

He will take the number 10 shirt vacated by Joe Quigley when he joined promotion-chasing Chesterfield last season.

The former Southampton youngster has played just 14 times since joining Hartlepool following his release by Scunthorpe United at the end of last season, scoring once.

His last League start for Hartlepool came in mid-September and he has mostly been used off the bench since moving to the North East.

However, he is well-known to Yeovil fans having scored seven times in 28 appearances for Darren Way’s Glovers whilst on loan from Southampton in 2017-18.

Having been released by the Saints in summer 2018 he joined Scunthorpe before returning for a second another six-month loan spell at Huish Park where he scored three times.

Since his time last spell for Yeovil, Olomola has had a successful loan spell at Carlisle United from Scunthorpe, where he struck five goals in League Two.

He had a further loan spell at Carlisle United in 2019-2020 where he scored five times in League Two.

Following his release by Scunthorpe in the summer, he went on trial at Hartlepool where he impressed then-manager Dave Challinor enough to earn a contract.

Welcome (back) to Somerset, Fela.