Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 421)

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Venue: Huish Park
Saturday, March 26, 3pm kick-off

Conditions: A clear, sunny day
Pitch: Carpet-esque

Attendance: 2,465 (411 away supporters)

Scorers: Reuben Reid 4 (1-0), Tom Knowles 8 (2-0)

Bookings: 

Yeovil: None
Southend: Clifford 74, Gubbins 78,

Referee: Gary Parsons


Yeovil Town : (4-4-2)

Ted Cann

Mark Little, Luke Wilkinson, Ben Barclay, Morgan Williams

Matt Worthington Dale Gorman  Lawson D’Ath (for Alex Bradley, 90), Tom Knowles

Charlie Wakefield (for Josh Neufville, 61)  Reuben Reid (for Olufela Olomola, 85)

Substitutes:  Josh Staunton, Jordan Barnett.

Southend United: Arnold, Hobson, Bridge (for Cardwell, 58), Dalby, Clifford, Atkinson, Neal, Clark, Davies, Dennis (for Powell, 70), Kensdale (for Gubbins, 46). Substitutes:  Gard, Gubbins, Demetriou, Cardwell.

Match Report

Yeovil Town picked up their third win in a row thanks to a quickfire start against Southend United on a glorious afternoon at Huish Park.

Reuben Reid‘s second goal of the season after just four minutes was swiftly followed by Tom Knowles‘ second in as many matches to see off a Southend side.

Having been given the runaround by the Glovers in the first half, the visitors changed their shape after the break and the second half was a much closer affair.

The win saw Yeovil leap-frog their opponents to take up 12th place in the National League table, 11 points off the play-off places and 24 points off King’s Lynn Town, who take up the division’s final relegation spot.

Here’s how it went down in sunny Somerset…..

First half

Both sides made just one change from their midweek matches with Luke Wilkinson coming in for Josh Staunton, who has been playing with a hernia injury in recent weeks, in the centre of the Yeovil defence.

For the visitors, loan signing Kenny Clark was thrown straight in to the Southend line-up in place of the suspended James Dunne as they reverted to a back three.

Having had success with a fast start in the 2-1 home win over Bromley, Yeovil did exactly the same thing and found the lead after just four minutes.

Reuben Reid opens the scoring in the 2-0 win over Southend. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

A ball in to the box from Lawson D’Ath picked out Reuben REID who turned superbly in the box and got his shot away which squeezed under visiting keeper Steve Arnold to open the scoring.

After just nine minutes, a quick throw from D’Ath caught the visitors napping and fed Charlie Wakefield whose ball found Tom KNOWLES at the back post to slot home the second. What. A. Start.

The non-stop Wakefield (where does he get his energy from?!) were exploiting the back three being employed by their visitors and it was no surprise to see them revert to a back four soon after.

A week ago, we had not scored twice in a National League match since the end of February and we’d won just once in the league in 2022 – but that monkey is definitely off our back!

After such a fast start on a very hot day in Somerset, Yeovil unsurprisingly slowed down soon after with the visitors seeing a lot more of the ball albeit they didn’t do a lot to test Ted Cann in the hosts’ goal.

At the other end, Knowles fed Wakefield on 24 minutes and the winger-turned-striker lifted his shot over and shortly after midfielder Jack Bridge broke in to the box but his effort was not enough to test Cann.

That was the start of a bit of the visitors coming back in to the game with on loan Norwich City striker Matt Dennis put a header just over from Leon Davies‘ cross, and then Clark headed a great opportunity over the bar from a Harrison Neal free-kick.

But three minutes before the interval it should have been 3-0 to Yeovil. A superb through ball from Reid found Knowles who nipped in ahead of Clark his goal-bound effort was brilliantly headed off the line by Shaun Hobson.

Cann made a good stop to deny Dennis moments later, but the home side went in at the break two goals to the good.

Half time: Yeovil Town 2 Southend United 0

Second half

If you needed proof that the back three they started with was not working for Southend, manager Kevin Maher introduced Joe Gubbins, the young QPR defender signed on loan in midweek, in place of Ollie Kensdale at half-time.

But it was Yeovil who started the brighter and on 47 minutes a great delivery by Dale Gorman found Wilkinson who got it across to Reid who appeared certain to score but was denied by a great interception by Hobson.

The quick start continued as Gubbins’ clearance landed at the feet of Wakefield whose effort was volleyed over and soon after Knowles had another effort which was well saved by Arnold in the visitors’ goal.

Josh Neufville runs at the Southend defence. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

On the hour mark, Josh Neufville came off the substitutes’ bench in place of Wakefield, but there was little more to talk about at either end until Southend substitute Harry Cardwell had a shot blocked by Ben Barclay on 70 minutes.

D’Ath put an effort just wide from a tight angle a minute later, but there was nothing much to shout about for either side until Barclay put one just wide on 83 minutes.

With five minutes remaining, Olufela Olomola came off the substitutes’ bench to replace Reid and the on loan striker almost had an immediate impact. He found himself clear on goal after a misplace pass by Clark, who did superbly to get back and deny the striker with a last ditch tackle.

Full time: Yeovil Town 2 Southend United 0

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Luke Wilkinson.

Captain Luke Wilkinson returns to the Yeovil Town starting line-up in place of Josh Staunton in the only change for today’s National League match with Southend United at Huish Park (3pm kick-off).

Staunton, who has been playing with a hernia in recent matches – or, as manager Darren Sarll put it, “a hole in his stomach”, is on the substitutes’ bench with Reuben Reid remaining up front after impressing in the midweek win over Bromley.

The visitors also make one change with Kenny Clark, signed on Thursday from National League rivals Dagenham & Redbridge, coming straight in to a back three in place of James Dunne, who is suspended after being red carded in midweek.

QPR defender Joe Gubbins, who joined on loan in the week, is on the bench alongside striker Harry Cardwell, who has been missing for the past month through injury.

Yeovil Town: Ted Cann, Mark Little, Luke Wilkinson, Ben Barclay, Morgan Williams, Lawson D’Ath, Dale Gorman, Matt Worthington, Tom Knowles, Reuben Reid, Charlie Wakefield. Substitutes: Josh Staunton, Jordan Barnett, Alex Bradley, Josh Neufville, Olufela Olomola.

Southend United: Arnold, Hobson, Bridge, Dalby, Clifford, Atkinson, Neal, Clark, Davies, Dennis, Kensdale. Substitutes: Powell, Gard, Gubbins, Demetriou, Cardwell.

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Barnet have confirmed next weekend’s visit of Yeovil Town will offer all fans buying a full priced ticket an additional free ticket.

All you have to do is also buy a ticket for the National Lottery, as the offer is part of The National Lottery Football Weekends campaign.

In the meantime, there is a guide on the Barnet website as to how to do it – see here.

Prices:

Adult – £22
Concessions (over 65 and under 21) – £14
Under 17 – £5

Visiting supporters, who will be housed in Stand 66 at The Hive, can purchase tickets by selecting ‘change to away’ on the ticketing website and choosing their seat in the away end.

Tickets are now available to buy – here.

At the time of writing, it appeared there was no match at Huish Park which benefited from this ticket offer.

However, on closer inspection it appears today’s game at home to Southend United, is in fact BOGOF day for us.

It was mentioned at the bottom of the following article posted on the club’s website back on February 25 – see here.

The article states: “The ticket offer will apply to the Southend home match, taking place on 26th March.”

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The returns of loanees Josh Neufville and goalkeeper Ted Cann have helped provide a lift to the Yeovil Town dressing room, according to midfielder Matt Worthington.

Both players made their second debuts in last weekend’s 2-0 win at bottom club Dover Athletic and then followed up with outings in a 2-1 home win over play-off-chasing Bromley on Tuesday night.

Asked about the arrivals ahead of this weekend’s match with Southend United at Huish Park, Worthington said the wins were much needed having managed just one National League success in 2022 prior to the results.

Matt Worthington drives forward.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

He said: “We’ve had a tough couple of weeks, the manager has put a lot of pressure on us to get performances.

“We went through a period where it wasn’t nice, we want to win, but the last two games have given us a lift.
There’s lots of good competition for places in midfield.

“Seeing new faces around the ground in Josh and Ted always helps, so we are full of confidence to kick on and see where the next ten games take us.”

Worthington has played 90 minutes for the last three matches and, if he completes another full match against Southend, he will have played more first-team minutes this season than in any other in his career.

He joined permanently in January 2019 and was part of the team which took Yeovil out of the Football League, a fact that is not lost on him.

Worthington said: “My journey here has not been great with us getting relegated the season I joined permanently, but I feel like I owe a lot to the club and I always try to do my best when I am out there.”

However, like every member of the on-the-field staff at Huish Park (except you, Morgan!), he is out of contract next season, but was non-committal when asked about his future beyond May.

Worthy added: “I’m just focusing on the pitch and doing everything I can in the last ten games and, if I am here next year, great, if I am not it’s a new challenge.”

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On loan defender Ben Barclay‘s stay at Huish Park until the end of the season is expected to be completed today (Friday).

The Stockport County centre half is due to conclude his second month’s stay after tomorrow’s home match with Southend United.

Ben Barclay. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Speaking to the Gloverscast’s Ben Barrett ahead of the fixture, Yeovil boss Darren Sarll confirmed the 25-year-old “should get authorised today.”

He added: “Ben should be staying until the end of the season. The class of Stockport has been unrivalled, their sporting director, Simon Wilson, has been unbelievable for us.

“We are very grateful to Stockport, both Dave Challinor and Simon, that we can keep Ben until the end of the season.”

A few hours after Sarll said his at his pre-match press conference on Friday, the club confirmed Barclay’s loan had been extended – see here. However, we’d expect any deal to prevent him from turn out against his parent club when they visit Huish Park on April 23.

The boss also confirmed that Max Hunt, whose absence through injury coincided with the arrival of Barclay, was back in training with the first-team coach but said he does not expect him back until the middle of April.

But, of loanees forward Sonny Blu Lo-Everton and defender Jack Robinson, Sarll said the pair would have to fight for their places in the squad.

Sonny’s last appearance came in the 2-0 defeat to Grimsby Town a fortnight ago whilst Middlesbrough loanee Robinson has not been seen since the loss at Wealdstone at the start of February.

The manager said: “Sonny has to compete and get himself back in. There’s no divine right to play, I’ve probably shown in three years I have left out a lot of bigger players.

“Reuben (Reid) had to fight, Adi (Yussuf) has had to fight, it’s a meritocracy. My duty is to the club and the changing room and I have to give them the best chance to win matches.

“It won’t be the first or last time in Sonny’s career he’s had to fight. I’m not sure there’s another teenager which has made 16 starts in the National League. The contribution he’s had will stand him in stead.

“Jack is in and out with injury with a reoccurrence of a couple of injuries. He should be back on the training pitch next week, but when he’s fit he will have to fight Morgan Williams for that shirt.”

Sarll has also defended his decision to bring in loan goalkeeper Ted Cann instead of throwing number two Max Evans in to National League action.

The boss said that if he had not been able to bring in a more experienced keeper following the injury to first choice Grant Smith he would have played the 19-year-old.

Max Evans

He said: “My duty is to the club and the dressing room to get the best available, if I didn’t think there was anything out there that was better and immediately available, I would have played Max.

“He knows his development plan, we’ve outlined that very clearly. He’s learning every week. Goalkeeping is a pressurised position and if you get it wrong at an early stage with a goalkeeper it’s curtains and I didn’t think it was the right time.

Max has a big future, I would love him to be here next year and continue his growth and he will be a very good goalkeeper.

To ask him to play away at Dover and at home to Bromley, who we assumed would have been a physical team, that would have been hard for Max.

“I would rather he got good experiences and built slowly than jump to the next bit and had to go back down.”

There was praise for striker Reuben Reid after he impressed with his performance in the midweek win over Bromley.

The game was only his third start of the season having suffered a hamstring tear in pre-season and he has got just one goal in his 15 appearances.

Reuben Reid. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Sarll said: “His story is unfair on him, we started pre-season and building around Reuben and Joe (Quigley) being our two forwards, Mark Little in that back four and then between week four and five of pre-season you lose Reuben and Mark.

“So we had to change, went through the adaptation process and went to a 4-3-3, we go on a great run and come away with Reuben fit, but playing a system I did not think would suit Reuben.

“I have always played Reuben in a front two since he joined. I wanted Adi (Yussuf) against Dover because he’s chaotic and the work he does against defenders, but then at home I wanted to smooth us out.

“So you take two destructive players like Jordan (Barnett) and Adi and bring in Reuben and Lawson (D’Ath) and they were great, but that was the quality I expected of him when he signed.”

Josh Neufville went from “rusty” to “breath-taking” in his performances between last weekend’s win at Dover Athletic and Monday morning’s training session, according to Sarll.

The winger arrived for his second loan spell at Huish Park last Friday and played the last 15 minutes in Kent and then got a further 21 minutes on Tuesday night against Bromley.

Sarll said: “He’s a young man who’s had a career-threatening and is still finding his feet. When he was training on Friday and when he came on on Saturday he looked rusty which is inevitable, but he was breath-taking on Monday, so the shackles are coming off.

“Everyone was excited to have Josh back and the players who were here last year went through a hell of a time, so the bond that players who were here then is stronger than it is with other players.

“So, we were all pleased to see Josh and pleased to know he’d recovered and he was playing again, he did a lot for us last year and we did an awful amount for him.”

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It was a 2-1 win over Yeovil Town in Essex back in January which kick-started an amazing run of form for Southend United.

Relegated out of the Football League last May, the Shrimpers had been expected to compete having brought in some experienced professionals in the summer.

Unfortunately, they were being managed by Phil Brown, a man with a far from impressive managerial record, and during the first half of the season they managed just four National League wins with 11 defeats.

The dismissal of Brown at the start of October saw former player Kevin Maher brought in as part of a management team which includes former Barnet manager Darren Currie and despite not making an immediate impact, they built up a head of steam by the time Yeovil came to town.

Since that night they have won seven, drawn four and lost three in the league and rocketed from the relegation zone to a comfortable 12th, one place ahead of Yeovil going in to the weekend.

Maher was busy on the final day of National League clubs being able to register players on Thursday.

He brought in centre half Joe Gubbins on loan from Championship QPR and Dagenham & Redbridge defender Kenny Clark, both of whom will spend the rest of the season on loan in Esssex.

The pair could be in line for a start at Huish Park with ex-Glover Nathan Ralph, who has been playing in the middle of defence, out for six weeks with a thigh injury and Polish defende Kacper Łopata having been recalled by Sheffield United.

Maher said: “With the players we’ve lost it meant we wanted to add a couple in that area. We want to keep pushing and finish the season strongly by winning as many games as we can so I’m pleased we’ve been able to sign two and I’m grateful to the club for allowing us to do that.”

If there’s a positive to be had from Southend’s form it is that they have lost twice in their last three with a 3-0 home defeat to Dagenham and a 2-1 loss at Maidenehead on Tuesday night sandwiching a 2-0 win over Altrincham.

FROM THE GOALKEEPER

Southend goalkeeper Steve Arnold believes his team-mates should not be too downhearted by the midweek defeat at Maidenhead United.

Speaking to the Southend Echo, he said: “If you had offered us where we are now when the manager came in we would’ve done anything for that.

“We do need a sense of perspective but at the same time we don’t want to take our foot off the gas so to speak.

“We’ll take it one game at a time but we’ve got to keep positive.”

Of the trip to Somerset this weekend, the former Forest Green Rovers shot-stopper said: “It’s a game we’re looking to go and win like we do every week. They’re another team in the way of what we want to do as well so we’ll go there looking for three points.”

 

TEAM NEWS

The transfer deadline day arrivals of QPR youngster Joe Gubbins and experienced Dagenham centre half Kenny Clark give Southend options at the back.

They recently lost Kacper Lopata who was recalled by Sheffield United and ex-Glovers’ defender Nathan Ralph through injury, the Shrimpers moved to bolster their back line.

Both will be in with a chance of starting at Huish Park, however, there will be no place for experienced midfielder James Dunne, sent off in the 2-1 defeat at Maidenehead United on Tuesday night.

Also missing will be former Yeovil striker Rhys Murphy and fellow frontman Simeon Akinola who both have knee injuries and midfielder Abu Ogogo who has a heart issue.

Striker Harry Cardwell returned to training this week having been missing for the past month with a hamstring problem, and could be in contention.

FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS

The obvious link between these two sides is Rhys Murphy, who topped the scoring charts in the green-and-white of Yeovil Town for the past two seasons and is doing the same at Southend United.

Sadly, as mentioned above, there’s no change of the bagsman coming back to haunt his old employers having suffered yet another major injury, ironically in the Glovers’ 2-1 defeat at Roots’ Hall earlier this year.

You do have to wonder what kind of a career he could have had if it weren’t for such a bad injury record.

Another familiar face out of the reckoning is defender Nathan Ralph, who was part of the Yeovil side which was promoted to the Championship in 2013.

He has been impressing as a left-sided central defender – he’s not that tall, but he can’t half jump – for the Shrimpers this season but, see Team News, he’s out for the next six weeks with a thigh injury.

Other players with a foot in both camps include:

  • Jordan Green – Yeovil Town (2017-19), Southend United (2020 – loan)
  • Brandon Goodship – Yeovil Town (2016 – loan, 2016), Southend United (2019-21)
  • Jakub Sokolik – Southend United (2014 – loan, 2016), Yeovil Town (2014-16)
  • Craig Calver – Southend United (2009-10), Yeovil Town (2010-11)
  • Scott Spencer – Yeovil Town (2008 – loan), Southend United (2010-11)
  • Wayne Gray – Southend United (2004-06), Yeovil Town (2006-07)
  • Matt Harrold – Southend United (2001-02, 2006-08), Yeovil Town (2005-06)
  • Barrington Belgrave – Yeovil Town (2000-01), Southend United (2001-2003)
  • Gareth Risbridger – Yeovil Town (1998-2001), Southend United (2001-02)
  • Ben Smith – Yeovil Town (1998-2001), Southend United (2001-02)
  • David Webb – Southend United – manager (1986-87, 1988-82, 2000-01, 2010), Yeovil Town (2000)

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Credit to the Gloverscast listener, eagle-eyed Robin Bachelor for spotting this…

Toby Stephens claps the Yeovil fans

Two of the Glovers’ young guns have been playing for Southern League Division One South side Barnstaple Town for the last couple months.

Toby Stephens, who has been on loan at Hemel Hempstead already this season, joined in late February and has been playing for them since, whilst Ollie Haste who has made a couple of appearances on a bench for the first team has struck a deal on Dual Registration terms with the club as well.

We have reached out to Barnstaple Town to see how they’re doing and will report back if we can!

Go well, lads.

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This weekend’s match against Southend United will be played in memory of former Yeovil Town captain Lee Collins, the club has confirmed.

Former Yeovil Town captain Lee Collins in action.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

In a statement on Thursday, the club confirmed that Lee’s family will be in attendance for the National League fixture at Huish Park with his daughters, Amelia, Laila, and Charlie-Mae, mascots for the game.

It added: “As ever, we ask supporters in the Thatchers Stand to hold aloft the Lee Collins banner as the players enter the pitch.

“Tributes to Lee will be paid before kick-off, so we ask supporters to be in their seats around 15 minutes before kick-off hope you join us in celebrating his life.”

The game is the closest home fixture to the first anniversary of Lee’s passing on March 31 last year.

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It’s been two years in the making, but the charity match in memory of Adam Stansfield is finally on.

A date has been set for the fixture between a Yeovil Town Legends XI against an XI made up from across South West clubs on Saturday, May 14.

If there’s one thing we can all enjoy as Yeovil Town supporters, it is our glorious past and one player who was there at the beginning was Adam Stansfield.

In many ways he embodied what the beginning of that era having been brought to the club from lower league Elmore by Gary Johnson as he built a squad which would go on to lift the FA Trophy that season – with Stansfield scoring in the final, of course.

Stanno at his finest scoring the second in the 2002 FA Trophy final at Villa Park.

A young lad, plucked from obscurity, given a chance and proved his worth; that is a description which could summarise many members of that squad.

It was so unfortunate that he suffered a bad leg break in the opening game of the following season and whilst it was fantastic to see him return to play League football the next year, he had slipped too far down the pecking order and eventually departed for Hereford.

Unsurprisingly, he went on to be a fans’ favourite at Hereford and then Exeter City with his non-stop running and goals.

The response to his death at the age of just 31 after a fight with bowel cancer summed up the feelings of every fan who cheered his name, and this game gives us all a great chance to remember him.

Of course, the game also provides an opportunity to recognise many other club greats who we have lost in recent years. Stuart Housley, Maurice O’Donnell, Bruce James, Tony Trott, Martin ‘Badger’ Baker and, of course, ex-captain Lee Collins.

It also provides an opportunity to unite Yeovil Town as well.

There has been a lot which has happened both on and off the field in recent seasons which has sewn the seeds of division.

Bringing together heroes of yesteryear is something we can all get behind, fill Huish Park and raise plenty of money for the Adam Stansfield Foundation, the charity set up in memory of the striker to help provide opportunities to young people and raise awareness of bowel cancer.

We hope that by the time the game kicks off – or preferably long before then – there will be clarity about the club’s off-the-field situation which continues to paralyse so much at Huish Park.

The ‘will it-won’t it?’ situation around a takeover of the club sadly seems likely to be the subject of many columns past and future – so let’s unite and fill Huish Park for Stanno!