The magic of the FA Cup takes us to Hemel Hempstead this afternoon, a place we’ve been before!
We welcome Will Beesley, the stadium announcer for Hemel to the pod to chat about their excellent start to the season.
Former Yeovil Town manager Danny Webb has spoken for the first time after his departure from Huish Park after just 11 days in charge.
He spoke to the Derbyshire Times and honestly he did not really say a great deal more than came out in the announcement which came out with his shock departure which was followed swiftly by a return to his old job as assistant manager at Chesterfield.
Webb said: “I think the statement said it all – personal reasons. Football, non-football, that is not my place to divulge. As the statement has gone out, it would not be fair on either party to say any more on that. But when the opportunity did arise after leaving to return to my previous role it would have been mad to turn it down. I wish them all the best as a football club. There are some really good people in charge down there.
“There will be things that I have learnt from my own development, whether personal or career, and that has got to be a positive what I take away from the experience.”
It took just ten days after the announcement of his departure from Yeovil on September 22nd for Webb to be reinstalled as number two to Paul Cook at Chesterfield, the club he had spent four-and-a-half years with before his brief spell away.
Asked whether he believed he would return to frontline management again, he told the Derbyshire Times: “You never rule it out. It was not something that I thought ‘I have to go and do this now’ before an opportunity came up. At the time it felt like the right thing to do. What I would say now I am back in my previous role is that my focus is solely on assisting Paul Cook and the staff to get us back up the right end of that league.”
That is probably as much as we are ever going to find out about the reasons behind Webb’s departure, so we wish Danny all the best with whatever happens next in his career. Good luck, Danny, and thanks for bringing Andrew Oluwabori!
“The FA Cup is is beneficial to the lower leagues. Everybody in the qualifying now wants to get through to the first round, not just for the the glory of it, but it’s financially good as well. So Hemel have the same ideas about us, wanting to get through. So it’s a tough place to go. You know, we’ve watched a lot of clips on them, they’re well organized. Very athletic. So you know, we’ve done our due diligence like we do with every game. So we’re going to get set up for them.”
Pic C/O Gary Brown
It’s the return of the FA Cup this weekend, as Yeovil make their way to Hemel Hempstead to face of in the fourth qualifying round on Saturday.
As we all know, form goes out the window when it come to cup competitions, especially in the FA Cup. The competition can make or break so many smaller clubs seasons, and even if the top 6 find it a burden, the magic is still there for the likes Glovers.
Yeovil are famed for their giant killings in this competition, but the club hasn’t reached the first round proper since 2023, when they were knocked out in the second round, to the glitz and glamour of Wrexham.
Over the last five games it has been solid for the Glovers with three wins and two losses. One of those losses cam last time out to Boreham Wood as Richard Dryden’s men were soundly beaten 0-3 at home.
The Tudors began their FA Cup exploits in the second of qualifying, where they faced Bishop Stortford, 4-1. They then drew Hereford in the next round, which went to a replay, after drawing 2-2 at Vauxhall Road. It was then off to Hereford for the replay, where Hemel came out on top with a convincing 0-3 victory.
The Hertfordshire side are unbeaten over their last five games, which includes their three cup games. Last time out The Tudors faced struggling Chippenham Town side which they one 0-1, thanks to a goal from forward Millar Matthews-Lewis.
Although quiet in recent games, the FA Cup could be the perfect opportunity to reignite the Jamaicans spark. Morias has scored goals wherever he has gone, but he needs to be playing in a position that suits him.
In the recent games where he has been less involved Dryden has deployed him as a left-winger. However, when Morias was playing arguably his best football so far this season, Mark Cooper had him playing centrally in-behind the striker/s. It is understandable that he needs to play where the team needs him, but also to get the best of him and to make him the key player that he was for those three fixtures, Morias needs to be through the middle.
We here that Cup games can take pressure of teams and players, something different to focus on, and utilised properly Morias could cause havoc against lower-league opposition.
Matthews-Lewis has been a handful for opposition teams this season. Since joining from Farnborough FC in the summer, the forward has bagged five goals in the league so far this season. In the games against Hereford the striker was a dangerous presence for Hemel contributing twice across both pictures. The first of his goals came in the original tie, where he equalised late on to send the fixture to a replay. Matthews-Lewis then opened the scoring in said replay, converting an indirect free-kick from edge of the six yard box.
The youngster is one of many talented striker to have played for Farnborough which includes the likes of Jamie Cureton and Michael Folivi. He will definitely be making sure the Yeovil centre backs will have their work cut out.
Lee Allinson is the man who has the pleasure of leading out The Tudors every week. The former midfielder has a very short managerial career having only retired six years ago.The 41-year-olds first steps into management came at Biggleswade Town where he stayed for six months before joining Hendon.
Hendon is where Allinson then stayed for five years, before signing as manager for Hemel in 2024. In his first full season in charge he has the Tudors playing good football with his side currently sat 6th in the National League South.
The Glovers last met The Tudors back at the start of 2024 in Yeovil’s National league South title winning season. The game ended in a 2-0 win for The Glovers at Huish Park, with both goals coming from Sam Pearson.
The only other time the two teams have met was at Vauxhall Park, in the same season, this time however Hemel won 1-0, with Joe Iaciofano getting the only goal.
Jake Gray – The midfielder had an up and down time in Somerset. Gray joined the club in 2017 from Luton with high expectations, but never really delivered on the talent that he shown on occasions, leaving for Woking in 2019.
Gray will forever be remembered for his announcement video, where the clubs media guru at the time, Alex O’Loughlin, used Snapchat maps to introduce him to Glovers fans.
Jevani Brown also spent the entirety of pre-season with the Glovers as a trialist, but never went on to sign on at Huish Park.
Richie Watkins is the man in the middle, he’s taken charge of seven Hemel games in his career – no side has seen him more! He’s also been looking after games involving Yeovil twice in the past. Read more here.
Sorry to bring up that 3-0 home loss again, but despite the defeat there was at least one stand out performance.
Jed Ward claims your Man of the Match vote with a huge margin of support.
A little over 70% of you gave the Bristol Rovers loanee your backing with Harvey’s Greenslade’s second half cameo enough to grab second ahead of Kyle Ferguson in third.
| DATE | OPPONENT | RESPONSES | 1ST (Votes / Percent) | 2ND (Votes / Percent) | 3RD (Votes / Percent) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August | |||||
| 09.08.2025 | HARTLEPOOL (Home, 0-0 draw) | 172 | JED WARD (52 / 32.4%) | Morgan Williams (44 / 25.6%) | Jake Wannell (22 / 12.8%) |
| 16.08.2025 | FOREST GREEN (Away, 2-0 loss) | 87 | JED WARD (39 / 44.8%) | Byron Pendleton (16 / 18.4%) | Morgan Williams (11 / 12.6%) |
| 20.08.2025 | BRACKLEY TOWN (Home, 2-1 win) | 153 | JED WARD (89 / 58.2%) | Josh Sims (23 / 15%) | Tahvon Campbell (14 / 9.2%) |
| 23.08.2025 | BRAINTREE TOWN (Away, 1-0 loss) | 71 | JED WARD (29 / 40.8%) | Josh Sims (15 / 21.1%) | James Plant (7 / 9.9%) |
| 25.08.2025 | GATESHEAD (Home, 4-3 loss) | 174 | HARVEY GREENSLADE (65 / 37.4%) | Junior Morias (59 / 33.9%) | Josh Sims (23 / 13.2%) |
| 30.08.2025 | HALIFAX (Away, 3-2 loss) | 93 | JOSH SIMS (36 / 38.7%) | Harvey Greenslade (29 / 31.2%) | Junior Morias (13 / 14%) |
| AUGUST PLAYER OF THE MONTH | 🥇 JED WARD (12 PTS, 3 MOTM) | 🥈 JOSH SIMS (8 PTS, 1 MOTM) | 🥉 HARVEY GREENSLADE (5 PTS, 1 MOTM) |
||
| 02.09.2025 | SOLIHULL M (Away, 1-0 win) | 98 | JUNIOR MORIAS (28 / 28.3%) | Luke McCormick (24 / 24.2%) | Jed Ward (15 / 15.2%) |
| 06.09.2025 | YORK CITY (Home, 3-1 loss) | 108 | JOSH SIMS (48 / 44.4%) | Luke McCormick (33 / 30.6%) | Jed Ward (7 / 6.5%) |
| 13.09.2025 | WOKING (Home, 1-0 win) | 127 | LUKE MCCORMICK (47 / 37%) | Kyle Ferguson (37 / 29.1%) | Harvey Greenslade (11 / 8.7%) |
| 20.09.2025 | TAMWORTH (Away, 1-0 loss) | 62 | JED WARD (17 / 27.4%) | Kyle Ferguson (10 / 16.1%) | Josh Sims (7 / 11.3%) |
| 24.09.2025 | ALDERSHOT (Away, 4-1 win) | 94 | ANDREW OLUWABORI (36 / 38.3%) | Tahvon Campbell (25 / 26.6%) | Luke McCormick (10 / 10.6%) |
| 27.09.2025 | ALTRINCHAM (Home, 1-0 win) | 154 | ANDREW OLUWABORI (51 / 33.1%) | Jed Ward (37 / 24%) | Morgan Williams (18 / 11.7%) |
| 30.09.2025 | SUTTON UTD (Away 2-1 win) | 119 | JOSH SIMS (88 / 73.9%) | Andrew Oluwabori (20 / 16.8%) | Jed Ward (6 / 5%) |
| SEPTEMBER PLAYER OF THE MONTH | 🥇 ANDREW OLUWABORI (8 PTS / 2 MOTM) | 🥈 JED WARD (8 PTS / 1 MOTM) | 🥉 JOSH SIMS (7 PTS / 2 MOTM) |
||
| 04.10.2025 | BOREHAM WOOD (Home - 0-3 loss) | 87 | JED WARD (61 / 70.1%) | Harvey Greenslade (10 / 11.5%) | Kyle Ferguson (5 / 5.7%) |
| 11.10.2025 | HEMEL HEMPSTEAD (Away 2-1 loss) | 44 | HARVEY GREENSLADE (18 / 40.9%) | Jed Ward (10 / 22%) | Byron Pendleton (6 / 13.6%) |
| 18.10.2025 | ROCHDALE (Away 3-0 loss) | 49 | JED WARD (17 / 34.7%) | Harvey Greenslade (10 / 20.4%) | Kyle Ferguson (5 / 10.2%) |
It’s cup time, everyone!
Yeovil Town will take on some old National League South adversaries in the form of those plastic pitchers, Hemel Hempstead Town on Saturday and the man in charge definitely knows his way to the ground.
Richie Watkins is the man in the middle, he’s taken charge of seven Hemel games in his career – no side has seen him more!
He’s also been looking after games involving Yeovil twice in the past – both times saw the Glovers lose.
He took charge of a 1-0 home defeat to Bromley in 2022/23 and a 2-0 away defeat to Maidenhead United.
Below you can see him dealing with a minor skirmish in the Glovers’ penalty area – Grant Smith is about to get that Yellow card he’s holding.
This season, he’s been a little on the stricter side, four National League games have seen 25 yellow cards, and he got two of his three ones out in a tasty little game between Altrincham and Carlisle.
He will be assisted by Amarjit Sarao and Alex Rolfe with Dan England on fourth official duties.
Hemel Hempstead Town (First Team) v Yeovil Town FC (First Team)
FA Cup
Referee: Watkins, Richie
Assistant Referee: Sarao, Amarjit
Assistant Referee: Rolfe, Alex
Fourth Official: England, Dan
An afternoon to forget for the Glovers, so here’s a lovely array of images of the day for you to remember it by! Sorry about that!
With comings and goings (mostly goings) at Huish Park over the past month, our resident cartoonist Alex ‘Distant Glover’ Russell provides a simple explanation……
……..simple, right?!
Defender Kyle Ferguson said Yeovil Town’s players are fully focused on bouncing back from the 3-0 home defeat to Boreham Wood.
The central defender, who has been an ever present in the starting XI since the departure of Mark Cooper in September, admitted the Glovers were outplayed by an impressive Wood side at Huish Park.
Speaking to BBC Somerset reporter Mark Stillman after the game, he said: “I felt like everybody was just a couple of yards off it today which is rare to see so many of us off it at one time, but we will take our medicine and make sure we come back stronger. They are up there (in the table) for a reason, they are a good team and there is no hiding from that, but we are also a good team. If we have aspirations of getting in the play-offs we have to be beating teams like that.
“The boys have put in a great shift over the past few games. With the manager (presumably Danny Webb) leaving, I think if you had said to any of the fans we would get nine points from the four games they would have snapped your hand off. We are happy with nine points, but we were aiming for 12 because we want to be up there.”
The Glovers fell behind to a goal from the impressive Abdul Abdulkarim after just 20 minutes before Matt Rush added a second on the stroke of half-time. Manager Richard Dryden made a triple substitution at the start of the second half but the visitors added a third just after the hour mark to end Yeovil’s three-match winning run.
Ferguson added: “We made a decision at half-time to just get after them in the second half and you could see in the second half that we just went man for man in the second half and tried to get ourselves back in the game. It is tough when they score on the stroke of half-time and you go in (2-0 down) but I think the reaction in the second half was a bit better.”
He thanked the club’s supporters for their support during a few weeks which have seen two managers, first Cooper and then the short-lived Danny Webb, depart. The 26-year-old said: “The fans have been brilliant with all we have been through, they have stuck with us. I am saying this from all the boys, the fans have been unbelievable. It has been a tough couple of weeks for the club and the boys have been really pushed on by the fans. Even after a not very good first half they are still cheering us on and it means the world to us and gives us a boost as well.”
Ferguson has started the past eight games having only started two matches under Cooper and believes he still has more to give. He added: “I came in wanting to play and the previous manager (Mark Cooper) just did not want to play me, but now I have had my chance to play I want to show everybody what I was like last season and keep performing to the level I know I can. I do not think I am anywhere near my best yet, I still think I have levels to go up. This is the first run of games I have had in a long time and I feel I am better every game.”
The Glovers will now have a seven-day break before they take on Hemel Hempstead Town in the FA Cup fourth qualifying round next weekend. It is a much needed break having played four matches in just ten days in the league.
Ferguson said: “That week really good because the games have been crazy, Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday, three games in six days is a lot especially when it is the same eleven. But you cannot really change a winning eleven, so I understand why it has been the same eleven. But four games in under two weeks is a lot and we need to bounce back in the Cup and then the weekend after in the league.“
Yeovil Town manager Richard Dryden gave credit to today’s opponents Boreham Wood after seeing his side outplayed in a 3-0 defeat at Huish Park on Saturday.
The visitors, who moved up to third place in the National League Premier Division table with the win, dominated from start to finish and Dryden was quick to praise their performance.
Speaking to BBC Somerset reporter Mark Stillman after the match, he said: “We were up against it from the first minute and I have to give credit to Boreham Wood, they outpressed us, outpassed us and I thought they were a really good working unit. We never really got in to the game. We were on the back foot after the first goal, it was a horrible time to concede a second in the last minute of first half injury time, we tried to change the shape in the second half which I am not a big fan of, to try and get a foothold in to the game.
“We were thinking about it ten minutes before (the second goal) to change it up a bit and give some people a rest, but the second goal so late in the first half is a tough one to take. They had a lot more chances to make it threes and fours, and we have got to get over it quickly and start again. We did not pass it like we did, we still have to be brave on the ball even when we are being pressed, but we ended up going long and did not create a lot on set pieces. All in all we have to say we were well beaten.”
The defeat brings a three-match winning run to an end for Yeovil, but Dryden was keen to bring a sense to perspective despite the disappointing performance. He said: “It is one game and I said before the game that (Boreham Wood) are up there for a reason. From what we have seen on the analysis there is every chance they can stay there.”
The Glovers suffered a double blow with the loss of Josh Sims after just 21 minutes before on loan Port Vale player James Plant was forced off with a shoulder injury just ten minutes to the second half.
Dryden made a triple substitution at half-time with captain Jake Wannell, who has been struggling with injury, striker Junior Morias and defender-turned-midfielder Finn Cousin-Dawson all replaced at the break.
The boss said: “Hopefully Simsy is not too bad, he took a hell of a crack. He was getting treatment at half-time, but he is a warrior and hopefully it was just a big impact and nothing more than that. Planty’s shoulder popped out a little bit when he came off, but hopefully that is not as bad as it sounds. Wans has been struggling with one of his glutes, so we decided to go four at the back and take him off and rest him.”
Goalkeeper Jed Ward was awarded the sponsors’ Man of the Match – you can cast your vote in our poll here – and Dryden admitted that summed up his side’s performance. He said: “He has been brilliant and a big asset. It probably sums it all up when you get beaten 3-0 and your goalkeeper gets Man of the Match. That was how far behind Boreham Wood we were.”
