Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 421)

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News, Gloversblog

It was the Welsh Government that went first confirming late on Monday night that all sporting events would be played behind-closed-doors from Boxing Day onwards in the battle to control the new Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Yesterday, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon followed that lead with limits of a maximum of 500 people for all outdoor events.

So far, for Yeovil Town and the National League, the only impact comes in North Wales where our Hollywood pals at Wrexham are forced to play their Boxing Day match at home to Solihull Moors without supporters.

Former Glovers’ midfielder and now Wrexham long throw chucker Ben Tozer left political leaders in no doubt about his opinion on how football was being treated against other ‘leisure pursuits’:

So that just leaves Boris, whose credibility to ask anyone to follow the rules is seriously questionable. England’s Prime Minister said on Tuesday evening that there would be no further restrictions but “naturally we can’t rule out any further measures after Christmas.”

It does rather feel like a prize turkey on Christmas Eve being told “you’re my favourite” by a farmer brandishing a meat cleaver, doesn’t it?

As ever, the best place to find out what is likely to happen is in the newspapers, and the smart money (if you’ll pardon the expression!) is further restrictions.

The Times reported on Tuesday that it’s expected there will be a ‘circuit breaker’ introduced from December 28 – yep, the same day our seagull bothering ‘friends’ from W*ymouth had been due back at Huish Park.

If England follow the rest of mainland Britain in restricting sporting events, there seems every chance that we’ll lose a pay day from both a derby and an FA Cup third round tie with AFC Bournemouth on January 8.

Let’s hope that the BBC or ITV wake up to the fact there’s life outside the Premier League and realise that neither Manchester United nor Aston Villa need the cash from a televised match – and you can watch Cristiano Ronaldo fall over and complain about his hair every weekend!

Alternatively, let’s follow Mark Little‘s lead and claim we’re all having a business meeting – if it’s good enough for Boris and his pals, it’s good enough for us, right?!

https://twitter.com/Litts_2/status/1473321917193011202?s=20

 

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

Sport in Wales will be played behind closed doors from Boxing Day in a bid to curb the spread of the Omicron variant. This means our Hollywood friends, Wrexham will play Solihull Moors on Boxing Day without supporters at The Racecourse.

Wales Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said: “Sporting events over the Christmas period are one of the big highlights of the year. Unfortunately, the new Omicron variant is a significant development in the pandemic and could cause a large number of infections. We need to do everything we can to protect people’s health and control the spread of this awful virus.

“Throughout the pandemic we have followed scientific and public health advice to keep people safe. The advice is clear – we need to act now in response to the threat of Omicron. We are giving people as much notice of these decisions as we can. Crowds will come back as soon as possible. We want everyone to be here to enjoy their favourite sports.”

What does this mean for Yeovil Town? At the moment not much. However, with the ever-changing situation being monitored ‘hour by hour’ it wouldn’t be a surprise if England followed suit – they probably just don’t know how to break it to us yet.

Update: This afternoon, Nicola Sturgeon has followed suit and said festive sport in Scotland will essentially be spectator free. With the Chancellor having delivered his package to support businesses, it wouldn’t be a shock to see similar restrictions in place in England over Christmas. Ugh!

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

Monday’s FA Trophy fourth round draw produced far more emotion from me that I probably thought it would.

Firstly, having been promised a 2pm draw, I sat poised waiting with the Gloverscast.co.uk draft open, but we had the adverts, the travel, and chat about the cricket, Harry Kane red card shenanigans trophy… a quick dial into to TalkSport’s non league guru Tony Incenzo, who was quickly booted off air as he happened to be calling from what sounded like a wind tunnel at NASA… and then finally the draw.

The presenter made at least one error in team name – one can only assume the notion of reading a name next to a number is harder than it seems – we can only use our imagination at the looks the FAs independent adjudicator must have been giving him – but balls were drawn, names were called and Yeovil were drawn at home to Needham Market.

Who!? Not even a town, just a little Market..? “roll up, roll up get your 4th round opponents here…”

Ok, so it’s a bit more than a market, in fact some pretty famous people have come from there, the bloke who discovered Oxygen and June ‘Dot Cotton’ Brown is from there too.

But in football terms, they’ve got one FA Vase Semi Final to their name and not a lot more, they’re tiny and an away day at Yeovil is about as big of a tie since… well, putting Wealdstone out in the last round.

And it got me thinking about how in the space of just Seven days, the same 14 or 15 blokes will line up against a Bournemouth side almost certainly destined for the Premier League, and then little Needham Market.

It’s a stark contrast, the pressure free tie of welcoming some of the best in the 2nd tier and then being on the other side of that coin, hoping not to be the front page of Sunday’s Non League Paper for the wrong reasons.

You could argue that Bournemouth might not fancy the cup with bigger fish to fry and you could argue the part time side from Suffolk will probably have a torrid journey, a day off work and less chance of a hotel stay… but isn’t that what makes cup competitions so awesome?

Darren Sarll and Co will have no problem finding footage of Dominic Solanke, Gary Cahill and Ryan Christie, but I’m not sure how much scouting is possible for Luke Ingram, Callum Sturgess and Ben Fowkes (presumably not the England wicketkeeper)

This is cup football at its very best and that’s why we love it, Huish Park will bring us two very different ties on two very different Saturdays and I cannot wait… after all, the Quadruple is still on…

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News
Dale Gorman scores his penalty vs Weymouth
Credit: Weymouth Flickr

The Football Association has announced that FA Cup ties that finish as a draw after 90 minutes will NOT be subject to a replay in the 3rd and 4th rounds.

So, should Yeovil and Bournemouth, who meet in early January, play something of a stalemate and cannot be split after 90 minutes, instead of an away day at Dean Court 10 days later, the game will finish with 30 additional minutes, and if needed the lottery of a penalty shoot out.

An FA statement said that the decision had been taken… “in the wider interest of English football to alleviate the possibility of fixture congestion following several postponements in recent days and continued uncertainty ahead due to COVID-19.”

The Glovers have beaten W*ymouth, Yate Town and Stevenage to progress this far.

The game with Bournemouth takes place on Saturday 8th January with a 17:30pm kick off.

 

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

Yeovil Town will host Needham Market in the fourth round of the FA Trophy

The Southern League Premier Division Central side put out National League rivals Wealdstone in the third round at the weekend.

The game will be played on Saturday, January 15.

The Suffolk-based side are managed by former Manchester City and Swindon Town midfielder Kevin Horlock and presently sit sixth-from-bottom of their division going to in to the Christmas fixtures.

The winners will receive £5,250 in prize money with £1,500 going to the losing side.

The draw in full is:

Alfreton Town v Bradford Park Avenue or FC Halifax Town

Dagenham & Redbridge v Southend United

Wrexham v Folkestone Invicta

St Albans City v Cheshunt

York City v Slough Town

Stourbridge v Guiseley

Tonbridge Angels v King’s Lynn Town

Southport v Solihull Moors

Notts County v Eastleigh

Dartford v Weymouth

Aldershot Town v Bromley

Boreham Wood v Maidstone United

Morpeth Town v Boston United

Yeovil Town v Needham Market

Stockport County v Larkhall Athletic

Spennymoor Town v Plymouth Parkway

 

 

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Latest Yeovil Town News

Morning readers!

It’s a weird feeling this isn’t it? Unbeaten in 12 (the Somerset Premier Cup counts dammit!) and confidence is running through these players. You have to go back to 2012/13 under Gary Johnson to remember a spell where we exuded such swagger on the pitch which was felt in the stands. The dark days of October are well and truly forgotten and it’s actually quite nice going to Huish Park at the moment – quagmire behind the Thatchers aside.

In my Five Conclusions yesterday, I wrote that Adi Yussuf changed the game when he arrived. He did, but those conclusions were written before undertaking Gloverscast Rule #2 (sleep on it) and it’s fair to say all three of the subs made a difference. Critics will say Sarll got his selection wrong, but he had to give time to Reuben Reid, Alex Bradley and Max Evans. With the little depth we have at our disposal, they deserved a chance. In the case of Reid and Bradley, those two need to get some proper match fitness as we need to take advantage of the limited bodies we have.

Yussuf made the most obvious impact with his two goals, but Josh Staunton was calmness personified (as always) when he was introduced. When we lost Luke Wilkinson against Chesterfield we fell apart but that fear of a team without Wilkinson wasn’t there on Saturday. If and when Luke Wilkinson feels his time at Yeovil Town is up, we have a ready-made leader to take the armband. I think we can all agree that we need this lot all signed up as soon as possible though.

Jaheim Headley enjoyed a strong start to his loan spell in green and white, but it wasn’t until we brought on Jordan Barnett that we saw the best of Headley. Headley’s cross for Yussuf’s first was inviting but the decoy run of Barnett allowed him the time and space to deliver. The on-pitch chemistry he and Barnett seem to have already is surprising given he only trained with the Glovers on Friday.

Today we’ll see the FA Trophy 4th Round draw take place. It’d be good to get a draw against a lower level team, just to keep things interesting more than anything. But with fixtures scheduled for January and with cases of covid rising, it feels like most fixtures the other side of Christmas will be in jeopardy.

At the top of the game, the Premier League are talking about having a round of fixtures off between the 28th and 30th of December. These are clubs with multi million (and some billion) pound assembled squads who have ridiculous depth and talent at their disposal. It’s hard to feel sorry for them when we’ve had four on the bench this season, including Ollie Haste and a keeper. Clubs in our position, especially with our off-field situation, don’t have the luxury of being able to take a game off. If our fixtures against Weymouth and Torquay, which should be box office, are postponed, that’s a massive hole in the finances of the club. Let’s hope we, and our opponents do the right thing and we get to enjoy some festive football.

Have a good Monday and try and hold onto this weird winning feeling!

By:
On:
In: Podcasts, Latest Yeovil Town News

After yet another impressive win onSaturday, the Glovers progress in the FA Trophy. Ian and Dave are joined by Sheridan Robins to talk about 3-1 win against Woking.

Thanks for listening!

Remember to add Gloverscast.co.uk to your favourites and check the website daily for the latest news from Huish Park.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, enjoy some retro content on Instagram. Leave us a review and share the pod with a pal.

WANT TO ADVERTISE ON THE GLOVERSCAST? Send us an email for our rate card.

If you want to take part in the quiz, have an idea for the website or just want to send us a message, email ian@gloverscast.co.uk

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

Tickets for the FA Cup third round tie with Championship high-fliers AFC Bournemouth have gone on sale to season ticket holders.

You have until Christmas Eve to claim your ticket for the match at Huish Park on Saturday, January 8 (5.30pm kick-off).

Each season ticket holder is eligible to one additional ticket

Ticket prices are:

Seated/Standing

Adults: £20/£18

Senior: £18/£16

16-23 years: £14

Under-16s: £5

Under-12s: £3

If you are a season ticket holder, claim your ticket – here.

All remaining tickets will go on general sale from December 29.

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Five Conclusions, Latest Yeovil Town News

Adi Yussuf. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Another Yeovil Town fixture, another win. What are these feelings we’re feeling? Here’s Ian’s take on a pleasant afternoon at a chilly Huish Park.

This one’s a bit obvious, but Adi Yussuf changed the game. His arrival just after the hour for Reuben Reid gave the Glovers an injection of ramshackle chaos at the top end of the pitch. He just bumps into to people and wreaks havoc and it’s brilliant to watch – when it ends in goals. He was in the right places and took his chances superbly, a brilliant finish with his left and then one with his right in stoppage time. Sleep well Adi – we need a lot more of them!

It wasn’t the return for Reuben Reid we all dreamed of, but people need to show patience. This was Reid’s first start since injuring his hamstring in pre-season and while Darren Sarll may not have helped manage expectations by hyping him as the ‘best back to goal striker’ in the National League and League Two, we do have to remember he’s a 33-year-old returning from a pretty serious injury. I don’t think we played to Reid’s strengths in our first half display yesterday. We know he’s better with the ball in at his feet and we just didn’t give him that service. We’ve been patient with Yussuf as he’s gained fitness and we need to do the same with Reid.

It was a decent debut for Jaheim Headley. The youngster was thrown straight into it on his debut and he grew into the game as it wore on. Yeovil did get exposed on the left in the first half but Headley gained confidence in the second half and showed real intent to get forward and influence the game. He looks to be a powerful runner with energy to spare. It’s early days in his Yeovil career but, once again, Darren Sarll seems to have done some good business in the loan market. Side note: Dan Moss was sensational again. What a tremendous player he is.

Yeovil Line Up vs Weymouth

We had to show character. It’s become a cliché and we do say it a bit tongue in cheek at times, but the first half performance wasn’t great – presumably down to the changes we made. But, after the break we were a different team. Woking resorted to slowing it down wherever they possibly could, but it felt like we were always likely to get something as the game progressed. We got back to doing what we’ve been good at this season, we got the ball down and we played and Woking didn’t have an answer to it.

Don’t Fall In Love With Footballers. Back along, I said this because players always break your heart when they eventually leave. I said it at the start of the 2021 when Tom Knowles was scoring for fun (Nice header Tom!) and just becoming our talisman. This mantra is becoming increasingly difficult with this team. Every single one of them is playing for the shirt and for the club and it’s brilliant to see. As we’ve said ad nauseum, the manager is working miracles with his stretched squad and these players look like they’ll run through walls for our club. It’s painful to see how many could leave at the end of the season. Time for someone to start drafting contracts up, or we’ll all end up with broken hearts.